Natalie Heller Mills je “savršena” tradicionalna žena kauboja: živi na farmi, proizvodi vlastito mlijeko, peče kruh i odgaja djecu kao da je 1805. godina. I sve to uredno dokumentira na društvenim mrežama. Stvarnost iza kamere nije bitna jer što nije na društvenim mrežama nije se dogodilo. A onda se jednog dana budi upravo tamo gdje je sve to do sada samo zamišljala, u dalekoj 1805. godini…
Yesteryear je knjiga koja je posljednjih tjedana podigla ogromnu prašinu i koju sam i ja nestrpljivo čekala. Uglavnom je ispunila moja očekivanja, iako su me neki dijelovi iznenadili.
Tijekom čitanja često sam se pitala što se ovdje zapravo događa? Kakav je ovo time travel? I na kraju je ispalo donekle onako kako sam i pretpostavljala. Stil pisanja tjera vas da stalno očekujete neki veliki, ludi preokret…i na kraju ga zaista i dobijete.
Ipak, ne mogu reći da mi je knjiga za čistu peticu. Možda zato što sam, prema svim najavama prije izlaska, očekivala da će naglasak biti više na društvenim mrežama i tom ludilu koje mogu izazvati kod nekih ljudi. Moj konačni dojam ipak je otišao u nešto drugačijem smjeru.
Ono što mi je posebno zanimljivo je činjenica da mi niti jedan lik nije bio ni najmanje simpatičan. Natalie čak predvodi konkurenciju za najiritantniji lik od svih o kojima sam u zadnje vrijeme čitala.
Unatoč svemu, Yesteryear je jako dobra knjiga i apsolutno zaslužuje svu pažnju koju je dobila. A dodatno me veseli i adaptacija čija je prava već osigurala Anne Hathaway.
[english]
Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke
Natalie Heller Mills is the “perfect” traditional cowboy’s wife: she lives on a farm, produces her own milk, bakes bread, and raises her children as if it were 1805. And she documents all of it on social media. Reality behind the camera doesn’t matter. Because we all know — if it’s not posted, it didn’t happen. And then one day she wakes up exactly where she has only ever imagined being in the distant year of 1805…
Yesteryear is a book that has created a huge buzz over the past few weeks, and one I had been eagerly anticipating. For the most part, it lived up to my expectations, although some parts did surprise me.
While reading, I often found myself wondering what is actually going on here? What kind of time travel is this? In the end, it turned out somewhat how I expected. The writing style keeps you constantly anticipating a big, wild twist… and you do eventually get it.
Still, I can’t quite say it’s a full five-star read for me. Maybe because, based on all the pre-release hype, I expected the story to focus more on social media and the kind of madness it can trigger in some people. My overall impression ended up going in a slightly different direction.
One thing I found especially interesting is that I didn’t find a single character even remotely likable. Natalie definitely leads the race for the most irritating character I’ve read about in a while.
Despite everything, Yesteryear is a very good book and absolutely deserves all the attention it has received. And I’m especially excited about the adaptation to which the rights have already been secured by Anne Hathaway.
