Yesteryear (2026)by Caro Claire Burk

Book Review

Yesteryear (2026)

by Caro Claire Burk

   I do love me a hit, and Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burk, is one.  It's a Number one New York Times bestseller, Anne Hathaway snapped up the adaptation rights, and of course every book club in American is seemingly getting on board.  I read the first half in an eBook edition then switched to the Audiobook version.   The log-line is "trad wife influencer wakes up on a real 19th century farm...and hates it."  However, like many works of successful contemporary literary fiction, Yesteryear is really a story about a smart young woman from a difficult background trying to come to terms with her role in society.  As someone who is already mildly interested in the "trad-wife" movement (mostly monitored by following the Peter Thiel-backed lifestyle brand for women, Evie, I was interested in what Burk had to say about the movement, as well as its critics.  I was not disappointed.  Burk proves an adept observer of internet culture while not pursuing any stylistic tics that would put off a would-be reader.  Beyond the lit fic high concept, Yesterday is a traditional novel about the difficulties of being a young woman in contemporary society, as related to Emma Bovary as it is the tik tok account of Nara Smith.

   I had issues with the pacing at times, and the fact that the protagonist was so very unlikeable, but that is the point with an unreliable (?) narrator.