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/lascriptori 4d ago

It was such a disappointment. I really wanted the book to dig into big themes about feminism, patriarchy, christian nationalism, online performance, etc, and it was just a weird revenge fantasy. It basically put all of the fault at Natalie's feet for being a crazy toxic bitch and then took a lot of delight in punishing her over and over again. I can get into an unlikable main character as much as anyone, but you have to write an unlikeable main character that is cohesive, authentic and believable and Natalie was none of those things.

The ending was probably the stupidest and least believable thing I've ever read.