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dr_laurie_1968's review against another edition
2.0
Sadly, this seemed more of a gimmick than anything else. Coetzee and Auster are two of my favorite authors so I really wanted it to be good. There are some nuggets but also it just sort fell flat for me.
riinankirjapinot's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
elizaeliza's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it! Like listening to two really smart old guys talk about everything under the sun. Inspired me to write a few letters and wish for a regular pen pal, like the ones I had in my early teens.
I can't think of anyone I know who would love this book - it's one for the fans. I'm a massive fan of both Coetzee and Siri Hustvedt so it was bliss to join John and Paul for tea in the evenings.
I can't think of anyone I know who would love this book - it's one for the fans. I'm a massive fan of both Coetzee and Siri Hustvedt so it was bliss to join John and Paul for tea in the evenings.
jon_gresham's review against another edition
3.0
reread. naive on the financial crisis. good on sport and the writing life.
mali90's review against another edition
4.0
همیشه مجموعه یادداشت ها و نامه نگاری ها رو دوس داشتم چون علاوه اطلاعات عمومی و گاها تخصصی، اطلاعات زیادی درباره طرز فکر و روش زندگی نویسنده در اختیار خواننده قرار میده، بنابراین اگه نویسنده فرد فرهیخته ای باشه این اطلاعات میتونن خیلی جذاب باشن. این کتاب تمام موارد بالا رو شامل میشه. با اینکه تاحالا هیچ کتابی از کویتسی نخوندم اما پل استر همیشه نویسنده مورد توجه و علاقه ام بوده و همین برای خوندن این کتاب کافیه
steveatwaywords's review
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
These letters between Auster and Coetzee--two of my favorite authors--offered with neither introduction nor explanation beyond their agreement to write to each other on the cover leaf, is an honest and transparent baring of the friendship between these two men as they work through (at first with humor and odd speculation, later with some more intimate revelations or worries) a wide variety of topics: war, history, sports, travel, time, aging, writing, etc. I felt as awkward reading them as perhaps they first felt in their pro forma writing of them, but as the book develops, so do their comfort levels and the reader's. I found myself looking forward to their musings each day and was growing anxious of ending the read. It does end, however, all too quickly, and I have seen no later collections of a friendship which has (one supposes) continued and grown. I love, however, how it ends, where the final letters leave them, and I closed the book feeling envious of what they have discovered and what they face. For fans of writing, for fans of either writer, for those just interested in a peek behind the scenes of what appears to us as celebrity, for a correspondence of relaxed and occasionally mistaken musings, strongly recommend.
lenuestupenda's review against another edition
2.0
La verdad este libro me aburrió mucho, o quizás es que tenía muchas expectativas sobre él, es un libro en donde platican dos de mis autores favoritos sobre temas actuales e interesantes, pero no sé... a lo largo de todo el texto hubo solo pequeños momentos en que me mantuve entretenida, aunque esto me animó a querer leer toda la obra de Auster y Coetzeé. Me gustó conocer la opinión de cada uno sobre temas como la literatura, la amistad, el conflicto entre palestinos e israelís, los viajes, algunos detalles íntimos, pero odié definitivamente la cantidad de páginas que dedican a un tema que para mi carece totalmente de interés como es el deporte, a lo mejor si hubieran hablado de otras cosas, el libro me hubiera gustado más. Algo que también me agrado fue la idea de que todavía recurrieran a mandarse cartas, teniendo a la mano los e-mails, se me hizo romántica la idea de cartearse.
sabinereads's review against another edition
3.0
I have never read Paul Auster, but am enough of a Coetzee admirer to have been drawn to this. Reading such recent correspondence is strange, as these e-mails and letters reference events barely receding into the recent past (the final pages introduce the Arab Spring) and the project feels, despite the clear permission of both authors, invasive. Auster and Coetzee share some compelling thoughts on the nature of men's interest in sports, friendships between men, and family rituals, while exchanging details of their personal lives, and indulging in a sweet friendship. The two marvel at their closeness and intimacy towards the end of the collection, but I do not find their letters thought-provoking in the way of others' (from my reading this year, Sontag and Plath come to mind as writers whose letters are always meat for discussion). I don't know what to take from these, but would cautiously recommend to those enormously interested in either writer. A quick read.