This is so well written. I agree, Yesteryear as a premise was tantalizing, but Yesteryear as a novel collapses under its own weight. If Burke had been willing to slow her process, continue researching, and be willing to interrogate her own passion against the Ballerina Farms of the world and be critical of her own desire to see them suffer (Natalie Heller-Mills seems little more than a voodoo doll of Hannah Neeleman), Yesteryear could have been a truly timely and compelling story and commentary.
One of the things that's bugging me the most is Caleb. How did he go from impotent manchild who wants to be a kindergarten teacher, to newly woke man ready to run away with a much-younger woman, to abusive man willing to live without modern amenities for 90% of the time? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS GUY.
And don't get me started on how problematic some of those sex scenes are ...
I think a LOT of the “critiques” of YY have been really heavy handed and bad faith. I don’t agree with your conclusion on her reaction because it’s fair to say that would be frustrating. That said, while I had a totally different experience and loved YY, I thought this was a GREAT review that gives a lot to think about. I think if more “bad” reviews were like this (actually engaging with the text and bringing a POV) this would be an English Lit class rather than the internet.
Thank you!! I should clarify, I think it's reasonable that her reaction would be one of frustration, so I agree with you there. What I don't like is that she is characterizing critique of her art as misogyny and a critique against women in general. She does not speak for all women, and holding women's work as too fragile to be criticized is in itself misogyny.
Blaming criticism as misogyny sounds like it’s taken from the Taylor Swift rule book of handling critique. I say this as someone who loves her music, too. It ain’t a great take to shout misogyny when valid points are being brought up.
I agree that a lot of it has been misogyny, if not at least internet rage bait culture.
A lot of the negative critiques have been, honestly, embarrassing (from “I could write a better book” to “this failed at being [thing it never claimed to be]”).
To be perfectly honest, yours is one of the first negative reviews (of many that I’ve read) that clearly engaged with the text and made points that, even if I don’t agree, I can totally respect. We should be able to disagree, that’s art!
Maybe there’s lots of reviews like you’re out there but I haven’t seen them.
We're probably engaging with different reviews, then! I linked to a couple of the ones that I'd really enjoyed. I don't agree with the people who say that she portrays Christianity in a bad light (she doesn't portray it at all!) or the people who are upset because the main character is unlikable. So I definitely think bad faith criticisms and poor reading comprehension play a role.
Anyway, thanks for your kind words-- I appreciate being able to disagree respectfully! I'm glad you had an enjoyable experience reading the book. Have you read Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza? I liked that novel a lot better, though it has a very different vibe.
Not only was she lazy in overgeneralization of Natalie’s faith, but she also couldn’t commit to a mental illness. She lists out multiple but doesn’t choose one. Why would you not do that???
I agree with every last point you've made except that Burke is clearly a talented writer. The language, overuse of similes, and cringy descriptions also drove me up the wall. Thanks for this affirmation. I'm over here seething over how terrible this book is.
I thought the way the story was structured was well-done and the pacing was magnificent-- as others have noted, I couldn't put it down. I also think the way she described some of the postpartum depression experience was spot-on, especially for someone who (I think) is not a mother herself. Also, I didn't want to be too mean lol
Agreed, I couldn’t even get far enough into the book to give it a proper critique as I found the writing so off-putting. It felt way too choppy for me. It’s nice reading this essay and knowing I saved myself the time, as the storyline doesn’t live up to my expectations anyway.
I think the problem here is that the people who want to read this book and hate the protagonist don't actually care about extreme evangelicals. They and their average Christian stay-at-home mom neighbor who just wants to be a little more traditional agree that the radical evangelicals are nuts. The target audience wants a reason to sneer at women they actually see -- not ones that seem like they're in a cult. It feels bad to make fun of someone who's obviously a victim.
So this book, in order to give the readers what they want, has to strip away all the extremist takes until you get something like the milquetoast suburban Christianity that the readers actually are exposed to. Women who have *gasp* four kids instead of two, regular middle-class women who stay home and are proud of it, the sort of "trad" people that mostly just post cooking videos and bible quotes, but have been lumped in with full lifestyle influencers that are a wild caricature of them.
Because there's really only a handful of people who are both chronically online promoting their lifestyle and actually steeped in the cultlike mentality of extreme Christianity. The readers of this book have never met Mrs. Ballerina Farm; they really just want a way to laugh at their crunchy homeschool mom cousin who took a delayed vaccine schedule.
They want to feel like the person they're reading about gets what they deserve, and the average progressive doesn't want to make fun of brainwashed young women surrounded by psychos; they just want to act like women they disagree with are psychos.
When I was growing up and still really *in it*, I always wished that someone would write about the Christianity I knew. Now I am always hoping fellow exvangelicals will write about that world with nuance and complexity and also respect for the people who’ve lived it. I want to hear from my fellow former Disciple Now attendees and those who’ve built houses on short-term mission trips. I guess maybe it will have to be people like you and me who do it!
Completely agree. As an ex evangelical I could spot the inconsistencies pretty quickly. She could have at least mentioned some kind of church Natalie attended but no.
Thank you for articulating all of my issues with this book. I was so excited for Yesteryear and it was the biggest reading disappointment I’ve had in years, because it was so inauthentic, implausible, and felt like a mean spirited revenge fantasy against a repellent and mentally ill woman instead of intelligent social commentary about the larger tradwife phenomenon.
You nailed it. This book drove me nuts. It feels disrespectful in a sense...I too was sucked in by the stay at home daughters movement back in the day, and I'm glad I matured out of it. It feels disrespectful to the people tradwives are misleading to not bother to research or put effort into what you're depicting.
Thank you for this review - I'm not a US reader it's really added something to get the religious context and perspective. I'm actually not entirely convinced that Natalie really needed to be written with as religious at all, especially as the author wasn't that interested in it. I think it could have worked to look at how women without religions can dive into tradwifery as a cynical business decision and then get in over their heads. I thought a lot about Everyone Is Lying to You when I was reading - I thought it built in a more satisfying way and got there first for me with the trad wife social media novel.
I thought the pacing was good on the whole, though the ending was a bit rushed and loose-endy. I found it a gripping read, but I didn't have the religious insight so that passed me by to some extent. However the understanding of mental illness, crafts and mastitis were a stretch. I cannot understand the throwback sex scene and how that's supposed to function for readers today.
Your review really made me think again about the book - like the commenter below I perhaps don't agree with everything you wrote but so appreciate how you wrote about it and what you said. I'm sorry to hear the author has copped a lot of aggro for the book, it's a pity everyone's reviews aren't as informed as yours.
This book gave me Lost flashbacks. I was in it and couldn’t wait to see how it all got wrapped up and then it did not stick the landing. I enjoyed reading it on a surface level but its point of view was vague and it’s being promoted as something it is not.
I do feel a lot of the criticisms of it are just kind of wanting it to be an entirely different book though. But your points are illuminating and completely valid.
Also how did the family never pray together?? I grew up in a progressive Catholic family and even we said grace out loud before eating. That just drove me nuts.
I haven’t read this but to your point, maybe someone outside of fundamentalist culture could write a satire, just have not seen it yet. Thank you for writing this. I don’t think I could read it mainly bc I would want to throw it across the room in frustration!!
Also??? Those are not SEWING NEEDLES which are clacking away while her mother knits. Please be so for real right now.
Idaho *bluebonnets,* too. Lollllllll. Not to mention a preteen who knows how to order a Starbucks at Target but doesn't know what the ocean is.
This made me CRAZY. The opening scene has her feeling a "hand-knitted" quilt, too.
Are you SERIOUS?! I was actually looking forward to reading it but stuff like this would absolutely drive me crazy
I would give it a pass if I were you- but there are people who love it, so who knows! /diplomacy
This is so well written. I agree, Yesteryear as a premise was tantalizing, but Yesteryear as a novel collapses under its own weight. If Burke had been willing to slow her process, continue researching, and be willing to interrogate her own passion against the Ballerina Farms of the world and be critical of her own desire to see them suffer (Natalie Heller-Mills seems little more than a voodoo doll of Hannah Neeleman), Yesteryear could have been a truly timely and compelling story and commentary.
While they're different genres, I think "Everyone is Lying to You" by Jo Piazza explores the influencer world in a much more believable, nuanced way.
And it is so obviously researched with care and diligence! Jo rules.
100% agree.
Completely agree with this review. Spot on.
One of the things that's bugging me the most is Caleb. How did he go from impotent manchild who wants to be a kindergarten teacher, to newly woke man ready to run away with a much-younger woman, to abusive man willing to live without modern amenities for 90% of the time? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS GUY.
And don't get me started on how problematic some of those sex scenes are ...
I think a LOT of the “critiques” of YY have been really heavy handed and bad faith. I don’t agree with your conclusion on her reaction because it’s fair to say that would be frustrating. That said, while I had a totally different experience and loved YY, I thought this was a GREAT review that gives a lot to think about. I think if more “bad” reviews were like this (actually engaging with the text and bringing a POV) this would be an English Lit class rather than the internet.
Thank you!! I should clarify, I think it's reasonable that her reaction would be one of frustration, so I agree with you there. What I don't like is that she is characterizing critique of her art as misogyny and a critique against women in general. She does not speak for all women, and holding women's work as too fragile to be criticized is in itself misogyny.
Blaming criticism as misogyny sounds like it’s taken from the Taylor Swift rule book of handling critique. I say this as someone who loves her music, too. It ain’t a great take to shout misogyny when valid points are being brought up.
I agree that a lot of it has been misogyny, if not at least internet rage bait culture.
A lot of the negative critiques have been, honestly, embarrassing (from “I could write a better book” to “this failed at being [thing it never claimed to be]”).
To be perfectly honest, yours is one of the first negative reviews (of many that I’ve read) that clearly engaged with the text and made points that, even if I don’t agree, I can totally respect. We should be able to disagree, that’s art!
Maybe there’s lots of reviews like you’re out there but I haven’t seen them.
We're probably engaging with different reviews, then! I linked to a couple of the ones that I'd really enjoyed. I don't agree with the people who say that she portrays Christianity in a bad light (she doesn't portray it at all!) or the people who are upset because the main character is unlikable. So I definitely think bad faith criticisms and poor reading comprehension play a role.
Anyway, thanks for your kind words-- I appreciate being able to disagree respectfully! I'm glad you had an enjoyable experience reading the book. Have you read Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza? I liked that novel a lot better, though it has a very different vibe.
Not only was she lazy in overgeneralization of Natalie’s faith, but she also couldn’t commit to a mental illness. She lists out multiple but doesn’t choose one. Why would you not do that???
I agree with every last point you've made except that Burke is clearly a talented writer. The language, overuse of similes, and cringy descriptions also drove me up the wall. Thanks for this affirmation. I'm over here seething over how terrible this book is.
I thought the way the story was structured was well-done and the pacing was magnificent-- as others have noted, I couldn't put it down. I also think the way she described some of the postpartum depression experience was spot-on, especially for someone who (I think) is not a mother herself. Also, I didn't want to be too mean lol
Agreed, I couldn’t even get far enough into the book to give it a proper critique as I found the writing so off-putting. It felt way too choppy for me. It’s nice reading this essay and knowing I saved myself the time, as the storyline doesn’t live up to my expectations anyway.
I think the problem here is that the people who want to read this book and hate the protagonist don't actually care about extreme evangelicals. They and their average Christian stay-at-home mom neighbor who just wants to be a little more traditional agree that the radical evangelicals are nuts. The target audience wants a reason to sneer at women they actually see -- not ones that seem like they're in a cult. It feels bad to make fun of someone who's obviously a victim.
So this book, in order to give the readers what they want, has to strip away all the extremist takes until you get something like the milquetoast suburban Christianity that the readers actually are exposed to. Women who have *gasp* four kids instead of two, regular middle-class women who stay home and are proud of it, the sort of "trad" people that mostly just post cooking videos and bible quotes, but have been lumped in with full lifestyle influencers that are a wild caricature of them.
Because there's really only a handful of people who are both chronically online promoting their lifestyle and actually steeped in the cultlike mentality of extreme Christianity. The readers of this book have never met Mrs. Ballerina Farm; they really just want a way to laugh at their crunchy homeschool mom cousin who took a delayed vaccine schedule.
They want to feel like the person they're reading about gets what they deserve, and the average progressive doesn't want to make fun of brainwashed young women surrounded by psychos; they just want to act like women they disagree with are psychos.
When I was growing up and still really *in it*, I always wished that someone would write about the Christianity I knew. Now I am always hoping fellow exvangelicals will write about that world with nuance and complexity and also respect for the people who’ve lived it. I want to hear from my fellow former Disciple Now attendees and those who’ve built houses on short-term mission trips. I guess maybe it will have to be people like you and me who do it!
I can't say the idea hasn't crossed my mind!
Completely agree. As an ex evangelical I could spot the inconsistencies pretty quickly. She could have at least mentioned some kind of church Natalie attended but no.
Thank you for articulating all of my issues with this book. I was so excited for Yesteryear and it was the biggest reading disappointment I’ve had in years, because it was so inauthentic, implausible, and felt like a mean spirited revenge fantasy against a repellent and mentally ill woman instead of intelligent social commentary about the larger tradwife phenomenon.
You nailed it. This book drove me nuts. It feels disrespectful in a sense...I too was sucked in by the stay at home daughters movement back in the day, and I'm glad I matured out of it. It feels disrespectful to the people tradwives are misleading to not bother to research or put effort into what you're depicting.
Thank you for this review - I'm not a US reader it's really added something to get the religious context and perspective. I'm actually not entirely convinced that Natalie really needed to be written with as religious at all, especially as the author wasn't that interested in it. I think it could have worked to look at how women without religions can dive into tradwifery as a cynical business decision and then get in over their heads. I thought a lot about Everyone Is Lying to You when I was reading - I thought it built in a more satisfying way and got there first for me with the trad wife social media novel.
I thought the pacing was good on the whole, though the ending was a bit rushed and loose-endy. I found it a gripping read, but I didn't have the religious insight so that passed me by to some extent. However the understanding of mental illness, crafts and mastitis were a stretch. I cannot understand the throwback sex scene and how that's supposed to function for readers today.
Your review really made me think again about the book - like the commenter below I perhaps don't agree with everything you wrote but so appreciate how you wrote about it and what you said. I'm sorry to hear the author has copped a lot of aggro for the book, it's a pity everyone's reviews aren't as informed as yours.
Sensational friend!!!
This book gave me Lost flashbacks. I was in it and couldn’t wait to see how it all got wrapped up and then it did not stick the landing. I enjoyed reading it on a surface level but its point of view was vague and it’s being promoted as something it is not.
I do feel a lot of the criticisms of it are just kind of wanting it to be an entirely different book though. But your points are illuminating and completely valid.
Also how did the family never pray together?? I grew up in a progressive Catholic family and even we said grace out loud before eating. That just drove me nuts.
I haven’t read this but to your point, maybe someone outside of fundamentalist culture could write a satire, just have not seen it yet. Thank you for writing this. I don’t think I could read it mainly bc I would want to throw it across the room in frustration!!