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A review by bub_9
Foe by J.M. Coetzee
3.0
I won't bother with a plot summary; there are enough of that already.
What makes Foe certainly worth reading is its subtlety. Unlike Coetzee's earlier works, he does not overtly discuss colonisation; instead, he gently introduces its concerns through the means of Friday, the African slave who accompanies Susan on the island. Yet I had my doubts about Friday: though he is bereft of speech, he did not too need to be stripped of character and personality in the way Coetzee treats him; while the mindless singing and flute-playing perhaps alludes to a comment on the exploitation of colonies and slavery, it also has the unfortunate effect of robbing us of Friday's story.
This is a shame because the novel is ultimately a comment on narratives. Coetzee demands (rather explicitly) that we examine more closely the mechanisms of storytelling, with Susan at times openly ruminating upon the fictive and fictitious devices and anecdotes storytellers of her day use to increase circulation of their allegedly true stories. Of course, we are not privy to the reality of the story she tells us - we can only assume from Coetzee that she tells us the truth. Nonetheless, even if Coetzee is rather heavy-handed in his approach - I'd say look to Barnes, for instance, for more careful critiques of narrativisation - he does give us a thought-provoking look at narrativisation.
Where the text falls rather flat for me is in the characters of Robinson and Friday. Perhaps there is more of a point to Robinson's peculiar behaviour than I am seeing, but if it is merely a mocking parody of the colonisers, then I am doubtful about its effectiveness - it seems rather too trope-ish, with Friday similarly falling into the role of the silenced native.
I do think, however, that Coetzee's ending chapter (very brief, at just four pages) is a masterstroke, some of the most well-written, best-conceived writing I have read in a while. Without giving too much away, Coetzee sublimely interrogates Friday's silence as well as the overriding concern of narrativisation. The book is worth reading simply for this ending chapter.
What makes Foe certainly worth reading is its subtlety. Unlike Coetzee's earlier works, he does not overtly discuss colonisation; instead, he gently introduces its concerns through the means of Friday, the African slave who accompanies Susan on the island. Yet I had my doubts about Friday: though he is bereft of speech, he did not too need to be stripped of character and personality in the way Coetzee treats him; while the mindless singing and flute-playing perhaps alludes to a comment on the exploitation of colonies and slavery, it also has the unfortunate effect of robbing us of Friday's story.
This is a shame because the novel is ultimately a comment on narratives. Coetzee demands (rather explicitly) that we examine more closely the mechanisms of storytelling, with Susan at times openly ruminating upon the fictive and fictitious devices and anecdotes storytellers of her day use to increase circulation of their allegedly true stories. Of course, we are not privy to the reality of the story she tells us - we can only assume from Coetzee that she tells us the truth. Nonetheless, even if Coetzee is rather heavy-handed in his approach - I'd say look to Barnes, for instance, for more careful critiques of narrativisation - he does give us a thought-provoking look at narrativisation.
Where the text falls rather flat for me is in the characters of Robinson and Friday. Perhaps there is more of a point to Robinson's peculiar behaviour than I am seeing, but if it is merely a mocking parody of the colonisers, then I am doubtful about its effectiveness - it seems rather too trope-ish, with Friday similarly falling into the role of the silenced native.
I do think, however, that Coetzee's ending chapter (very brief, at just four pages) is a masterstroke, some of the most well-written, best-conceived writing I have read in a while. Without giving too much away, Coetzee sublimely interrogates Friday's silence as well as the overriding concern of narrativisation. The book is worth reading simply for this ending chapter.