A review by marlinspirkhall
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I tore through this book in 3 days and absolutely loved it. It's not quite as dark as some reviews may make it seem, but it does deal with some rather heavy subject matter in a mature and sober manner.
I wrote down a few thoughts as I began reading the book, but found it so engrossing that I didn't take detailed notes. It was fantastic, and I can't wait to reread it at some point. For now, it will be on-loan to a friend until they finish it.
I wrote down a few thoughts as I began reading the book, but found it so engrossing that I didn't take detailed notes. It was fantastic, and I can't wait to reread it at some point. For now, it will be on-loan to a friend until they finish it.
You always hear writing advice which suggests you should hook the reader with the first paragraph, which Gailey does effortlessly.
"My gown was beautiful. It was the kind of garment that looks precisely as expensive as it is. I did not hate it, because it was beautiful, and I did not love it, because it was cruel. I wore it because wearing it was the thing the night demanded of me."
Gailey has a wonderful way of using words, which makes me rethink the often-underutilised potential of the English language. It's always just succinct enough that it never crosses into the territory of purple prose.
"Her voice was high, light, warm. Nonthreatening. Hearing it was like swallowing a cheekful of venom."
- page 29
"But somehow Nathan- Nathan, the coward, the failure, who had abandoned industry for academia nearly a decade before, who shouldn't have been able to approach the level of work I was doing- somehow, Nathan had found a way to undermine that principle. To undermine *my* principles."
Page 55:
Spoiler
Page 55: "when I got to the kitchen, Nathan was still dead"
Me, out loud: wait, what?!
Fucking good plot twist, fucking well done.
"People always brought up the idea of feedingto pigs, as if there were pig farms around every goddamn corner."Spoiler
bodies
Thank you, Gailey. There's an entire tumblr thread out there, to which I will be using this quote as a "gotcha".
The way that Gailey imbues several tropes into their work is skillfully done, too. Many reviews said they transformed the "cheating spouse" trope with a sci-fi twist, but, really, this book was about generational abuse. How it echoes down through your family and sets its roots in you, and makes you wonder fi you're going to internalise and repeat the pattern too... Which is why it's so cathartic when the book ends with:
Spoiler
"I'm not a monster.Graphic: Emotional abuse and Body horror
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Confinement, Alcohol, and Blood
Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment
Body Horror:
Sexism, Misogyny: Nathan "designs" Martine to be docile and obedient.
"He stammered his way through it, an entirely unreasonable request. One that was based in his constant certainty that I would, someday, change my mind about wanting children. He had always acted as though my decision not to have a baby were a temporary lapse, a delay. He had always assumed that all women came with an innate understanding of and desire for children- at least, the old Nathan had-
Suicide: This also leads to (Abandonment):
Domestic abuse, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse: This is made explicit in the narrative without *being* explicit- we see that Evelyn and her mother fear her father, and it is strongly hinted that
Child abuse: In addition to the above,