A review by casskrug
The Coming Bad Days by Sarah Bernstein

3.5

sarah bernstein is definitely an author i’m interested in reading more from. the coming bad days was atmospheric, mysterious, and quick, if a bit uneven. i flew through the first 80 pages in one sitting then lost a bit of momentum in the middle of the book, but was roped back in by the last 60 pages.

the story follows an unnamed protagonist in her late 20s who leaves a relationship to live and work in a university town as the world around her deteriorates in ways that will feel familiar to readers - intense weather, violence against women, and a sense of doom prevails. she meets a woman named clara, who is a foil to our protagonist, embodying everything she is not.

i felt a bit let down by the plot but found that it really reflected modern struggles with connection, identity, and one’s purpose in the world. there’s an overwhelming feeling of ambivalence and melancholy that felt perfect for this time of year. i think the point of the book is the ambivalence and unanswered questions, but i wanted just a bit more from the plot. the narrative voice was very engaging and i really enjoyed the way bernstein strings together words. an underhyped addition to the depressed woman moving genre!

“To begin with I explained that my life, thought of as a series of days which were discrete in themselves but nevertheless added up to a collective something, seemed inconceivable. I had now experienced over ten and a half thousand mornings. I had woken up as myself over ten and a half thousand times. What these days amounted to remained, I said, a sheer mystery to me.”