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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality
After finishing this book, I was reading through some of the reviews, as one is wont to do, and it’s clearly very divisive. In a nutshell it’s about a woman named Sam who is in her early 50s, approaching menopause, having a mid-life crisis of sorts. This crisis is instigated by the election of Trump, but you can tell that Sam’s dissatisfaction with life has been brewing for a while. There’s a lot of political and social commentary woven into Sam’s own story as a mother, daughter, wife. What makes the book interesting and clearly divisive is the fact that Sam is an affluent, white, privileged woman. She clearly holds liberal viewpoints, but a lot of her actions contradict her beliefs. She’s also quite judgmental and has no character development throughout the whole novel. I think the reason why I enjoyed the book though was firstly because the writing is impeccable, but also I think the author is fully aware of what she’s doing. She’s not trying to make you sympathize with Sam—instead, she’s painted an accurate portrait.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Note: This review discusses what I believe to be an inappropriate plot point of Black trauma to further the storyline of a white protagonist by a white author. I am a white reader/reviewer, and I encourage readers to prioritize and amplify the opinions of Black readers/reviewers over my own.
Thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy of Wayward.
Wayward is a novel that explores motherhood, womanhood, menopause, and aging through Sam- a multidimensional protagonist, with moments of narration by her teenage daughter Ally. In the wake of Sam's mother's declining health and her own strained relationship with her husband and daughter, Sam decides to move out of her family's suburban home into a fixer-upper old home in a nearby neighborhood.
Unfortunately this novel fell short for me. WARNING, SPOILERS. I’m including several spoilers as they are critical to my issue with this novel.
Within this last 100 pages of the novel, we follow as Sam: reveals CPS was previously called due to Sam's behavior while Ally was receiving emergency care, discovers Ally is dating a 29 year old friend of her husband, witnesses the murder of an unarmed Black teenager at the hands of police, suffers from a seizure (which may have been a physical attack; it's unclear) and wakes up in the hospital wounded and confused.
This number of events is so difficult to process, especially within a short number of pages, and I believe it lacks the space to give appropriate attention to a traumatic plot point involving the murder of a Black teenager by police. I am so so confused by this decision, as this is a novel exploring aging and motherhood through the lens of a white woman character, and I believe this plot line to be largely irrelevant to these themes. Additionally, this triggering scene is not mentioned in the blurb provided by the publisher, which I believe is irresponsible.
I completely welcome feedback that disagrees with my assessment, and again I defer to the opinions of Black readers/reviewers.
Thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy of Wayward.
Wayward is a novel that explores motherhood, womanhood, menopause, and aging through Sam- a multidimensional protagonist, with moments of narration by her teenage daughter Ally. In the wake of Sam's mother's declining health and her own strained relationship with her husband and daughter, Sam decides to move out of her family's suburban home into a fixer-upper old home in a nearby neighborhood.
Unfortunately this novel fell short for me. WARNING, SPOILERS. I’m including several spoilers as they are critical to my issue with this novel.
Within this last 100 pages of the novel, we follow as Sam: reveals CPS was previously called due to Sam's behavior while Ally was receiving emergency care, discovers Ally is dating a 29 year old friend of her husband, witnesses the murder of an unarmed Black teenager at the hands of police, suffers from a seizure (which may have been a physical attack; it's unclear) and wakes up in the hospital wounded and confused.
This number of events is so difficult to process, especially within a short number of pages, and I believe it lacks the space to give appropriate attention to a traumatic plot point involving the murder of a Black teenager by police. I am so so confused by this decision, as this is a novel exploring aging and motherhood through the lens of a white woman character, and I believe this plot line to be largely irrelevant to these themes. Additionally, this triggering scene is not mentioned in the blurb provided by the publisher, which I believe is irresponsible.
I completely welcome feedback that disagrees with my assessment, and again I defer to the opinions of Black readers/reviewers.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As a former student at SU and a fan of Spiotta's, I thought this was a fun read. The portrait of Syracuse as a town doesn't get quite the kicking I'd give it, but it also felt like the town is, if anything, less distinct in its identity than it was thirty years ago.
That town-- gentrifying, or maybe not-- and its frustrated bougie burb dwelllers, plays a large role in this, as does midlife and the political crisis engendered by Trump's 2016 election. Early sections of the book play with satire-- how much reaction is too much-- and constructive or destructive political organizing, but those ideas mostly receded into a character study of the woman at the center of this book as she navigates her status in the sandwich generation, between her mother and daughter, as she experiences her own midlife.
It's good, the writing is sharp, and the status details are funny and occasionally incriminating. I think the plotting was, for me, a little too haphazard, a little too out of the choices of the protagonist to really make me understand how the protagonist's journey mattered. But I liked reading it.
That town-- gentrifying, or maybe not-- and its frustrated bougie burb dwelllers, plays a large role in this, as does midlife and the political crisis engendered by Trump's 2016 election. Early sections of the book play with satire-- how much reaction is too much-- and constructive or destructive political organizing, but those ideas mostly receded into a character study of the woman at the center of this book as she navigates her status in the sandwich generation, between her mother and daughter, as she experiences her own midlife.
It's good, the writing is sharp, and the status details are funny and occasionally incriminating. I think the plotting was, for me, a little too haphazard, a little too out of the choices of the protagonist to really make me understand how the protagonist's journey mattered. But I liked reading it.
Read 118 of the 270 pages. And that was generous. This is a short story at best. This story of a privileged, middle-aged white woman was so boring. I found my mind drifting as I was reading this story. I honestly didn't care what happened to Sam. Also, I couldn't tell if the author was being ironic or not in her writing. There were parts of the novel where Sam referred to other people and said how cliche they were. And yet Sam is the biggest cliche. It's like the author was just ticking boxes. Middle-aged white woman? Check. Midlife crisis? Check. Angsty teenage daughter? Check. Scary homeless person? Check. Well to do white husband who pays for everything? Check. It was all just so boring.
Identified with much of this, but wanted to love it more. I guess it is hard to have a likable character going thru a midlife crisis.