jugglergirl20 's review for:

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

3.0

challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I found this book somewhat confusing and hard to stick with. There were many choices the author made that I have liked in other books that I found annoying, confusing or frustrating in this one. While I liked the style, the story taking place almost entirely inside the main character's head, in this story I found it frequently confusing. It made it hard sometimes to tell whether anything had happened, was happening, or was going to happen. And while I like books where the author leaves ambiguity, either to allow the reader to fill in the blanks from their own experiences, or to pose questions, here I felt like too much was left obscured.  The protagonist certainly fit the description of unreliable narrator, but I frequently found myself wondering what on earth was going on. Self deluding? Mentally ill? Psychotic? Autistic? Simply obnoxious? All of the above? I never could really tell. The writing was very good, with many very well written, beautiful passages, but it frequently crosses the line between verbose and rambling. I had the hardest time with the plot or lack thereof. I think for me the issue is that there is a plot but it doesn't seem to go anywhere.  The dolls, the church, her brothers illness, the dog, the cows.....  Whenever I thought something was going to happen it would just fizzle out. Various things happened with little explanation or resolution. For all my frustrations I cannot say I hated the book. It had a strange mood too it, was beautifully written, and did have some stunning imagery but it was a long slog for a short book.