Study for Obedience

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023 

The unnamed narrator agrees to leave everything behind and moves to the north with her brother to take care of his estate. In other words, to work as his maid for free. While reading, I was often outraged and wondered why the narrator would allow that.

I loved the writing. Even though the sentences are very long, they are also poetic. And every sentence invites you to read on.

I’m not sure if I can review or even understand this novel properly without reading it one more time. But in its essence, this novel is a meditation on obedience and dominance, abuse, and prejudice. And overall, I liked it. 
 

Goodreads

 

Details:

• author: Sarah Bernstein
• full title: Study for Obedience
  
• genre: literary fiction
  
• format/type: bookfiction
• topics: #family, #obedience, #dominance, #abuse, #prejudice
  
• publisher: Granta Publications
  
• publish date: 7 Jun 2023
• pages: 196
  

My Rating of the Book:

• content: 💙💙💙💙

About the Author: 

 

Sarah Bernstein is from Montreal, Quebec and lives in Scotland where she teaches at Edinburgh University. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in tender, Contemporary Women’s Writing, MAP and Cumulus. Now Comes the Lightning, a collection of poems, was published by Pedlar Press in 2015.