“Do you honestly think there are no consequences to performance?”
“Tradwife” is an often derogatory term used for women who voluntarily embrace submissive gender roles. It is a term that is politicized and polarized, and it is a term that Natalie Heller Mills does not own for herself, though her millions of followers on Instagram might say differently. Natalie Heller Mills lives on a cattle ranch with her husband and six children. She collects eggs and bakes bread, and she shares a life of simplicity online that the modern public craves. She has become an expert at knowing what they want. But life is not simple and rarely how it appears online. When she wakes up one day in another, terrifying reality, Natalie is forced to confront the world she’s built and the one she’s woken up in.
I want to start by saying that I think, for many, it would be easy to see this book as an attack on traditional Christian values and write it off because of that. While Natalie Heller Mills talks a lot about Christianity and a lot of the verbiage is similar to that used in Christian circles, it was clear to me early on that the God I personally know is not being discussed in those page. In my opinion, Caro Claire Burke has written a searing commentary on the powerful deception of online personas, how heavy life can be with the weight of others’ expectations, and how easily reality and performance can be blurred, and she has used the traditional Christian culture as the vessel to do so. As someone who identifies as more “in” that community than out of it, I thought the book was phenomenal. I think there are incredibly powerful lessons within its pages, and I would urge you not to be put off by the premise alone.
In an age where social media publicizes and monetizes private life like never before, at a time where the world feels divided by an ever-widening chasm, I think Natalie Heller Mills’ story has a lot to teach us. The flow of the book was exceptional, jumping between storylines seamlessly, and the reader gets a look into the protagonist’s psyche that felt wholly unique. I was absolutely captivated by this novel, reading it for a few hours at a time and finishing it in less than a week. There’s so much to unpack and dissect that, if you’ve read it, please do reach out as I’d love to discuss it.
I hope you read it because it’s timely and clever and interesting, but more than anything I hope you read it because it’s an excellent piece of fiction.
2% Rating: 8/10
Recommend? Yes
Re-Read? Probably
Time: 1:54