A review by jolles
Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee

5.0

The thing about Coetzee, at least for me, is that his ability to inhabit other worlds, other times, other beings, and construct a narrative around them that is, for the most part, compelling and powerfully wrought, overwhelms (in the best possible way that one might use this word) me as a reader. This was my third read through of E.C. and I think my experience of the text is deepened with each time I read it. I was particularly interested in the way in which Coetzee provides a sort of treatise on the humanities throughout the text. Sure there are some meta-discursive moments that were a little on the nose, but it always seems to be the case that stronger writers (or, I guess more honestly, writers I like) can get away with these things that I would ordinarily find incredibly kitsch.