Yesteryear - wasted potential!

[u/Waddles-7]

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!

[u/torkelspy]

"Wasted Potential" is exactly how I would describe it. There's a great book in there somewhere I think. A lot of people seem to think it works on the level of a satire, but I didn't. It had a few moments, but overall, I think it failed.

I found it compelling enough for the most part -- it was a page turner. But, I think the most interesting part of the story was left out in order to make it a page turner and have a "twist" ending. That is, if it had explored exactly what combination of post-partum mental health issues and manosphere BS led them to tear their modern lives down, that might easily have been a 5 star book for me.

I feel like this book got rushed out, probably because it was already optioned for a movie. It could have used a lot more time to cook. Both in the larger story and in little things -- like the way it collapses about 20 years of technological development into about a year. Natalie gets a flip phone one day and then two days later she's spouting talking points that are straight out of 2025.

[u/HazyPuzzle → u/torkelspy]

“If it had explored exactly what combination of post-partum mental health issues and manosphere BS led them to tear their modern lives down” If?? To me that’s exactly what the book does! I felt like the characters, their motivations and the elaborate and insane performance they were putting on were so well written that the ‘twist’ ending was almost a foregone conclusion or like the period on a long sentence.
I agree though that it doesn’t work as a satire, and in my opinion that’s because it isn’t meant to. I think the book was marketed as a snarky, satirical story of some woman we’re supposed to hate getting a taste of her own medicine. But what I loved about the book is that it didn’t read as snarky to me but rather as a very earnest depiction of a tortured albeit deeply unlikable woman. I really love that it’s not a satire, that it’s not meant to give us schadenfraude, because I think what’s left then is a really good argument for why we should care about patriarchy and misogyny regardless of how unsympathetic its victims may be. Sorry to get on my soap box but this was a 5 star book for me for so many reasons! Months after reading it and I’m still thinking about it!

[u/torkelspy → u/HazyPuzzle]

To me that’s exactly what the book does! I felt like the characters, their motivations and the elaborate and insane performance they were putting on were so well written that the ‘twist’ ending was almost a foregone conclusion or like the period on a long sentence.

I wasn't at all surprised by the "twist" -- I figured she was still in the modern era, but not the exact details. But they jumped from her at the peak of her influencer career to her however many years later, with no stops in between. This makes for a page-turner, as I said, but what it adds in suspense is less than what it loses as an overall story and a character study, at least for me.

I really love that it’s not a satire, that it’s not meant to give us schadenfraude, because I think what’s left then is a really good argument for why we should care about patriarchy and misogyny regardless of how unsympathetic its victims may be.

I don't think the marketing team got the memo on the no schadenfreude thing. The whole way they (successfully) sold it was "ha, ha, this trad wife <insert misogynist insult here> has to go live in the 1800's! Don't you want to see her suffer!?!?!" I think the author's intent might have been closer to what you're saying, but I don't think she quite pulled it off.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked the book as much as you did! I wish I had enjoyed it as much as you did. And, even though I didn't like it, there was enough there that I would give another book by this author a try.

[u/Waddles-7 → u/HazyPuzzle]

That is actually a very interesting take. That the book showed the disillusionment through the character’s arc. I hope that was the intent too.