by Sarah Bernstein
Bernstein has been listed as one of Granta's best young novelists in 2023 although her dust jacket biography says she is from Montreal. This ambiguity flows through into this book where it proves difficult to pin anything down.
The writing is superb in places but I ended the book feeling it was an exercise in style rather than a telling of tales. I found myself asking the question how much can a novel be pared down before it ceases to be. The book has little plot-a woman travels North to care for a brother and never is accepted by the locals due to certain events she believes the town blame her for. Little in the way of subplot. The location is never clarified other than North and it gets cold in winter. The two main characters are not named and we learn little of them other than mystery. There are few other characters, all anonymous and from the town.
Having said that I keep thinking it through and trying to work out what was going on and I like that. Vintage booker material :). 5/10
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