Yesteryear: A GMA Book Club Pick

Yesteryear ist ein Buch, das man so schnell nicht vergisst. Der Schreibstil ist unglaublich flüssig, man fliegt förmlich durch die Seiten, und doch ist es absolut anders als alles, was ich bisher gelesen habe. Die Geschichte hat etwas Einzigartiges an sich – sie überrascht, fesselt und bleibt lange im Kopf. Ich möchte nicht zu viel verraten, um niemandem den besonderen Effekt zu nehmen, aber eins kann ich sagen: Es ist genial. Wer Lust auf ein Buch abseits des Gewohnten hat, sollte Yesteryear auf jeden Fall eine Chance geben.

Natalie lives the picture perfect life. A husband who adores her, a gaggle of kids she loves, a successful farm, and thousands of followers online who admire her. If she tries hard enough, she can almost convince herself that it’s all real. But behind the carefully placed camera and lights Natalie is just a person trying hard to fit standards set for her by Him; or rather, her religious upbringing. Despite being an atheist myself, I was happy to learn that the book is not an unserious bashing of religion or a gratutious ’I told you so‘ about tradwives. It is rather a serious dissection of American Christian Fundamentalism and how it intersects with American founding myths and the country’s current politics. Burke never pins down which denomination of Fundamentalism either and so the Mills’ religious convictions about gender and traditional family dynamics are as generic as their rustic chic kitchen. My main critique is that at first I was a little disappointed with the time jump storyline . The shock Natalie was supposed to be feeling didn’t register to me at all and the uncanny atmosphere I had expected never transpired. And to be fair, from the blurb I had expected something very different. I understand that it was necessary for the plot twist to work, but still, maybe some changes to either the structure of the plot or the blurb could’ve been made I’m also not quite sure how I feel about the fact that I can pick out the two main inspirations for Natalie Heller Mills and her family. Both are Mormon influencers, namely Ballerina Farm and 8Passengers. The latter had made big headlines some years ago after child abuse was uncovered and the mother sentenced to prison. The eldest daughter, Shari Franke, advocates for stricter child protection laws against online expoitation and published a memoir titled ’The House of my Mother’. A work I find resonates very well with ’Yesteryear’.