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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
Maybe this book takes the question of Jesus more seriously than any other text, Bible included.
I also struggled with the allegorical nature of it. A few of the long discussions in this book are about abstractions: in this new country, they eat bread and crackers, and Simon longs for meat dripping with juices. They women feel friendly goodwill toward him, and he hungers for lust and love. The philosophy courses are about the chairness-of-chairs, but he wants lively and dangerous thinking instead.
And similarly, reading a Coetzee allegory, I sometimes want a real story instead, even though real people are small and petty and real dialogue is bumbling and stupid most of the time, never approaching the big ideas of this book.
It felt like Coetzee was himself pitying his characters, for landing them in this odd book, where they couldn't just go about their animal business, but instead had to think about their thoughts.
I also struggled with the allegorical nature of it. A few of the long discussions in this book are about abstractions: in this new country, they eat bread and crackers, and Simon longs for meat dripping with juices. They women feel friendly goodwill toward him, and he hungers for lust and love. The philosophy courses are about the chairness-of-chairs, but he wants lively and dangerous thinking instead.
And similarly, reading a Coetzee allegory, I sometimes want a real story instead, even though real people are small and petty and real dialogue is bumbling and stupid most of the time, never approaching the big ideas of this book.
It felt like Coetzee was himself pitying his characters, for landing them in this odd book, where they couldn't just go about their animal business, but instead had to think about their thoughts.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Incredible. Seems at first glance like it's going to be the most boring book ever, and then you crack it open and it just grabs you.
Felt like it should be deeper but it wasn't. Raised some interesting questions but didn't make me care.
I didn't know what to make of this really. It's a strange novel, more of a parable or a fable, but not told that way. I get the feeling that the events that happen in the story happen for a symbolic reason, rather than for the sake of the narrative.
In a nutshell, a boy and a man, not his father, arrive as immigrants in a new, Spanish speaking country. The country is modern, it has television, but no phones, and we never really know where it is, who the people are or why they have left their original country. The man, Simon, is obsessed by reuniting the boy with his mother who he became separated from on the journey over. At least that's what we assume, but no-one in the new, nameless country can really remember their past and they are supposed to forget it, so we're never really sure what happened to the parents, or indeed any of the events that happened before their arrival. I guess it's a book about identity, immigration and starting a new life, but it seems to go deeper than that on a philosophical level that I am missing.
It's probably a book I need time to mull over and think about because Coetzee is obviously saying something here, but I just can't work out exactly what it is...
In a nutshell, a boy and a man, not his father, arrive as immigrants in a new, Spanish speaking country. The country is modern, it has television, but no phones, and we never really know where it is, who the people are or why they have left their original country. The man, Simon, is obsessed by reuniting the boy with his mother who he became separated from on the journey over. At least that's what we assume, but no-one in the new, nameless country can really remember their past and they are supposed to forget it, so we're never really sure what happened to the parents, or indeed any of the events that happened before their arrival. I guess it's a book about identity, immigration and starting a new life, but it seems to go deeper than that on a philosophical level that I am missing.
It's probably a book I need time to mull over and think about because Coetzee is obviously saying something here, but I just can't work out exactly what it is...
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like meandering books, so I liked this