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A review by bittennailbooks
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Reluctant fantasy reader picks up avant-garde Canadian literary fiction. Has an okay time.
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein features a completely character-driven story of a Jewish woman's move to her brothers post-divorce home to play "obedient live-in help." The superstitions from the town begins to heighten after a string of bad luck and unfavorable omens. With no shared language to sooth their fears, and her translating brother largely absent, the town's hostility begins to encroach upon the property.
Be weird, be arty, but just go full Monty if we're being real here. The entire novel features the internal (sometimes rambling) monologue of the unnamed female protagonist, which although beautiful, draws out over pages. I know this will find some footing among surrealist literature lovers but I am not that crowd. That being said, I did enjoy the transformation of the nameless town into paranoid hamlet from the protagonists arrival. It even squeezed a few chuckles from me at the protagonists misguided attempts at capitulation into rural life. The salt-throwing scene felt groaningly comical. Smarter reviewers than I have said more about its themes of xenophobia, guilt, abuse, and anti-Semitism than I can articulate so I recommend reading the listed reviews. I will say the incestuous and claustrophobic vibes were absolutely on point and I wish I would have seen the uncomfortable tip into sinister. Instead it continued to leave it's readers in a pile of long descriptive sentences.
Certainly different and for readers of a unique flock, 3/5.
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein features a completely character-driven story of a Jewish woman's move to her brothers post-divorce home to play "obedient live-in help." The superstitions from the town begins to heighten after a string of bad luck and unfavorable omens. With no shared language to sooth their fears, and her translating brother largely absent, the town's hostility begins to encroach upon the property.
Be weird, be arty, but just go full Monty if we're being real here. The entire novel features the internal (sometimes rambling) monologue of the unnamed female protagonist, which although beautiful, draws out over pages. I know this will find some footing among surrealist literature lovers but I am not that crowd. That being said, I did enjoy the transformation of the nameless town into paranoid hamlet from the protagonists arrival. It even squeezed a few chuckles from me at the protagonists misguided attempts at capitulation into rural life. The salt-throwing scene felt groaningly comical. Smarter reviewers than I have said more about its themes of xenophobia, guilt, abuse, and anti-Semitism than I can articulate so I recommend reading the listed reviews. I will say the incestuous and claustrophobic vibes were absolutely on point and I wish I would have seen the uncomfortable tip into sinister. Instead it continued to leave it's readers in a pile of long descriptive sentences.
Certainly different and for readers of a unique flock, 3/5.