Girlbosses and Housewives Against Cosmic Horror in Sarah Langan's New Book "Trad Wife"

Jenny Kaplan is as New York City as they come – independent and complex, trying to make a living through a severely underpaid job at the lifestyle magazine Bread and Circus, and always one rent away from being evacuated. Her biggest accomplishment is a very personal and honest piece of autofiction that includes her break up and abortion, titled “Drano”, which got her the most views and support she ever had, but also brought along powerful enemies, such as The Brotherhood and, unfortunately, the owners of her workplace.

Canceled and fired, she is given one last chance by her editor in chief; an interview with the insanely popular YouTube star, “Trad Wife” Mia who lives in a remote farm with her husband and her 7 children, including the one in her belly. Mia is perfect – she has her family under her control, her house is impeccable, and most important, she has a massive following who is absolutely mad about her. Below the surface, though, Jenny notices things that are off, and the more she observes the more she finds strangeness in this place where all animals are infected with a mysterious illness, the rooms stink of rotten meat, and only cursory glitches allow glimpses into the genuine state of the place. Why can’t Mia smile, is it really Botox? Why is her husband Steadman so robotic and confused? With each passing day of the week Jenny is supposed to stay with them, she feels sicker, burnt out, and drawn into a scheme she wants nothing to do with…

Trad Wife is such a tour de force – really, anyone interested in and worried about the current cultural shift and where it drags women’s lives needs to read it. The subject matter is certainly a delicate one and poses a dilemma; on the one hand the stereotypical Trad Wife is one that submits to her husband’s wishes and is basically, as August Bebel put it, the “working class” part in the marriage; but on the other hand, it’s in my nature to just live and let everyone live the way they want to. I was glad that Langan didn’t even attempt to diminish or ridicule neither side’s choice in her book.

I also had to do some research about Trad Wives, as I marginally knew what they do on social media, but I wasn’t aware of the degree of their popularity and was as surprised as some of the townsfolk in Trad Wife who didn’t see what the big deal is, as they are propagating what is for so many people “normal life”.

The horror in this book comes creeping, and in hindsight I realize it starts subtle and decent, its volume is turned up gradually, and ends with unignorable, inescapable terror jumping onto you, slapping you in the face – this graduality was so well-done that I couldn’t think of anything else than keeping on reading towards the end - my eyes are all puffy right now! A certain supernatural element, well-known especially in horror circles (but I’m not going to mention its name for the sake of the surprise element), enters the stage at some point and the absolute atrocity it brings into the story leads to an unexpected turn of events, the thought of which fills me with dread. And it keeps on getting worse and worse, leading to a distressing finale. Absolute gut punch.

Last but not least, I was given a review copy by the Otherland Bookstore Berlin to review it for their newsletter (because they know I enjoy reading the author), many thanks for that, I'm so happy I found this! If you too already know Langan’s writing you will definitely love this, and if you don’t, then do give her a try. Trad Wife will be published in May.