Reviews

Foe by J.M. Coetzee

helenhawken's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

marinaxanna's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

the ending made me want to throw the book fr???? i dont get it. i liked some parts but others were so incredibly strange to me. also many parts were just downright problematic.  i cba writing a whole thing im just glad its over😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Ableism

wrengaia's review

3.75

Coetzee is a delicate and powerful writer - Foe unwinds, rather than journeying towards conclusiveness, unravelling its own assumptions and acting as a swift but deadly attack on Defoe’s (rather awful) novel. Really very good; navigates not just colonialism but its very particular literary manifestations.

instagrahb's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.75

rachelmatsuoka's review against another edition

3.0

I was expecting it to be dry considering it was based off of Robinson Crusoe, but surprisingly it wasn't. I liked Susan Barton well enough as a protagonist and that she took care of Friday. I didn't like her relationship with Cruso nor with Foe, really. It didn't make sense to me. The ending was a trip, and if I really wanted to that would be an interesting thing to do a close reading of.

remuslibrary's review

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cannibalism, Death, and Sexual content

brotlord's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Racism

archreader101's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

alprnt's review against another edition

2.0

1.5

ayavandenbussche's review against another edition

4.0

Reading Foe after reading Robinson Crusoe was like a sigh of relief.
Right from the start Foe undermines Defoe's 'classic' (personally I don't think RC is a classic), but then continues to undermine its own story as well.
It raises intelligent questions about storytelling, point of views, what is true and whether that even matters. At first it felt like a clever essay about Robinson Crusoe, but really this is a book that muses about being a writer and a storyteller. It reads flowingly and a lot easier than RC.
The only negatives about this book stem from the problems that can sometimes arise from a men writing in a woman's voice, this is not too bad and I also get that the woman's voice is an artistic and critical choice, which is relevant to the bigger picture rather than a feminist agenda in this case, so it's mostly forgivable.
My other issue is the somewhat bizarre ending, that I'm not sure works. Nevertheless, this book is effective without the ending.