Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Reviews
Rating: 4.5
In a nutshell:
Natalie is a tradwife influencer with five kids and one on the way. She lives on a farm and posts on social media about her life (keeping the two nannies and many farmhands off screen, of course). One morning she wakes up and finds herself still on the farm, but her children are different and it appears to be some time in the 1800s. Is she dreaming? Is she part of some sort of reality show? What is happening?
Best for:
Anyone who enjoys social commentary and exploring various concepts of feminism, femininity, and culture.
Quote that made me think (or, in this case, laugh out loud):
When discussing her children getting ready for another day of filming for social media: “Their clothing was a rainbow of neutrals.”
Why I chose it:
I heard about it literally the day it was released. That coincided with my monthly Libro.FM credit, and there was indeed an audio reading available so I immediately snatched it up. It just sounded intriguing as hell. And apparently I’m woefully behind things in the book world, because this book went to auction for purchase, and the film rights were sold before the book was released. There’s a lot of hype around it and I’d say it lives up to it.
Review:
I finished this book a couple of days ago but wanted to sit with it to see if my thoughts on it might change. They haven’t. I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and think it covers some interesting and relevant concepts.
If you are familiar at all with ‘Ballerina Farm,’ then a lot of who Natalie is will ring familiar. The type of person who is clearly very smart in some ways but chooses to ignore things like science (raw milk, anyone?) because it doesn’t fit with the aesthetic she is promoting. She is heavily religious, and claims to defer to her husband and focuses on tasks and roles that some parts of society associate with women or femininity. At least, what’s who she presents herself as on her social media accounts.
She’s someone who views (her version of) feminism in a very negative light, and pities the lives other women choose when they don’t align with her choices. She thinks they are all dumb, while calling them out for things she herself is doing. It’s fascinating to watch the mental gymnastics she has to perform to be consistent in her world view.
Even though every chapter is from Natalie’s point of view, author Burke is still providing commentary about her and the world she operates in. It isn’t that Natalie’s way of life is wrong and others are right, and it’s not even vice versa – life is complicated and the choices we make have ramifications because of the capitalistic soup we live in. One can’t even truly ‘opt out’ like Natalie would claim she is doing because her whole life is reliant on connecting with viewers (including those who hate follow her) in the modern world.
The book is set up in a way that goes back and forth in time, across three parts. Basically, there’s the Natalie social media tradwife star storyline. Then there’s the Natalie in the 1800s storyline. From the 1800s version we go back and forth (it’s hard to say what we should call it, because it’s her past but also the future?) as Natalie grows from a kid all the way to when we first meet her in the beginning of the book and beyond a bit. I think if I were reading a physical copy (I read the audio book) I might have followed it a bit better, but it wasn’t actually that hard to keep track, as Burke pretty quickly lets the reader know what era we are in.
This film rights to this book have already been sold and an actress attached – I strongly urge you NOT to look up who that actress is until you’ve finished reading the book. Just trust me.
Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Absolutely.
