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foxmoon 's review for:
Wayward: A novel
by Dana Spiotta
I thought a long time about my rating for Wayward because it's not terrible. There are moments of poignancy and deep recognition. But there is also something about it that's so off. I never enjoyed myself reading it.
The characters are unlikable, which is usually whatever, not uncommon, but in this case they're so boring and trite and the whole situation is obnoxious. I couldn't buy the idea of Sam abandoning her family on a whim. The description for this book is wrong, she doesn't fall in love with the house and then decide to take it on as a passion project—she barely cares about the house at all—she's just a middle-adged woman having a reckless teenaged experience and makes a series of stupid, whiplash decisions just because she wants to and because no one tries to stop her.
In between all of the midlife crisisy stuff is a barrage of Trump-era zeitgeisty bullshit, too. There are pages and pages on Facebook groups and political meetings and thoughts about racism and ageism and misogyny and homelessness and so on that do less to create an understanding of the world Sam lives in and feel way closer to parody. There's no valuable cultural criticism or commentary added by including all of this stuff, it's just embarrassing and boring to flip through. And that stuff is like half of the content, so it seems like it's supposed to be there for some reason or another. But I really would have rather done without it.
I do feel like there is something valuable here with what it says regarding what it means to be a mother, daughter, and/or an aging woman in general but it just wasn't worth it to get through the rest.
The characters are unlikable, which is usually whatever, not uncommon, but in this case they're so boring and trite and the whole situation is obnoxious. I couldn't buy the idea of Sam abandoning her family on a whim. The description for this book is wrong, she doesn't fall in love with the house and then decide to take it on as a passion project—she barely cares about the house at all—she's just a middle-adged woman having a reckless teenaged experience and makes a series of stupid, whiplash decisions just because she wants to and because no one tries to stop her.
In between all of the midlife crisisy stuff is a barrage of Trump-era zeitgeisty bullshit, too. There are pages and pages on Facebook groups and political meetings and thoughts about racism and ageism and misogyny and homelessness and so on that do less to create an understanding of the world Sam lives in and feel way closer to parody. There's no valuable cultural criticism or commentary added by including all of this stuff, it's just embarrassing and boring to flip through. And that stuff is like half of the content, so it seems like it's supposed to be there for some reason or another. But I really would have rather done without it.
I do feel like there is something valuable here with what it says regarding what it means to be a mother, daughter, and/or an aging woman in general but it just wasn't worth it to get through the rest.