🚨 SPOILER ALERT: this conversation contains many spoilers. Proceed with caution.
In this episode of the Hidden Systems Book Club, we talk about the complex systems in Yesteryear. This includes:
The end of the tradwife/influencer era, social media, and capitalism?
Fascism, regression, and nostalgia
How the need to belong fuels groups like incels and flat-earthers
The End of History bias
How we rate Yesteryear (see the full rating scale here):
One more time: SPOILER ALERT!
Jesse’s rating: 6.3
Intensely readable and immensely zeitgeisty, but with a pile of missteps and missed opportunities that became impossible to overlook.
Leah’s rating: 6.5
It’s interesting and has some compelling ideas. I would have rated it higher if had been a speculative novel that focused on systemic issues it raises rather than Natalie’s psychological breakdown.
Questions for our subscribers/commenters:
What’s your take on the trad wife movement? How does it reflect the current socio-economic and political moment?
What is the role of social and political theatre for the characters in this book? How do our systems demand a performance in real life?
What insights could we have gained from a speculative version of the book?
What do you think happens to Natalie after the book ends? What’s next for IRL tradwives?
What did we not cover in our review that you think is important?
Check out what’s next in the Hidden Systems Book Club:
Announcement: Welcome to the Hidden Systems Book Club!
Who said the age of reading is over? Not us (at least, not yet)!Thanks for reading Hidden Systems Book Club! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
