Obedience
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`An intensely imagined novel about one of the defining questions of the century just past: where and how we choose to draw the line between innocence and guilt, ignorance and complicity. Obedience also asks us to consider what ghastly harm is committed in the name of love. It's rare to find a book that is seemingly so simple, but is really ambiguous and thought-provoking.'
--Hilary Mantel --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--Hilary Mantel --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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"In a convent in rural France, three ageing nuns remain. Cloistered within her failing faith and her failing body, Sister Bernard navigates each day by the simple markers domesticity; but when the convent is threatened with closure the soft threads of piety and daily existence unravel. What lies beneath are Sister Bernard's terrible memories of wartime disgrace; of a German soldiers' bet turning lust into a love that deafened the heavens, of the full horror of both war and motherhood, and of a furious God who begun to sulk. Obedience is the story of a woman in a spinning world, and her attempts to keep her bearings. It draws its power from the grey spaces between guilt and innocence, the power of memory and how the aching need to love, and be loved, can cause good people to do terrible things."
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I liked this book, but sadly, not as much as I thought I would. I liked the concept of the elderly nuns in the decaying convent, I liked the looking back to the German occupation of France, I liked the idea of the nun loving a man and paying the price. I just didn't like Sister Bernard at all unfortunately. I just kept waiting for more............ I felt that there was more to be said about the sisters and the hierarchy at the convent, Mother Catherine in particular. I just felt sort of let down, as though there was 'unfinished business' when I'd finished the book. I like the whole 'secrets and lies' thing, but I just felt it needed more........ explanations, reasons, I don't know, it just didn't really work for me.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I loved this book! The central character, Sister Bernard, is fascinating and ultimately very engaging - portrayed as stupid and shut off from the world around her, in all kinds of ways, she is not the usual 'romantic heroine' by any means. Her story is beautifully told; it's very intense and moving and it carries the reader along through the years. It's a dark story, told with a detached, clear prose that I found unsettling, and the religious element is handled very subtly and well. The setting is lovely - you get a real sense of rural France, of war-time living in an occupied village. Generally I found it a sophisticated and thought-provoking book, a wise exploration of love and belief; very ambiguous and actually quite difficult to pin down.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Three elderly nuns are the only ones left in a crumbling convent in rural France and are about to leave everything they know. Sister Maria has dementia and is taken to a nursing home where she soon dies. Sisters Teresa and Bernard are on their way to live out the rest of their lives together in a residential home for retired nuns and priests. But at the last minute, Teresa changes her mind and goes to live with an old friend, Corrine, leaving Bernard to face a bleak future alone.
Sister Bernard, obedient, unquestioning, perhaps a little inadequate, has a dark past. Everyone seems to know about it but it is never talked about having been swept under the carpet although a trip to the local village to commemorate the Armistice stirs up old hatreds for her act of betrayal during the German occupation. How could a woman of God have done such a thing?
The novel develops through chapters set in the past and the future through which slowly, Bernard's character and her actions are revealed or, rather, implied. For this is a novel where readers are required to work things out for themselves. We know nothing of the reasons why she took the veil or her parentage, although I believe her father was a deeply unpleasant man and that his was the basis for the voice Bernard assumes is that of God. Bernard constantly craves affection but never receives any which is why she naively falls in love with a German soldier who only pays attention to her because of a bet. Later on she suddenly stops hearing the Voice of God which, although constantly complaining and criticising, had hitherto given her life meaning and purpose. Despite its harshness, at least she was getting the attention she craved. When it is lost to her she is bereft. Teresa ponders where Bernard is a saint or just a deluded or maybe mentally ill woman. This novel explores all these things.
This is one of the saddest novels I have ever read. Although there were times I grew exasperated with Sister Bernard, I felt truly sorry for her. Having been denied love and compassion throughout her life she renders herself unlovable and those who might have cared for her in her later years cannot bring themselves to do so because of it.
To me, 'Obedience' deserves at least to be short-listed for a major literature prize. This is a subtle deeply-layered novel that keeps you thinking long after it has finished.
Sister Bernard, obedient, unquestioning, perhaps a little inadequate, has a dark past. Everyone seems to know about it but it is never talked about having been swept under the carpet although a trip to the local village to commemorate the Armistice stirs up old hatreds for her act of betrayal during the German occupation. How could a woman of God have done such a thing?
The novel develops through chapters set in the past and the future through which slowly, Bernard's character and her actions are revealed or, rather, implied. For this is a novel where readers are required to work things out for themselves. We know nothing of the reasons why she took the veil or her parentage, although I believe her father was a deeply unpleasant man and that his was the basis for the voice Bernard assumes is that of God. Bernard constantly craves affection but never receives any which is why she naively falls in love with a German soldier who only pays attention to her because of a bet. Later on she suddenly stops hearing the Voice of God which, although constantly complaining and criticising, had hitherto given her life meaning and purpose. Despite its harshness, at least she was getting the attention she craved. When it is lost to her she is bereft. Teresa ponders where Bernard is a saint or just a deluded or maybe mentally ill woman. This novel explores all these things.
This is one of the saddest novels I have ever read. Although there were times I grew exasperated with Sister Bernard, I felt truly sorry for her. Having been denied love and compassion throughout her life she renders herself unlovable and those who might have cared for her in her later years cannot bring themselves to do so because of it.
To me, 'Obedience' deserves at least to be short-listed for a major literature prize. This is a subtle deeply-layered novel that keeps you thinking long after it has finished.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Poignant Story
It took me a while to get into this book but I stuck with it and was rewarded with a poignant tale of the simplicity of Sr Bernard, the main character, and her entanglement with a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kindler
Stunning
Wow. What a book! Written with such clarity that you live amongst the characters. The subject matter is a difficult one; particularly in the time that it is set but it is... Read more
Published 1 month ago by K. Brockbank
Haunting
Sister Bernard seems a hard woman, but as her story progresses you realise what happened to her in her past played a huge part in making her what she became - a sad life, some... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ziggy Piggy
what a waste of a life
Quite a sad story. You are aware that something tragic has happened. The story is quite slow and drawn out which adds to the sadness when sister Bernard discovers her illegitimate... Read more
Published 2 months ago by S. J. Hughes
Beautifully written
A haunting, beautifully written novel. The main character, Sister Bernard, is a sad, somewhat hardened, figure with a scandalous past. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Marand
A little dull at the start, but gets going eventually
I have to admit that I was rather doubtful that I would enjoy (or finish) a book about nuns! That said, the book was very well written and the storyline was essentially a good... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Flyboy
Thought provoking, enigmatic, disturbing, wonderful book!
As I approach late middle age this well crafted, beautifully written disturbing yet compelling book drew me in with an intensity that was sometimes painful. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Oldflyboy
Intense, Sad and Haunting
"Obedience" reads like a true account of Sister Bernard's life in the religious community. It is in my opinion rather a sad book but also haunting and poignant. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mrs C
enticing & ambiguous
What an enticing story! Nuns and particularly old nuns in a decaying convent are not exactly the most exciting subject matter one would have thought. Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. J. Robinson
Obediently, I finished it.
When I began this novel, I anticipated awarding it a higher rating than I have given here. Yallop's prose is quite sparse but beautiful. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Brida
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