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meganmclean's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ioutm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
5.0
This is soul shaking, most depressing book that I have ever read. The whole book is reaching out to that ultimate point of depression where nothing is left for one to find redemption, and all that is left is ‘to let go’. The book is so depressingly realistic that you find yourself wishing like a child that a fairy god mother or a comic super hero make an appearance out of nowhere and set things right – despite knowing that no such thing was ever going to happen. You end up looking for any remote point of redemption – when David finally seeks apology you want to have him forgiven; or when David sets dog on Pollux, you feel the satisfaction that could be derived from revenge; or you want Lousy to shift away from place or David to take the dog as pet.
I admit that I wasn't impressed by the book at first but it is with the incidence at Lousy’s house that book picked up for me. The writing style seemed a bit boring except for poetical extracts quoted here and there. It was from the incidence of burglary that I felt involved into it.
David is this man entering old age but still trying to maintain the passions of young. His instincts are one of a poet, and within poetry he finds reason enough for the little scandal that comes in starting of story. He doesn't feel sorry for it even at cost of losing his job but is rather defensive, accepting charges but refuses to apologize for his actions. He finds it immoral to kill one’s instincts quoting, again as is his habit a poet:
“'Do you remember Blake?' he says. 'Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'?”
He uses somewhat same poetical sense of reason which Santino Ariza used to explain similar actions in Gabriel’s “Love in Time of Cholera”. However all this is bound to change after the incidence at farm. That is where disgrace steps in. Later he puts his thoughts in Byron’s mouth,
“Out of the poets I learned to love … but life, I found is another story.”
The above quote pretty much sums David’s part of story. My problem though is with Lousy. Why won’t she report rape (and it being a private matter is poor excuse especially with the pregnancy)? Why is she so defeatist? I understand her reservations for adaption. Why wouldn't she move out? For what is she willing to suffer so much? May be she got fond of her little house and life and is (like David once was), trying to hold on to it, yet I find her decisions revolting. The author keeps looking inside the mind of David but it is the inside of Lousy’s mind that interests me and she stays a riddle, an unanswered question.
I know I’m supposed to talk about sub themes – love for animal, attitudes towards sex, how ones’ writings reflect change in opinions; but these details are all giving tone to same depressive question – the question of meaning of life.
I admit that I wasn't impressed by the book at first but it is with the incidence at Lousy’s house that book picked up for me. The writing style seemed a bit boring except for poetical extracts quoted here and there. It was from the incidence of burglary that I felt involved into it.
David is this man entering old age but still trying to maintain the passions of young. His instincts are one of a poet, and within poetry he finds reason enough for the little scandal that comes in starting of story. He doesn't feel sorry for it even at cost of losing his job but is rather defensive, accepting charges but refuses to apologize for his actions. He finds it immoral to kill one’s instincts quoting, again as is his habit a poet:
“'Do you remember Blake?' he says. 'Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'?”
He uses somewhat same poetical sense of reason which Santino Ariza used to explain similar actions in Gabriel’s “Love in Time of Cholera”. However all this is bound to change after the incidence at farm. That is where disgrace steps in. Later he puts his thoughts in Byron’s mouth,
“Out of the poets I learned to love … but life, I found is another story.”
The above quote pretty much sums David’s part of story. My problem though is with Lousy. Why won’t she report rape (and it being a private matter is poor excuse especially with the pregnancy)? Why is she so defeatist? I understand her reservations for adaption. Why wouldn't she move out? For what is she willing to suffer so much? May be she got fond of her little house and life and is (like David once was), trying to hold on to it, yet I find her decisions revolting. The author keeps looking inside the mind of David but it is the inside of Lousy’s mind that interests me and she stays a riddle, an unanswered question.
I know I’m supposed to talk about sub themes – love for animal, attitudes towards sex, how ones’ writings reflect change in opinions; but these details are all giving tone to same depressive question – the question of meaning of life.
meatspaceproblems's review against another edition
Evocative, infuriating, cruel and strong. Def not a favorite or something to reread, but absolutely no regrets pushing through and being totally engrossed. Very much about where power settles as we age/society changes. Plan on reading more from this author, but my heart can’t take returning to this even though so much of it is sticking in my mind.
couuboy's review against another edition
5.0
The kind of book that keeps you up at night considering the tests of character that life hurls at you. Well, I hope I’ve done enough…
stephibabes's review against another edition
5.0
This left me feeling hollow. My feelings towards characters changed without me even really realising as I was so absorbed. I will definitely be seeking out other novels by Coetzee!
gadicohen93's review against another edition
3.0
I've rarely come across a book this evocatively written, with such well-developed characters, set in such a distinctive setting, and probing such (arguably) fundamental questions, that I felt so tepidly about.
Perhaps it was the protagonist -- an objectionable guy, a literature professor who practices his hedonism with total disregard for his effect on others. But despite the way he exploits and "Cat Person"s his student, and despite his neglect of his daughter, blindness to her needs, and denial of her autonomy, the professor is someone I identified with. He is in a constant state of thought, always trying to balance his desires and actions with the way they fit into his framework of the world.
But perhaps this was the problem -- this "framework", the character's constant and seemingly offhand attempts to observe and understand the society around him. E.g., a foreshadowing:
Yes, his thinking is often dirtied by puerile and even despicable ideas, as demonstrated here. That's not the part that bothered me. I think what bothered me is how the character eventually became so useless, so isolated, so nearly irredeemably disgraced so as to render all of his ideas -- not just the barefaced despicable ones -- as silly and trivial. His redemption (is there a redemption? This seems like a question ripe for book club consensuses) is unbelievable; his trials and tribulations feel "sloppily" plotted -- maybe in the way that life can resemble a rambling course, but more in the way that symbols and motifs and moments of buried character insights flow out casually.
Anyway. 3.5 stars for a book I can acknowledge as great.
Perhaps it was the protagonist -- an objectionable guy, a literature professor who practices his hedonism with total disregard for his effect on others. But despite the way he exploits and "Cat Person"s his student, and despite his neglect of his daughter, blindness to her needs, and denial of her autonomy, the professor is someone I identified with. He is in a constant state of thought, always trying to balance his desires and actions with the way they fit into his framework of the world.
But perhaps this was the problem -- this "framework", the character's constant and seemingly offhand attempts to observe and understand the society around him. E.g., a foreshadowing:
A risk to own anything: a car, a pair of shoes, a packet of cigarettes. Not enough to go around, not enough cars, shoes, cigarettes. Too many people, too few things. What there is must go into circulation, so that everyone can have a chance to be happy for a day. That is the theory; hold to the theory and to the comforts of theory. Not human evil, just a vast circulatory system, to whose workings pity and terror are irrelevant. That is how one must see life in this country: in its schematic aspect. Otherwise one could go mad. Cars, shoes; women too. There must be some niche in the system for women and what happens to them.
Yes, his thinking is often dirtied by puerile and even despicable ideas, as demonstrated here. That's not the part that bothered me. I think what bothered me is how the character eventually became so useless, so isolated, so nearly irredeemably disgraced so as to render all of his ideas -- not just the barefaced despicable ones -- as silly and trivial. His redemption (is there a redemption? This seems like a question ripe for book club consensuses) is unbelievable; his trials and tribulations feel "sloppily" plotted -- maybe in the way that life can resemble a rambling course, but more in the way that symbols and motifs and moments of buried character insights flow out casually.
Anyway. 3.5 stars for a book I can acknowledge as great.
jcc23's review against another edition
4.0
Novela muy dura de leer pero disfrutable, no apta para personas sensibles. Trata temas como el abuso del poder y la problemática de si debemos resignarnos a las injusticias o hacerles frente y combatirlas. Excelente el arco del personaje principal. Me hubiera gustado que la historia se extendiera varias páginas más. Del autor he leído también Foe, El hombre lento y sus novelas autobiográficas, todas recomendables, pero esta sin duda las supera.