Yesteryear - Caro Claire Burke

Hi There,

Have you read any good books lately? 

I’ve gone through a few:  Theo of Golden, Here One Moment, The Correspondent, Mad Mabel, Yesteryear, currently reading Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare.

All of the above are recommended, especially Mad Mabel (love, love Mabel).

The book that continues to make me squint with minor irritation is Yesteryear.  Have you heard of it?  Read it?  What did you think?  Are you squinting?  Meaning, does Natalie’s vitriolic nature toward that which she deems beneath her resonate well with you or does Natalie’s attitude screech and shriek causing you to squint?

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy Yesteryear.  I wouldn’t have finished it (or any book) if it hadn’t engaged me with clever prose, plot and movement.  

If you’re not familiar with Yesteryear, author Caro Claire Burke takes aim at modern day influencers and their fake on-line lives.  Burke clothes Natalie with a conservative slant which allows her to really dig down with dirty fingernails and crucify Natalie’s purported Christian beliefs. 

There are some funny, albeit dark-humored lines:  

“My husband, sweet and sour peach brain cave idiot staring at me with unabashed pride,” 

“Middle America is deeply sympathetic to successful parents who have disappointing children,” 

“It would really help us if either of you has a drug problem.  He looked hopefully at Caleb and then at me, do either of you have a drug problem?” 

“After all, what were good Christian men if not experts at making their good Christian women vanish from the world?”

I’m Christian and conservative. I stayed home and raised my girls but did not do so in the internet age of influencers.  The influencer aspect of Burke’s book, in my opinion, is another topic all together. Phony, on-line personas are not only detrimental for the influencer but also for their audience.

Here’s my beef and blurb on Yesteryear:

I laughed out loud as Burke took aim at many things near and dear to my heart (gentle-men, raising and loving ones children full-time, marriage, Christianity, etc.).  I PAID for this book and finished it.  Yes, you could say I enjoyed it.

That being said, I’m imploring Ms. Burke to write a similar novel with an Islamic stay-at-home influencer mom?  Can you imagine how funny a likewise book would be?  One written by an author as talented as Caro Claire Burke about Islam?  

Women of Islam posing as influencers all the while bashing their husbands under their breath as Natalie did to Caleb?  In between lines criticizing and diminishing the Koran’s passages.  Imagine how laugh-out-loud funny that would be?

Or, better yet a similar novel from a liberal perspective.  Two dads, two moms?  You name it.  Just a full novel like Yesteryear where we can laugh out loud from a perspective other than Christianity, conservative, etc.? Hilarious?

Laughing at ones self is a sign of inner truth and maturity, is it not?

Please, someone, write one!  I will pre-purchase.

There’s the beef.  I’m fine being made fun of.  I can laugh along.  But I would love to laugh even harder…

Thank you for reading!

Love, Shelley