Reviews

الیزابت کاستلو by J.M. Coetzee

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

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5.0

Elizabeth Costello is Coetzee's alter ego. And for most of the book, she is giving her opinions on different subjects- realism, women's voice in novels, violence against animals, African novel, Humanity's future - a study in Christ's cross vs Mary's breasts (Mary's breasts won), nature of evil, the impact a book on an evil subject can have on people, mechanics involved when Gods had sex with humans (I like the way this woman thinks) etc. S0me of these are given as lectures, the content of which is borrowed from actual lectures Coetzee gave. The most important subject is animal violence but i have already discussed it.

Another interesting subject is influence a book on an 'evil' subject can have on its writer. Can a writer or reader come out scratched? Most people considered Costello's fears baseless. But 2012 Auror shootings seems to prove that such fears are groundless, but the trouble is letting the fears rule one often leads to bad choices, in this case, it might result in some people calling for censorships when all one needs to use a bit of caution.

Anyway, the last part is where Costello, now dead, finds herself on the threshold of world beyond and denied entry because she has kept refusing to ever have any kind of belief - showing that she saw herself as divorced from things she believed in. The part is heavily inspired from Kafka. Anyone wanting to read it shall do well to read Kafka's short stories'Before the law' and 'A Report to the academy'.

shaunwaldie's review against another edition

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

4.0

edgars_vai's review against another edition

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

5.0

i hated it and then fell in love with it. deeply reflective and beautiful. being lost in not something that changes, it’s something you learn to live with. question everything you see, hear, feel, and think.

casparb's review against another edition

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actually my first coetzee ! and it's very so not for everybody. I've seen this called a problem novel(?) in that you're not here for STORY it's a portrait and a thought, continuing. Elizabeth Costello is largely a lecture, a series of lectures, they're good, they're unexpected when you're leaning into a novel. Peter Singer seems to hover here. ! I didn't detect any egregious strawmanism things. then ! the whole endeavour launches into what I rly can't avoid calling a take on Kafka's Before the Law, neat. I kind of go both ways on this !!! and I'm thinking still whether I Do Like

there can't be ! many this way

amy_heferen's review against another edition

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challenging reflective 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? It's complicated

2.75

lillianviolinist's review against another edition

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4.0

I suppose I liked some chapters of this book better than others. I did not particularly enjoy the chapter discoursing evil, though it did provide a useful break in Elizabeth's character.
I found her ramblings fascinating, the product of a too-well-read mind. Perhaps her assertion about reading and writing being not necessarily a positive is correct. Her assertions seem to mirror and diverge from that of their ultimate author (Coetzee himself) what is more important: reason or emotion. Can we truly cut ourself off from belief and do we lose our humanity in doing so? There are definitely multiple gates and perhaps Elizabeth's unwillingness to see them is the most tragic part of all.

notorious_brj's review against another edition

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

3.25

paulsnelling's review against another edition

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3.0

Not really a novel, more a collection musings most of which have been published before. Personally I prefer my philosophy to be written by philosophers rather than fictional characters. But there’s some interesting ideas, not all of which were interesting to me. In the final dream chapter the writer clams she has no beliefs that as writer she reports the voices of others, that she will speak for murderers. Previously the protagonist spoke at a conference railing against a novel which described the gruesome end of hitler-plotters. That book should not have been written, she said. Is there a contradiction here, or was it a literary device which evaded my reading, quickened in my haste to get to the end if the book? To find out I would have to go back and reread, as I would a work of philosophy. But by then I just didn’t care.

sarihelikopter's review against another edition

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5.0

Bayıldım!

Utanç'ı okuduğumda çok arada kaldığımı hissettiğim bir yazardı Coetze. Çok mu sevdim, hiç mi sevmedim bir türlü karar verememiştim. Bence poetik olan bir Türkçeleştirmeyle Elizabeth Costello isimli bir kitabı "Romancının Romanı" başlığıyla görünce bir kez daha şansımı denemek istedim ve sanırım Coetze'nin yazdığı her şeyi okuyacağım.

Yaşlılık dönemindeki bir yazarın, 260 kadar kısacık sayfada tüm karakterinin, hayatının farklı dönemlerinde nasıl biri olduğunun eksiksiz bir şekilde yazılmasından inanılmaz etkilendim. Genç ve yeni anne Costello'nun, kariyerini sürdürürken çağın ötesinde bir kadından; yaşlılığında artık görüşleriyle, duruşuyla, kararlarıyla nasıl zamandan yiten bir kadına dönüştüğünü görmek muhteşemdi.

Kötülüğün doğasına odaklandığı bölümde, kötülüğü anlatam kitaplar yazarken yazarların ruhunun kirlendiğiyle ilgili yazdıkları bana direkt Costello'nun, Coetze'nin alter egosu olduğunu düşündürdü. Sadece Utanç'ı okumuş olsam da, oradaki kötülüğü yazarken kendini nasıl hissetmiş olabileceğine dair çok güzel bölümler vardı.

Hele son bölüm olan inanç bölümü benim başucu okumalarımdan olacak kesinlikle. Hayvanlarla ilgili yazdığı kısımların bir kısmına ise katılmıyorum.

Çok özgün bir kitap kurgusuyla ve fikriyle. Bir yazar yaratmak, kurgulamak, ama o yazarın nerdeyse gerçek bir yazar olması, hatta en ünlü kitabının Marion Bloom'un yaşamını tahayyül ettiği kitabının olması gibi detaylarıyla benim all-time-favorite listeme çok hızlı bir şekilde girdi.

Ya gelin kaynana ilişkisi bile var. Akademi, aile ilişkileri, arkadaşlıklar, aşklar... Her şey bu kadar kısa bir kitaba nasıl sığmış inanmakta güçlük çekiyorum.

Yaza yaza bitiremem sevdiğim her şeyi sanırım.

johndiconsiglio's review against another edition

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3.0

Nobel Laureate Coetzee’s odd 2003 novel (novel?) is ostensibly a portrait of a prickly Australian writer told through award speeches, cruise ship presentations & guest lectures. (An acknowledgements page seemingly indicates Coetzee shoehorned his own essays into the text.) Lotsa esoteric chatter, often “ill-gauged, ill-argued,” as her son notes—but not before we’ve suffered through a 20-page diatribe on the Holocaust & animal rights. It comes alive when breaking its formal structure & exposing the inherent cruelty of writers—“large cats that pause as they eviscerate their victim &, across the torn-open belly, give you a cold yellow stare.”