Bookworm

Yeatman debuts with an entertaining if muddled story of a woman who wishes for another life. Victoria has a dead-end job at a spa in Montreal and a controlling husband she loathes. She finds solace in reading, and as she gets increasingly lost in her books, she imagines a series of Quixotic scenarios in which she kills her husband, each method inspired by something from a novel. Victoria’s husband, though, isn’t her only problem: she bemoans a good friend and finds fault with a new love interest’s performance in bed. At first, Yeatman succeeds at bringing the reader over to Victoria’s side, rooting for Victoria to make a change. But as things progress, it’s unclear whether the narrative is meant as satire, or whether Victoria is supposed to be an antihero or a sympathetic character. There’s fun to be had, but unlike the books that transform Victoria, it’s not the stuff of literature. (Feb.)