Title: Study for Obedience*
Author: Sarah Bernstein
Rating: 4.75 stars / 5 stars
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Favorite Quote: “But to my everlasting regret I lacked the genius of self-annihilation and, out of some animal cunning crouched somewhere deep inside of me, I carried on my career of hopeless survival, not undisturbed and surely having exhausted the mercy of providence, such as it was. It was not wisdom, no. I just continued to scrape at the sky.” Bernstein, Sarah. Study for Obedience. Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2023, p. 134.
Review: This book. Oh my goodness, this book. It’s been a few weeks since I finished it, and it has stuck with me, though I’m not sure I can do it service by trying to put into words exactly what this book is. This book follows the narrator as she moves to an isolated town to live with her brother. He seems to be a powerful force in his own life and in the community while she immediately becomes an outcast and a pariah. She doesn’t speak the town’s language, and a series of strange, unsettling occurrences that begin as she attempts to become more integrated into the community make her a target for the town’s bubbling resentment and suspicion. The novel (novella?) ends in a [SPOILER] surrealist fever dream where her brother has slowly become ill and lost his strength and she walks in on what appears to be the town’s macabre ceremony that appears to be an attempt to banish her (after attempts at burying the corn dolls she made as an attempt to grow closer to various residents).
So - what’s working? At its core, Study for Obedience is an atmospheric novel focused more on the internal life and musings of the narrator. Things are happening to her and around her, but despite the townspeople’s convictions that she is bringing misfortune to the land, she is very rarely the person acting. (Though, conversely, as the novel progresses, her role as her brother’s caregiver shifts from one of passive compliance with his harsh, rigid expectations to one where, as his health declines, she exerts more control over him.) Bernstein masterfully creates the atmosphere that this novel exists in - perpetually unsettling, even in the moments that the nature around her is scenic and beautiful. She also expertly creates an account of a woman fully alienated from all those people around her - divided by a language barrier, a cultural barrier, and trapped by a land that is equal parts striking as it is remote.
The novel itself is also an allegory - layers upon layers of symbolic language leading the reader to reckon with the horrors of acquiescence to racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia, and intolerance (which, of course, are their own versions of racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia, and intolerance). Bernstein sums this up quite succinctly as the novel comes to an end: “Every single one of us on this ruined earth exhibited a perfect obedience to our local forces of gravity, daily choosing the path of least resistance, which while entirely and understandably human was at the same time the most barbaric, the most abominable course of action.” Bernstein, Sarah. Study for Obedience. Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2023, p. 157.
So…what isn’t working? Really, the ending is the only aspect of the novel that didn’t seem to work in that it seemed rushed. The fever dream-esque nature of the end certainly contributes to the unsettling feeling of the work, but it felt sudden and rushed and like it could have been developed more. The rest of the novel felt like it was slowly sloping towards that final part, while the final part seemed to be hurtling towards the end.
About that Quote: If you’re familiar with my reviews at all, you’ll know that mastery of language is the single surest way to lead me to sing literary praises. Study for Obedience is no different. Bernstein has written an entire novel sans dialogue - relying, instead, primarily on her descriptions of the character, the town, and the impending sense of doom that sticks to the pages from the very first word. And goodness, is she good at it. This is one of many examples of that mastery. It also captures the layers of the character’s psyche, one she hides in earlier parts of the book by presenting as her brother’s meek sister with little else to her identity.
So, have you read Study for Obedience? Share your thoughts below!
Incomplete TW list for Study for Obedience: allusions to anti-semitism and abuse
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