Obedience, coercion and the ability to push back

Mark Roberts reviews 'A Simple Intervention' by Yael Inokai, translated by Marielle Sutherland, Peire Press, London 2024.

A Simple Intervention begins with a brief retrospective as Meret, the main character and narrator, reflects on the novel to come “I see myself in the mirror as a young woman again. Conviction in my eyes. Unclouded by doubt. I’m in my mid-twenties, and I understand the world”. While the opening retrospective is a common literary technique, in this context, it works well to create the context in which the rest of the novel plays out.

Meret has worked as a nurse in a surgical ward of a major hospital for eight years. She is dedicated to her work and views the hospital and the nurses’ accommodation as her home. There is a sense of safety and certainty in the her routine which is in contrast to her past growing up in a largely dysfunctional family.