pickI enjoyed this curiosity, found it wonderfully done, found the writing, which focuses so much on the sound, always interesting and terrific, with its own rhythm and life. And I say this even I didn't really get it. (I missed a lot, as I discovered afterwards reading online reviews) This maybe should have won the Booker (and I loved the winner, Prophet Song)
She‘s like, “yeah, right” 🙄 But it‘s my next read and I‘m looking forward to it. #booker2023
panI feel like there‘s a really excellent, moody, disturbing short story buried in this book. But as a novel, even a short one, it‘s a meandering mess. And yet it‘s a prize winner! Baffling. #tob24 longlist
pickThe reminded me of 'Discomfort of evening' in its depiction of an unsettling narrator within an uncomfortable environment. It is a disconcerting read as we find ourselves possibly considering uncertain sibling abuse as well local folkloric belief in witchraft. The theme of the living with the sins of the holocaust also is implicit. A challenging read + I put it down, scratching my head but wanting to pick up again.
so-soI‘m so torn on this one! I listened to the audiobook quickly; it was over before I could get my bearings. I kept thinking the setting was northern UK in 1666 (where my previous read took place!) but then the narrator would speak about Microsoft Teams! This is somewhat brilliant on the author‘s part: a timeless story, layering experiences of women over millennia of abuse and forced obedience. However, it was a confusing reading experience.
This year's #GillerPrize Longlist was incredibly strong, diverse, intriguing, thought-provoking, and challenging, with many beautiful, engaging stories that played with style while delivering on substance and story. I'm glad other readers are finding more in Obedience than I did.
I highly recommend checking out some of the other titles from the list, especially The Double Life of Benson Yu, All the Colour in the World, and We Meant Well.
bailedAfter a long week I just couldn‘t do it and I honestly didn‘t even try very hard. Two more books to go on the Booker short list but I won‘t read them in time and I am ok with that since I reading the list was a total impulse.
so-soThis one definitely got me out #audiowalking but I‘m not sure what to make of it. Yes, the writing was skilful but things were so freaking vague that it‘s hard for me to get excited about the book.
pickThis was very strange. I went through a wide range of emotions towards the protagonist - very unreliable. Sympathy, incredulity, dismay and disgust. Fascinating.
What to make of this narrator? She seems to be the victim of abuse, definitely by her brother. She talks about being smart, knowing the answers in school, but being knocked down and silenced. And later she says she knows nothing, knows little. Is that sarcasm, or has she internalized the abuse? All this, plus her speech at the end make me wonder if she really is a witch? Is this all revenge for her ancestors?
Nice cover but I‘m skeptical…
Friday Reads September 8: Trash & treasures; Booker & Giller prizes; kids‘ books; Read Across Canada
https://youtu.be/dWLliu8f7zk
Nope. This is the kind of writing style I don‘t care for. This will be a struggle for me. 😬
so-soI am not sure what I just read. A young woman moves in with her brother in the isolated house of her ancestors. She‘s been an outsider all her life and aware of it. The local community blames her for incidents happening to the local animals. The narrator seems to be surrounded by death and decay but why? And what‘s her role, her responsibility? I am not sure what to think. #booker23 7/13
(Photo: Kioni, Ithaca, Greece)
panI'm glad other readers have found success with this one, but it did not work for me. I'm glad i read @squirrelbrain 's review before buying it, and decided to borrow instead. This lacked atmosphere, plot, character development, anything. Moments have an almost tragicomic feel that could have worked if pushed into satiric territory. And I think at one point there was some thought given to ideas of accountability vs oppression? (Cont'd)
pickThis is unconventional and unsettling storytelling. Where for some readers, the obscurity of the plot will be alienating, I found this helps Bernstein to build the ‘vibes‘. In a story about an outsider in an isolated community, strong overtones of religious persecution, and unconventional relationships between family members, and with the outside world, this felt like an asset. By no means a perfect reading experience, but thought provoking.
pan#bookerlonglist #7
This one is definitely bottom of my list so far. An unnamed woman goes to an unnamed country, where she doesn‘t speak the language, to be a kind of housekeeper / carer for her older brother. (And that will give you the ick! 😬)
All of the locals seem to be afraid of her, even before terrible things start happening. There is definitely some kind of undercurrent of anti-semitism but, other than that, I couldn‘t fathom ⬇️
Study for Obedience: A novel | 
