Should You Read Yesteryear? Here's Why I Did

In Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood, a character explains to another why he doesn't read contemporary fiction. Instead, he only reads books published at least 30 years ago, "If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."

That, of course, is bullshit. 

It's a nice little bromide (BRO-mide lol) to sling around (mostly by beanie-wearing dudes 😂) to emphasize what a freethinker and discerning reader you are. But it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

And so with that as preamble, I need to tell you that, yes, I read Yesteryear. Yesteryear IS the book everyone else is reading. A  lot of people love it. Many don't. But almost everyone has a very strong opinion.

I read it because I wanted to know what everyone else is thinking, not because I wanted to think what everyone else is thinking.

Look, we read for a lot of reasons. To be entertained, mainly. But also, to learn. To distract ourselves from the persisting horrors. Etc.

At least once (and often more) a shift at the bookstore this spring and summer, someone has come in asking for Yesteryear. They also often ask if I've read it. So, another reason to read is simply for cultural literacy. I wanted to part of the conversation. I wanted a right to an opinion.

My opinion: The novel's based on an interesting premise, but it is not a great novel. Deeply cynical and more than a little sad, it's purposefully designed to provoke. And I almost never like novels like that. 

But because I didn't like it, discussing (being part of the conversation!) with readers who did has been really fun. (It's also been fun to commiserate with other readers who didn't like it.😎)

Here's one example of a conversation: At the Chicago Review of Books, my friend and colleague Sara Cutaia and I discussed the novel in the second installment of Critics in Conversation. Sara is a sharp reader and fantastic writer, and we managed to disagree with civility. Check out the conversation here:

Whether you loved or hated Yesteryear, you'd have to agree, it's gotten people talking. And people talking about books is almost never a bad thing. As long as they can think about them in their own ways.