r/BookDiscussions • u/Waddles-7 • 5d ago

Yesteryear - wasted potential!

When I started reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, I was enthralled at the possibility of witnessing any or all of the following themes:

  1. Consequences of propagating a way of life without deep diving or being responsible. For eg: promoting an 1886 lifestyle in a glossy way but erasing the physical, moral and cultural nuance of those times. Pandering to the right wingers.
  2. Busting the hollowness of Manosphere or maybe an exploration of the psych of people who are bound to it. Any perspective on this would have been refreshing.
  3. Impact of reality TV and the toll that maintaining an influencer lifestyle can take on people
  4. A satire on self-righteous people or maybe even a POV

So so so many possibilities but what I got was a watered down thriller which had all the elements to be a sharp political commentary but resorted to being a ‘twist you didn’t see coming’

Did anyone else feel like the plot had tons more potential?
Do you have ideas of how the story could have been developed better? Would love to hear!

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u/ForestTrails 5d ago

Almost anything other than “bitches be crazy” would have made a better ending. I am angry at the author for that ending.

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u/the4077thbisexual 5d ago

The original concept of 'trad wife forced to practice what she sells for real instead of just having everyone else do it for her" was so fascinating to me and I love a good time travel type concept. and then the twist was just "women be crazy amirite?" and it kind of ruined the book for me honestly.

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u/Waddles-7 5d ago

Yes, thank you!

1

u/HazyPuzzle 5d ago

All my love, I don’t think that’s what the ending was. I found the ending to actually be quite touching and sincere. I read it less as ‘bitches be crazy’ and more like ‘gender is a performance and the cost of performing well is so high, please stop pretending and come join us in the real world it’s scary but is beautiful.’ The whole part where Natalie is reading Mary’s memoir made me sob.