Why We Hated Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Things
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- A buddy read review by Shawn the Book Maniac ( / @shawnbreathesbooks ) and me.
The Natural Way of Things: / the-natural-way-of-things
Britta Bohler's Review: • BooksWeekly - Surpris...
Follow Shawn on Litsy and Twitter: @shawnmooney or on Instagram at shawnthebookmaniac. Shawn's Goodreads is / shawn-mooney
Follow Heidi on Twitter: @Cobscook_mom or on Goodreads: / heidi-leighton
I guess the book is symbolic of the society we live in. It's a dystopic book reflecting the issues of the modern world, patriarchy, capitalism, misogyny, etc. By showing the complete lack of cooperation amongst women, the author reflects the reality of patriarchy still existing and women in power not helping those who aren't so fortunate. It also explores the internalised misogyny, slutshaming done by women. Yolanda completely rejected the society that hates on her, doesn't allow her to be free, so her way of freeing herself was to become an animal.
Hi Heidi,
Completely understand everything you're saying about The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood.
Although in saying you never found out about "why" they were there, they explain that they all were there for sexual encounters by men in power. In one part of the book they each tell there memory to each other of how they were tricked into signing a document and then the next day got taken away.
Unfortunately if you were unaware of the incidence that happened in Australia regarding women and how they were publicly shamed in relation to having a sexual incident with a man in power, you wouldn't have caught on the the references of 'army slut'- referencing a girl that was in the Aus Army and got disciplined and kicked out of the army for having relations with another soldier(He was filming the event without her knowledge) yet she got punished. There was a reference "minister's little travel tramp" - was in reference to the minister having a mistress and she got blamed and scorned but not him...
Yes you are so right- about the stereotype. Charlotte wanted to convey that yes we women as much as we get knocked by men, we haven't learnt to not knock ourselves... Very Ironic! :)
Thanks Heidi!
Fascinating! I hadn't realized there were so many references to specific incidents in Australian culture. That makes a lot more sense. I recently read Women Talking by Miriam Toews that was a lot more satisfying to me about a group of women reacting to abuse by men. Thanks for your response!
Actually, the story itself is based on the actual place that was established in Australia in 1960s and 70s, the Hay Institution for girls who were sexually assaulted and told someone. The stories of particular girls were also based on recent scandals. It is awful to read, the violence, hatred and sense of injustice I think is supposed to put us in the position of those women and actually experience misogyny with them.
I agree with you both. I just finished the book and the ending made me laugh out loud. These women knew Hardings was part of the evil plot to capture them, and then they all just got on his bus and were like 'he's come to take us home?' WHAT??? That made no sense on any level!
The ending definitely stays with you...for me in a head scratching way! Thanks for watching.
When you were talking about the stereotypes of women and how it didn't read as satire, I thought of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. That book is amusing satire about beauty queens who live through a plane crash on an island. I loved it.
I have heard of that book but not read it. Thanks for the recommendation.
i left when you sent us away because of spoilers but once i heard shawn i knew i wasn't going to read this so i came to enjoy your take..and i did enjoy it..
Glad you enjoyed the rant! :)
what does the quote "the natural way of things" mean?
I DNF'd this book after reading it for what felt like forever, but I only managed to get about 120 pages in after a crapton of effort.
Oh, you never find out? So glad I gave up, because ain't nobody got time for this junk.
True! I felt cheated at the end! So irritating!!
I loved a good evisceration of a book 😂 Your strong feelings were absolutely palpable. I can feel that frustration and cannot understand the justification of this book! But after watching Britta’s review, I can only assume this was based on a true story to explain the women’s actions? Great review! Hope the next one you pick up is better 😂
I wish I had been able to get as much out of this book as Britta did! It was very cathartic to film this review.
I agree with you on everything except that the women would be able to overpower the two men. You have to remember that at the beginning they were drugged, forced to do hard labour and were not fed nutritious meals. By the time the power went out and they found out that the jailers were stuck to there was no benefit in killing them.
This read was still the most unsatisfying book that I've ever read. What ended up happening with the girls on the bus? Why were they put them their in the first place?
You make good points about the state of the women in the beginning. My frustration with the book built and built until the extremely unsatisfying ending. That ending sent me over the edge!
@@myreadinglife8816 I completely agree. Worst ending ever!
i laughed out loud at your comparison of the guards to the three stooges.
Such an accurate comparison!
Hate reading! Love that term. That's the sort of book to be used as kindling for the fire.
It was a book that simultaneously made me angry and that I must be missing something!
I totally agree with everything Heidi said
Man, I love a good hate review! Thanks for saving me from reading this 😆
I do what I can! ;)
Sorry you had a such a crappy reading experience Heidi though at least you and Shawn had fun hating it together! I’d heard lots of good things about this one as a Stella Prize winner etc and it sounds like it might be a hate or love book, I wonder which side I’d fall on but I’m not sure I want to find out!
It started off strong but was ultimately so frustrating! I will say I have continued to think about this book, and wonder what I was missing. I have come up with a few theories, but ultimately, I think my frustration and the lack of characterization other than stereotypes killed it for me.
After the first 70 pages, I sped/skim read it. I hated it.
No character development. No world building. No story arc. No closure. Was it reality TV? Who is Harding International? I thought from the plate it was some religious group.
Glad it was not just me! LOL
Wow...you both are making me reflect: on brainwashing, on the Stockholm syndrome, on the effects of systemic messaging, etc. I'm off to see what Britta had to say... Great thought provoking, guys.
Reflecting on colonialism, I just rewatched this video AND Britta's, twice. I'm sooo getting this book! Sounds very, very familiar.
@@seriela It IS a thought-provoking book to be sure. The way the women were characterized just drove me nuts. I will say I haven't stopped thinking about it so it was successful in that way.
I'm sorry that this was such a disappointment for the two of you, but not too sorry because we got this fun review out of it! ;)
Shawn and I did have an awful good time ripping this one to shreds on Voxer and then making this video! So we will call that a win! LOL
This one was such a disappointment. This book could have been so good. I have a Goodreads shelf called "meh" and this resides there.
I know I shouldn’t be but I’m so happy to see this video. I HATED THIS BOOK WITH A PASSION! I just kept thinking why are you all lolling around? If you don’t want to kill the captors then at least tie them up and get out yourself. 10 against 3 - it ain’t difficult maths! Also I just found it all incredibly offensive. I despised the make up scene at the end - fucking awful. I hate how this book was celebrated as some great feminist novel - in my mind its the opposite. Boo boo boo 😂
You have no idea how happy your comment makes me, especially since I trust your bookish judgement so much!! Thanks for the affirmation! LOL
Get out where? They're in the middle of buttfuck nowhere in an old abandoned sheep station. There's literally nowhere to go. The outside is surrounded by an electric fence, too. Boncer even walked them all out to the fence to show them that if they were to try and escape, they'd be walking for days on end.