Beware the Woman and Other Tales
Welcome to life #142
The original title of this week’s newsletter was “Beware the Woman and Other Tales of the Patriarchy” but I thought I’d give the readership and my open rate statistics a fighting chance.
NO BUT WAIT DON’T GO YET
Despite the polemical clickbait title, all of these week’s titles are very different but equally compelling takes on a tale as old as time: the power dynamic between men and women; the ways in which women, especially young women, are vulnerable, are exploited, are ignored, and are agents in each other’s opportunities and oppressions; the ways in which systems are often set up to believe men, and disbelieve women; and the tinderbox of rage that lives just below the surface of so many women.
NO SERIOUSLY DON’T GO IT’S A GOOD THEME
I could list a million books in this genre but I’ll keep it brief, with a range from creepy to thriller to bright to illuminating, including one of my favorite authors. And most importantly, none are screeds. All you might enjoy reading. Pinky promise.
Plus! Read on for an UNSOLVED BOOK MYSTERY!
Megan Abbott is one of those authors that is popular while not being nearly as popular as she should. I both adore her and dread reading every new book that comes out because no one writes deeply creepy, unsettling female-centric thrillers like she is. (Megan Abbott fans: do you think she’s a chilling Wednesday Addams type IRL? or do you think she, like, is super chatty over lattes and wants to talk about Bravo TV?)
Power summary: Beware the Woman’s Jaci has finally gotten what she always wanted - a new husband, Jed, who promises to take care of her with a baby on the way. But when Jaci has a health scare during a visit to Jed’s family home in rural Michigan, what seems like the perfect family turns oppressive, cloistered, and sinister that Jaci struggles to esape.
If this is your genre, you’ll really like this novel. Abbott does an excellent job of slowly lowering the net of dread and danger, skillfully indicting all the ways that women (especially pregnant women) can lose their agency in the name of keeping the baby safe. It’s not my favorite Megan Abbott book - in fact it might be my least favorite because I prefer her books that go deep into a subculture - and I still would recommend this.*
PSA: Gentle lamb ratings are designed for your. emotional. safety! READ HERE
And now let’s lighten things up with a little novel about the victims of a serial killer.
NO DON’T - honestly, go if you have to. Or just skip to the next one that actually is lighter!
Power summary: Bright Young Women weaves together fictionalized tales based on the horrific crimes of Ted Bundy, connecting two women and their quest for justice, security, and individuality.
I mean, this is all the trigger warnings, okay? If you can and want to get past that, Bright Young Women is a psychological thriller, bookended by crimes, tightly woven together by the survivors who are fighting to take the spotlight off an evil man and put it on the young women who were so swiftly cut down. It’s an old story of how legal, media, and social systems default to neat narratives and easy conclusions. A throbbing, breakneck read that’s also surprisingly tender. Really good.
Power summary: Four women on a Greek archaeological dig discover an artifact that threatens to upend history - if they can work together to prove it.
Okay, I’m glad we’re talking about this. Because book Instagram and this cover realllly want you to think this is a beach read. And it IS - it’s quick, light, acerbically funny - but it’s also got an extremely sharp undercurrent. Kind of 9 to 5 meets Gillian Flynn. Fun and fierce. I just wanted you to know what we were dealing with.
And from the archive, a few more must-reads that are close enough to this topic:
Fates and Furies: because no one does the woman and power (or lack thereof) dynamic like the exceptional Lauren Groff
My Brilliant Friend: unless it’s Elena Ferrante, whose books practically vibrate with the furious danger of repressed women
Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch: is such a peculiar, funny, smart and weird little book about the collective condemnation of a woman in a 17th century German village
Wild Game: is almost not really in this genre but I’m including it because there is no character like the mother in this memoir, and it’s a reminder that the manipulation of women is not limited to men nor to fiction
Leave YOUR best suggestion in this genre! Most people have one. Or, you know, leave your favorite graphic novel. Really, comments can cover anything so let ‘er rip.
An Unsolved Book Mystery Starring YOURS TRULY
At the beginning of the month, an unmarked Amazon package showed up at my office. Addressed to me. Containing The Four Agreements, apparently a self-improvement book.
There was no note.
No one has claimed responsibility.
Was this a colleague covertly telling me that I need to get it together?
Was this a secret book friend sharing an international best seller that they loved?
Was this THE UNIVERSE saying, wearily, “girl, I have sent you every subtle suggestion about change but apparently you need it SPELLED OUT IN TEXT FINE THAT’S FINE HERE YOU GO GAH WHY CAN’T I SPEND MORE TIME ON TAYLOR SWIFT.”
It’s a mystery. If you can shed some light, please do.
LET ME FINISH
All links go to Bookshop.org, which supports indie bookstores including the ones you love the most. If you buy a book through this link apparently I get five cents. I say apparently because it never happens. But it COULD! (Is optimism in The Four Agreements?)
If you slogged through this newsletter despite not being interested in dismantling the patriarchy, thank you! And check the archive for something you might prefer because every week is something different - a different genre, year, or theme. It’s the Magic 8-Ball of newsletters!
Likes, shares, comments, recommendations, subscriptions, and cat videos gratefully received. (Self-promotion cannot be in The Four Agreements. But maybe “ask for what you want” is? Ugh, self-help is SO CONFUSING.)
**You Will Know Me is my favorite Megan Abbott. OOOHH it’s so creepy and good in a Black Swan way. NO ONE does body and sex horror like she does.
Great list! Megan Abbott always delivers. I haven’t read Excavations, but it sounds like a fun read.
Adding Excavations to Libby. Glad I read about it here as based on the cover I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. (Almost avoided Lessons in Chemistry based on the cover. Glad I didn’t.) Fates & Furies is one of the only books by Groff I didn’t love, and I’ve been a fan since Monsters of Templeton. Book that comes to mind that I’d add is A Woman is No Man, although a heartbreaking look at the lack of power women have, especially in certain cultures. (I did not love her recent book, Evil Eye. Similar theme but not as well executed IMO.)