Lauren’s review of Yesteryear > Likes and Comments

The sudden loathing of this book is arriving in droves. I'm glad I didn't request an ARC. I think this would have angered and upset me. Forewarned is forearmed.

This book enraged me for many of the same reasons. I think my biggest qualm is that by making her main character so monstrous and deranged, she doesn’t address or attack any of the structures that trap women in submissive roles. Give me a book about the women running the influencer training! By making her protagonist so easy to hate, she lets everything else off the hook.

Papergirl wrote: "The sudden loathing of this book is arriving in droves. I'm glad I didn't request an ARC. I think this would have angered and upset me. Forewarned is forearmed."

I’m so glad more honest reviews are popping up. I’m truly shocked by the praise it’s receiving, even more so the bidding war that ensued over the movie rights. It truly feels like a social experiment to see if the patriarchy has fully eaten away all of our brains yet.

Julie wrote: "This book enraged me for many of the same reasons. I think my biggest qualm is that by making her main character so monstrous and deranged, she doesn’t address or attack any of the structures that ..."

Fully agree. Religion was one of biggest things that not only got the protagonist to that place (by indoctrination from a young age), but continued to trap her there and cause her to continue the cycle of abuse to her children but mainly her daughters, and the author did NOTHING with theme at all because we’re expected to hate protagonist so much that we cheer when she “gets what she deserves!” Meanwhile, what happened to the men of the story? We don’t know.

Great review, Lauren! I hope the next is better!😊

Oooh I’m definitely keeping this in mind. Probably won’t be my cup of tea 😬 Hope your next read is better!

Girl, I totally get your review! I didn't like it either and was very confused about the whole point of the book... it felt very hateful

Sammy wrote: "Girl, I totally get your review! I didn't like it either and was very confused about the whole point of the book... it felt very hateful"

I was wondering “what’s the point?” the entire time I was reading. I still don’t know what the point is.

Right! Me neither... and I'm also confused about all the good ratings? It feels like I didn't read the same book, or that maybe this is all just one big hoax... not sure about it though

Sarah wrote: "I will confess that when I first heard about this book, I was already weary because it sounds like this author was being hyped up of some female wunderkind prodigy for marketing purposes. The way h..."

I had never heard of her before any of this, but you were absolutely right. It seems she is just as guilty as her protagonist of trying to put herself across as something she isn’t for marketing purposes. It’s so interesting, the author and the way she has chosen to portray (rather beat the reader over the head with) her views and all but bastardized (in my opinion) what it means to be a feminist has made more of a point (albeit, the wrong one) than the contents of the book.

Thank you. I've just finished the book and my thoughts were "This is some hateful, witching-burning trash". It was disappointing, but not surprising to see it so highly rated. The one star reviews are restoring my faith in other readers.

Lara wrote: "Thank you. I've just finished the book and my thoughts were "This is some hateful, witching-burning trash". It was disappointing, but not surprising to see it so highly rated. The one star reviews ..."

Thank you for your comment! I feel the same way!

I feel the same way ! Garbage

Taryn wrote: "I feel the same way ! Garbage"

I’m so glad we’re not alone. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone seeing everyone rave about a book that I find to be fully irredeemable.

Your review makes me want to listen to the audiobook just to see what you and all the comments are talking about lol

When you say so far left that you went right, I totally get that. A good chunk of the book I was like, wait am I accidentally reading a Christian book? I had to look up th author to make sure that our author thought the opposite of our main character because there was so much talk of God that I thought for a second the author was a person who agrees with the main characters life.

I feel this book makes you think twice about any perfect life portrayed for social media. Social media is NOT real. I even catch myself sometimes hook line and sinker then think “oh, who’s filming this?” A lot of people are making a lot of money selling products, a lifestyle, even illness, all of it and any of it can become a brand. IMO, kids should not be used in SM accounts as they cannot give true permission. It does make you wonder if they will be angry in 20 years because they had little privacy. The book is a psychological thriller.

G wrote: "I feel this book makes you think twice about any perfect life portrayed for social media. Social media is NOT real. I even catch myself sometimes hook line and sinker then think “oh, who’s filming ..."

I agree! These big influencers ARE brands, and they exploit their children by using them (or their likeness) in content. I agree that it’s a psych thriller, especially by the end.

The ending was literally mirroring something that really happened with a religious couple. And you seem to forget the protagonist PUT herself in that position, she decided to double down and stay with her husband. Pointing out the rage that Christian women often have, and how they OFTEN abuse their children because of that rage is pretty important.

Johnna Cee wrote: "The ending was literally mirroring something that really happened with a religious couple. And you seem to forget the protagonist PUT herself in that position, she decided to double down and stay w..."

Yeah, I can’t get with continuing to victim-blame someone that’s been drugged for a decade because they “put themselves in that situation.” That’s a slippery slope. Christian women having rage and abusing their children is not new to me by any means. There are a lot of ways that a satirical feminist novel of this sort could’ve been written without making the villains women and women with children. I’m aware that the author used real-life events as “inspiration,” much to the detriment of the book in my opinion. Including a memoir at the end was quite telling, especially since The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke exists. Seeing the author’s failed attempt to make the protagonist anywhere near as horrible as Ruby Franke was the cherry on top.

I hope your next read is much better!

Great review!! I agreed on several points in my review too. Well written!

Elizabeth wrote: "Great review!! I agreed on several points in my review too. Well written!"

Just saw your review… Excellent breakdown!

Thanks so much Lauren. Great minds think alike... :-)

I agree with this 1000%

you articulated this so much better than i did, thank you!!

Thank you for your clear-eyed views. The whole world is going bonkers for this piece of shit. You expressed it exactly — this author comes off as a straight up gender traitor try hard or is she just clueless? As you so masterfully put it, this is just like— patriarchal hell but hey let’s blame the mentally ill woman for all of it. Gross.

Agree!

I think the point is that all of these women-hating outcomes that you list (scaring women out of having kids, assuming men are useless, assuming medication for illness is weakness, accept that we live in a man's world, etc) are not what we are "supposed" to do and are not desirable, but they are the inevitable outcomes of a life like Natalie's. I'm so confused by all the reviews that echo these sentiments because I really feel like this is the point of the book??? Sure, this is a cartoon caricature political commentary, and Natalie is the one, ultimately, who is punished for things both of and not of her own making, but isn't that the whole idea? That in a world like Yesteryear Ranch, the woman is always on the proverbial chopping block, no matter how good or how demented or how perfect or how sick she is?

Naomi wrote: "I think the point is that all of these women-hating outcomes that you list (scaring women out of having kids, assuming men are useless, assuming medication for illness is weakness, accept that we l..."

I agree that the novel is showing how women are punished no matter what they do. I figured that part was painfully obvious, especially since all of us women experience it daily. My issue is that the book handles important issues in an incredibly shallow and sensationalized way that ultimately undermines the entire point it’s trying to make. There’s a difference between depicting misogyny and reproducing it uncritically for shock value. The author spends far more time punishing Natalie than examining the broader structures enabling the abuse, that’s why it feels so hollow to me. Burke is saying “look how patriarchy destroys women,” but then gives the patriarchy no scrutiny. Furthermore, Natalie’s suffering feels hateful instead of insightful (which is what it needed, imo, in order to be productive). And yes, satire can be cartoonish, but it still needs depth and intentionality. Yesteryear has none. It continually gestures at important ideas but never actually expands upon them. Which is what most of us that like the fem-lit genre are expecting, not an ending that was written for the screen. So no, I (and everyone that shares the same sentiment) didn’t miss the point. We think the point was delivered in a way that was heavy-handed, underdeveloped, and irresponsible.

How is this book so highly rated? Stopped at 18%.

This! I’ll never accept that this part of the book was necessary AT ALL: “ANY book that ends with multiple children being neglected, abused, malnourished, and traumatized forever to make an extremely obvious point is inherently NOT feminist.”

I found the book extremely confusing and over hyped. I look forward to visiting Goodreads to see each month's book selections. i don't always agree with them, but it's interesting to learn what is thought to be relevant to today's bibliosphere. I was expecting a sort of time-travel fantasy, but got this influencer world which was either pretending to be set in 1805 or the early 1850s. I never quite figured that out. Satire yes, possibly written more for women; yes. Not really for me. But I'm sure it will go on to become a Netflix or Amazon series. It's of the moment!

Thank you! This book was sh*t.