Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Echo Wife

This was one of the most tense and actually gripping thrillers I've read in a while, but despite getting sucked in I was disappointed by the neatness of the ending. Still very much worth the read. The characters are much more interesting than most in this genre and the book on the whole makes you think.

Content Warnings

katiefloyd's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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marlinspirkhall's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I tore through this book in 3 days and absolutely loved it. It's not quite as dark as some reviews may make it seem, but it does deal with some rather heavy subject matter in a mature and sober manner.

I wrote down a few thoughts as I began reading the book, but found it so engrossing that I didn't take detailed notes. It was fantastic, and I can't wait to reread it at some point. For now, it will be on-loan to a friend until they finish it.

You always hear writing advice which suggests you should hook the reader with the first paragraph, which Gailey does effortlessly.

"My gown was beautiful. It was the kind of garment that looks precisely as expensive as it is. I did not hate it, because it was beautiful, and I did not love it, because it was cruel. I wore it because wearing it was the thing the night demanded of me."

Gailey has a wonderful way of using words, which makes me rethink the often-underutilised potential of the English language. It's always just succinct enough that it never crosses into the territory of purple prose.

"Her voice was high, light, warm. Nonthreatening. Hearing it was like swallowing a cheekful of venom."

- page 29

"But somehow Nathan- Nathan, the coward, the failure, who had abandoned industry for academia nearly a decade before, who shouldn't have been able to approach the level of work I was doing- somehow, Nathan had found a way to undermine that principle. To undermine *my* principles."

Page 55:

Page 55: "when I got to the kitchen, Nathan was still dead"

Me, out loud: wait, what?!

Fucking good plot twist, fucking well done.

"People always brought up the idea of feeding
bodies
to pigs, as if there were pig farms around every goddamn corner."

Thank you, Gailey. There's an entire tumblr thread out there, to which I will be using this quote as a "gotcha".

The way that Gailey imbues several tropes into their work is skillfully done, too. Many reviews said they transformed the "cheating spouse" trope with a sci-fi twist, but, really, this book was about generational abuse. How it echoes down through your family and sets its roots in you, and makes you wonder fi you're going to internalise and repeat the pattern too... Which is why it's so cathartic when the book ends with:

"I'm not a monster.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Confinement, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Body Horror:

One of the "failed clones" which is buried in the back yard has a "spiral mandible" which is described in detail. Murder:

Nathan attacks Martine and she kills him in self-defense. It is later revealed he was trying to murder her, in addition to his plans to murder Evelyn. Oh, and he also has the bodies of 12 "failed" clones in the back yard. 11 of these are "growth rate" failures, and appear to have died on their own, but one body- the final one- was "perfect". The only thing he appears to have objected to was her personality.

Sexism, Misogyny: Nathan "designs" Martine to be docile and obedient. "He stammered his way through it, an entirely unreasonable request. One that was based in his constant certainty that I would, someday, change my mind about wanting children. He had always acted as though my decision not to have a baby were a temporary lapse, a delay. He had always assumed that all women came with an innate understanding of and desire for children- at least, the old Nathan had-

and so it was not a surprise to me when he asked if I would help him raise Violet."

Suicide:

In order to allow Martine to live a life free from Nathan 2, Evelyn and Martine dig up the body of a clone, and pose her in the wardrobe as if she has hanged herself. It could be an upsetting scene to some readers.

This also leads to (Abandonment):

a description of them leaving baby Violet behind, which made me burst into tears. However, thankfully, she is reunited with her mother later.

Domestic abuse, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse: This is made explicit in the narrative without *being* explicit- we see that Evelyn and her mother fear her father, and it is strongly hinted that

he broke Evelyn's wrist when she was nine years old. He also feels no remorse for this, and rolls his eyes when he sees that her arm is in a cast.

Child abuse: In addition to the above,

Evelyn's father switches between being outright neglectful of her and smothering her with his expectations and rules. He also grabs her face roughly when she is only six years old. Her mother trains her how to sneak around the house without making the stairs creak so that she doesn't wake her father. She is regularly seen running away from her father in flashbacks. She resents her mother, in part, and fears becoming her father while still respecting him.

rorikae's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

In 'The Echo Wife,' Sarah Gailey explores abusive relationships, the pressures put on women by society, and female friendship in a science fiction tinged thriller.
The story follows Evelyn Caldwell a revered scientist who has invented a process to clone humans. Despite her acclaimed career, Evelyn's personal life is far from golden. Her husband left her for a clone of herself that he created, minus all of the traits he considers flaws. But when Martine, Evelyn's clone, calls Evelyn to tell her that her ex-husband is dead, Evelyn's life begins to unravel in ways she never expected.
Sarah Gailey is one of my favorite authors for their ability to create deep, nuanced novels that are near impossible to put down and 'The Echo Wife' is another demonstration of their skill. On the surface, this novel sounds like a domestic thriller with a near future edge, which it is. But this book is also so much more than that. It is a nuanced exploration of familial trauma, emotional abuse, personhood, and gender roles. The relationship between Evelyn and Martine allows Evelyn to explore parts of her past that she has never chosen to address while also creating dialogue about what makes a person. Each character is flawed and not necessarily lovable, but this makes them deeply human in a way that is sometimes painful to read. Gailey also adds in a good helping of twists and turns that pull the story along to a conclusion I found incredibly satisfying. This is a hard book but worth every page. Gailey is already an auto-buy author for me and 'The Echo Wife' cemented why I think everyone needs to be reading their work.

Content Warnings

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have a habit of making dogears on the bottoms of pages to revisit powerful or poignant moments in books I enjoy. This book is mostly dogears now.

This story is more thought provoking than probably anything else I’ve ever encountered. It shies away from nothing, and tackles it’s characters and ideas expertly. If you can handle it, I cannot recommend this book enough. Sarah Gailey is one to watch.

Content Warnings

booksthatburn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THE ECHO WIFE gripped me from the first line, using calm and precise language to build a horrific tale of abuse and death. Every revelation drops like a stone into water, raising the level by inches until it feels like it can hold no more.

This is a well-paced thriller which doles out disturbing news just often enough to be unsettling. Evelyn's descriptions consistently bury the lede, pondering first the reactions and consequences to some very important piece of information before finally circling back to say what caused the fuss in the first place. It reshapes the weight of these moments to emphasize how dealing with each horrible (and sometimes not so horrible) event affects those who remain. It's disassociation in book form, as if Evelyn isn't ready to look at what's going on and must approach everything at an angle in order to have any chance of reaching it at all. I especially love the complex discussions about the ethics of cloning, the difference between what Nathan did and what Evelyn does, if there is one.

It's about healing, clawing back by inches what was taken and filling in new things where the old bits are lost forever. Figuring out what bits of Evelyn and Martine belong to themselves, leaving space for them to want different things even though they started out as the same person. It's shaped by the absence of an abuser, the gap left behind by someone who demanded that every thought fit his needs.

Content Warnings

thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. The opinions expressed herein are mine alone and may not reflect the views of the author, publisher, or distributor.

I've been in this weird kind of funk lately where I've picked up books by authors who haven't impressed me before, only to really like the book I picked up. Emma Donoghue, Kara Thomas, Fredrik Backman, and now Sarah Gailey. This year I read UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED but felt that the world was muddled and the story had no point. But the summary for THE ECHO WIFE really grabbed my attention, so--in spite of myself--I started reading. And I couldn't stop.

The characters felt so real here. The dire situations made my hair stand on end, and the philosophical knots presented were so mesmerizing to pick at. As soon as the sentient, sapient, what is a person argument whirled into the narrative, I immediately recommended this book to my husband. He LOVES stuff like this, and I know he'll enjoy it just as much as I did.

Sarah Gailey speaks about their own experiences with domestic abuse in the acknowledgements, and I personally identified with that part of the story because of the accuracy. I hate that they had to go through that. My brothers, mother, and myself are domestic abuse survivors, and the insidious way it crept into the lives of Evelyn and Martine here...it's chilling and scary and real.

I don't want to say too much. People should experience this semi-blind, because it's not at all what you expect it to be.

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