A woman moves from the place of her birth to a remote northern country to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has just left him. The youngest of many siblings, from earliest childhood she has attended to their every desire, smoothed away the slightest discomfort with perfect obedience. Soon after she arrives, a series of unfortunate events occurs
The absence of dialogue – everything is filtered, monologue-style, through the narrator – adds to a building feeling of claustrophobia and uncertainty ... While the story of the stranger who arrives in town and appears to upset the order of things is an old one, Bernstein’s novel feels entirely original; something ancient and unnervingly modern all at once.
Bernstein paints from a palette of dread ... Little actually happens, but, mirroring the protagonist’s daily ramblings through the woods, the novel is made up of philosophical, sometimes rhapsodic meanderings logged in meticulous, measured prose ... This masterly follow-up to her debut acts as a meditation on survival, the dangers of absorbing the narratives of the powerful, and a warning that the self-blame of the oppressed often comes back to bite.
Bernstein’s prose has a studied coolness, all concision and steady flow ... Study for Obedience has a parable’s radiance: the air of the consequential, of a cast who represent us all. Yet it’s too alive a story to rest on obvious messages.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay[/caption]
