Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
1,180 global ratings
5 star
28%
4 star
27%
3 star
25%
2 star
12%
1 star
7%
How customer reviews and ratings work

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon

Review this product

Read reviews that mention

main character new york clara loomis dana spiotta waste of time well written social media husband and daughter mother to mother to daughter point of view ever read white woman beginning or end teenage daughter creative writing older women suburban life character sam sam raymond old house
  • Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Ann S. Epstein
4.0 out of 5 stars A Wayward Woman Finds a Way Forward
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
Samantha (Sam) Raymond, the protagonist of Dana Spiotta’s novel Wayward, is a well-to-do white woman whose reaction to going through menopause is extreme and yet entirely natural and predictable. Rarely do novels feature women in their fifties going through “the change,” and more rarely do they receive the attention Spiotta lavishes on Sam: ferocious and gentle, serious and funny, perplexed and insightful. Set in the aftermath of Trumps’ election, Sam’s own upheaval is contemporaneous with the country’s dislocation. She responds by impulsively buying a crumbling old house in a questionable area of downtown Syracuse, and leaving her kind husband and distancing teenage daughter in the suburbs. Sam fixes it up the house while seeking to repair herself and the world. Sam’s thoughts often dwell on her dying mother and growing daughter. As an author myself, who often writes about complex family relationships (see my Amazon author page www.amazon.com/author/asewovenwords), I was impressed by Spiotta’s ability to capture the push-pull of the mother-daughter bond. My only criticism of the book is that the social commentaries — the “smart” ruminations Spiotta is known for — sometimes became trite and tedious. I was eager to get back to Sam’s story. Likewise, the few sections written from her daughter’s point of view were distracting. What resonated was the honesty of Sam’s position, a middle-aged white woman looking for meaning in her own life and the national psyche. She doesn’t find a pathway to the latter, but in the continuity of women, from grandmother to mother to daughter, the wayward Sam finds a way forward for herself.
Read more
KasaC
3.0 out of 5 stars Meh
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2022
Verified Purchase
There were parts of this book that resonated. In the early pages, Sam, facing incipient changes due to menopausal changes, falls in love with a house that she thinks can be restored to former state as a home, and, disenchanted with her suburban Talbot-clad life, moves in. What she's really undergoing is change of life in all its messy glory. Then there are the sections dealing with her daughter Ally who cuts her off, which sections were somewhat clumsy with unoriginality. On the other hand, Dana Spiotta brings to life the city of Syracuse, a place rich in history and potential. For that matter, there seemed to be a parallel between the character of Sam and her city, but I didn't feel the whole thing hung together well.
Read more
Rita Dragonette
2.0 out of 5 stars Dull with a mystifying ending
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2022
Verified Purchase
I really don’t like to post negative reviews, but I’ve been asked what I think about this book and have to be candid. I had looked forward to it. I’ve heard way too many people in the industry saying that books about “old, white, people,” particularly middle-aged women, are not of interest or “on-trend” in the current climate and I thought that such an esteemed author as Spiotta would help to prove them wrong.
Unfortunately, I found the story very difficult to get into. It’s well written but exceptionally weighed down by too much detail and wandering internal monologues that interrupted any prayer of keeping a through story straight (alas, there isn’t one). I also felt that though the premise of a mid-life crisis off to a new life was cliché, it had the potential for fresh insight. Instead, the characters were pretty stock (with the exception, oddly, of the husband), the situations predictable and the pace—waiting for something to happen—was glacial. Yet, I waded through to the end wondering how this would cease, only to have the novel turn into some type of historical reference piece. Sorry, I just don’t get it, and don’t have enough interest to go back and try to figure it out.
Read more
Alexandra Ackerman
2.0 out of 5 stars Ugh
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2021
Verified Purchase
I am currently halfway through this book. While I cannot say it is badly written, I am not sure why I should care at all about these awful people. I am a CNY native, so while the setting was captivatingly described and dusted up a lot of nostalgia for me, the characters are such selfish and vapid people that I'm really struggling to keep reading. I love the setting and the idea of buying one of the old, abandoned houses around Syracuse; I hate the characters and their storylines. Their interactions only serve to illustrate their utter lack of empathy towards each other, themselves, and strangers, the ones the main character internally judges so harshly all over town (if I read the word "doughy" one more time, I'm going to scream). In fact, instead of providing any kind of redemption or anything likeable, the internal monologues of the characters make them even more dislikeable. I realize not all characters get, deserve, or earn redemption or happiness, but the real world is miserable enough without these fictional characters spreading their gloom and dissatisfaction with the lives they've chosen all over the pages of the book.
Read more
PrimeroFin
2.0 out of 5 stars Tedious
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
Sam, the protagonist of the story, is a 53 year old white, suburban woman going through menopause who becomes increasingly unhinged during the book. She ditches her husband (sort of, although he continues to financially support her and they continue to have fantastic sex) and buys a run down house in the crime infested downtown. This is just one of her “self-immolation” like behaviors that will bear consequences for Sam. The depiction of her husband as infinitely supportive and waiting patiently for her return was farcical and unrealistic, like a hallmark movie. Lots of pop culture references in the book (instagram abbreviations, “wearables, strange facebooks groups,balayaged hair) which I tend to not like much in books, but that is just my personal preference.

I really didn’t see the point. There is no plot resolution here. Sam is a complex character, which I give the author credit for, but she’s not very likable at the beginning or end. There were some good societal observations throughout- anger is the go-to emotion of the day. Everyone is pissed off about everything on social media, no one works to change. But not enough to change my opinion.
Read more
KimberlyK
4.0 out of 5 stars Read This If You Ever Wondered Whether Life is About More than Being A Spouse, A Mom or A Daughter!
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2022
Verified Purchase
Dana Spiotta's _Wayward: A novel_ is a fast read, fascinating story, perfect for taking to the pool, and really can be judged by its luscious cover. Tightly constructed and full of great characters, _Wayward_ was one of my favorite novels of this year. I wish i could give it 4.5 stars.
Read more
See more reviews

Top reviews from other countries

Juliette Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is intelligent and thought-provoking. Its message feels familiar and yet it challenged me which I relished. Dana’s description of the horror many of us felt at Trump becoming President and the awfulness of the broader feel of threat to society and the world was spot on. The rage and quest for change and a new way that Sam feels was very familiar to me - I wish we could find a way to collectively harness women's menopausal rage across the world, we'd get everything sorted out! Highly recommend this book. Thank you Dana for sharing this story.
Read more
Beaandtig
5.0 out of 5 stars Middle Aged Rage!! 😆
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2022
Verified Purchase
Brilliant book! Loved every page of this and have shared with two friends who also loved it. Menopause as a life shifting opportunity takes the lead character to some interesting places. Brilliant supporting cast of oddballs and generations and a wonderful house to lust over too.
Read more
mrs nicola k king
1.0 out of 5 stars Awful!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
Sorry, I really tried, kept thinking it might get better, the idea of it was good.
Read more
See more reviews