Verified Influencer: A Book Review of Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
“My name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.”
Deep in the rolling hills of Idaho, Natalie and Caleb are playing at the perfect, American farm life. The one with lowing cows and six children and farm fresh eggs that we love to drool over as we scroll. And doesn’t Natalie know it. She has made an empire from serving up exactly what women want, but can’t have. Shot after shot of blissful matrimony, motherhood, and golden meringue in high definition filters. What Natalie doesn’t get, yet, is that picturesque Yesteryear ranch is unobtainable for her, too. One fateful move implodes her whole creation in front of a watching world.
Yesteryear is the satirical story of young mother Natalie Heller Mills as she claws her way out of the throes of intense post-partum depression. Not able to bear another endless afternoon alone with her newborn, she calls her mom from the bathroom floor. Panting from desperation, Natalie asks her how she accomplished the impossible while looking perfect.
Her mother’s response, “I just pretend someone is watching.”
Caro Claire Burke, in her debut novel Yesteryear, presses on the bruise that is felt by a vast percentage of the female population in the US. A painful black and blue need for perfectionism. And what fresh-faced brand of influencers have been serving up gorgeous, heaping portions of what we think we want? Women who present home baked living, farm-fresh ingredients, and traditional values without a single stain or wrinkle. Or more commonly, the tradwives. We can’t stop watching reels of their delightful meals coming together in fifty seconds, their sparkling tables adorned with garden fresh flowers, and, “God help us,” the sourdough.
My best friend, my husband, and I could not put down Yesteryear. What book could hit the mark for three completely different people who typically read different genres? Simply put, one with this cringey of a concept. And we haven’t stopped talking about it since. Out in March of this year, Yesteryear is making some big waves in the book world. A Good Morning America Book Club pick, it’s sharp, brutally honest, impossible, and necessary. All readers will get “it” because of our shared experience with the inescapable magnetism of social media.
And we love to hate how much we enjoy scrolling, right? We live with this constant tension of, “I should just delete the app. I will minimize my distractions!” And then before we know it our delicate balance of self-control and app timers have toppled into wasted hours we regret. The reels we love to watch, the ads are for things we buy, and the influencers say things we like to hear. Try as we might, we can’t get away from the physical world that social media has shaped around us. So, it’s time we demand better of our shared platform.
My favorite part of this book was the ending. Burke made an excellent choice that gave voice to the proper person. I won’t give the details away. I am thankful for having visited Yesteryear for a bit. It stopped me in my tracks, causing me and my people to think about choices and consequences, to set up my own guardrails from false influences, and to remember to stay connected to real people in real time. I can’t predict the future, but I think this book is going to be important to explain the threats we faced in our generation. The way To Kill a Mockingbird and Fahrenheit 451 did, and still do.
It’s my job to influence you, so go read Yesteryear. This one is important.
