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A review by laminated_penguin
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
3.0
So, my impression of this book generally is that the narrator - Evelyn - is an insufferable jerk. Through the course of the book, we come to understand why a little better. The author does a very good job of conveying just how insufferable Evelyn is, and it’s understandable that we don’t necessarily have to like Evelyn to understand her or her story.
The writing was good; though, I did have to fight through the first two chapters. The plot moved at a good pace, and the emotional aspects were well explored. That was enough to give the book the stars it has. The rest?
I will sum it up as writing a character that constantly states how much smarter she is than everyone else and who never learns that she is not, despite overwhelming evidence. She ghosts at the thought she has been bested and almost reflects on it, and then does nothing with it. It leaves the reader tired, even if it’s somewhat realistic.
Every time there is a shred of growth in her characterization, we are only offered another example of how awful she is. She is always justified in her mind. Very human, but as a reader it makes it hard to sympathize with her.
To be honest? The clone stuff was nothing really original (except maybe the idea that the husband stole the concept from Evelyn and made a moonshine clone).
The way Evelyn dealt with everything was aggravating. The way Martine handled things wasn’t much better. And what are we to read in to Evelyn’s adapted adoption of her abusive father’s habits in the end? If it’s meant to be a resolution to her trauma, it just honestly isn’t going in the right direction. It makes the ending seem menacing.
How can Evelyn say that things are perfect if Martine’s whole existence is raising a baby by herself without a chance at socialization, employment, or even naps and then spending all of her free time as a research subject?
Why couldn’t Evelyn bring herself to kill Nathan’s clone when she doesn’t see them as people? And how can she continue killing them when she clearly has changed her mind about Martine’s humanity?
My aggravation comes from Evelyn’s constant waffling between how human the clones are. Quit playing in the realm of moral grey area. Either they are people or they are not. In the end, I get the impression that she still sees them as objects.
So, how do her motives make sense outside of a purely selfish outlook?
A better solution, in my opinion, would have been to kill Nathan and Martine’s clones with the “killswitch” and raise the baby. Bury Martine with the others. Then it’s just “Nathan” dying of natural causes. Martine and the baby are already a secret from society. No one would look for them.
But, that would require Evelyn to see her clone as somehow not special. It would require her to take responsibility for a baby. But how is that worse than living a weird shadow life where she sleeps in the same bed as her cloistered clone?
If she believes they are people, she’d give up her research and quit killing them. She’d try to get Martine the help she needs to enter society. But that would hurt Evelyn’s reputation. Selfishness on either side.
The writing was good; though, I did have to fight through the first two chapters. The plot moved at a good pace, and the emotional aspects were well explored. That was enough to give the book the stars it has. The rest?
I will sum it up as writing a character that constantly states how much smarter she is than everyone else and who never learns that she is not, despite overwhelming evidence. She ghosts at the thought she has been bested and almost reflects on it, and then does nothing with it. It leaves the reader tired, even if it’s somewhat realistic.
Every time there is a shred of growth in her characterization, we are only offered another example of how awful she is. She is always justified in her mind. Very human, but as a reader it makes it hard to sympathize with her.
To be honest? The clone stuff was nothing really original (except maybe the idea that the husband stole the concept from Evelyn and made a moonshine clone).
The way Evelyn dealt with everything was aggravating. The way Martine handled things wasn’t much better. And what are we to read in to Evelyn’s adapted adoption of her abusive father’s habits in the end? If it’s meant to be a resolution to her trauma, it just honestly isn’t going in the right direction. It makes the ending seem menacing.
How can Evelyn say that things are perfect if Martine’s whole existence is raising a baby by herself without a chance at socialization, employment, or even naps and then spending all of her free time as a research subject?
Why couldn’t Evelyn bring herself to kill Nathan’s clone when she doesn’t see them as people? And how can she continue killing them when she clearly has changed her mind about Martine’s humanity?
My aggravation comes from Evelyn’s constant waffling between how human the clones are. Quit playing in the realm of moral grey area. Either they are people or they are not. In the end, I get the impression that she still sees them as objects.
So, how do her motives make sense outside of a purely selfish outlook?
A better solution, in my opinion, would have been to kill Nathan and Martine’s clones with the “killswitch” and raise the baby. Bury Martine with the others. Then it’s just “Nathan” dying of natural causes. Martine and the baby are already a secret from society. No one would look for them.
But, that would require Evelyn to see her clone as somehow not special. It would require her to take responsibility for a baby. But how is that worse than living a weird shadow life where she sleeps in the same bed as her cloistered clone?
If she believes they are people, she’d give up her research and quit killing them. She’d try to get Martine the help she needs to enter society. But that would hurt Evelyn’s reputation. Selfishness on either side.