The Echo Wife

June 6, 2022 2:25 PM

Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be. And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband. Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up. Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.
posted by soelo (4 comments total)

I think if this book is viewed as a kind of parable, an examination of abuse and its effects, finding yourself as a person afterwards, and male expectations of their female partners, it covers a lot of interesting ground. As a science fiction story, however, it ends up depending heavily on an implausible premise, in a setting that barely acknowledges the changes that would have followed from it. My appreciation of it therefore tended to shift back and forth depending on which aspect was in the forefront of the story at any given time.
posted by kyrademon at 5:00 PM on June 6, 2022

I kind of want the version of this story where Martine sets them both up?
posted by praemunire at 5:48 PM on June 6, 2022

It took me a couple of restarts to get into this, but, once I did, it was a nice read, if fraught with a few holes in its reasonings. You kind of have to just bite your lip and roll with the “why the hell did they do that?” moments. It’s not an entirely original premise, but it’s done well enough, with its own take, to stand in its own universe. In the end, I found myself musing about questions of self, duality, self-acceptance, etc.

I’d love to read more of Gailey’s work, but, sadly, this is the only one my library offers as a ebook.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:35 AM on June 7, 2022

I loved Gailey's Magic for Liars, so tell them to order that one!
posted by soelo at 10:28 AM on June 7, 2022