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blairmahoney 's review for:
Foe
by J.M. Coetzee
I don't think this is quite Coetzee's best book (I'd probably say Waiting for the Barbarians for that), but it's a stunningly good reimagining of the story of Robinson Crusoe through the eyes of a female castaway, Susan Barton, who ends up on the island with 'Cruso' and Friday and then tries to tell their (and her) story to the acclaimed writer Mr Daniel (De)Foe. Very little of this slender novel takes place on the island, and the events there show little promise of an exciting narrative (and little resemblance to the novel we know). Most of it consists of unanswered correspondence from Susan to Foe, who has disappeared in an attempt to escape his creditors. It's an examination of the (gendered) nature of storytelling and how we come to terms with the attempt to narrate our lives and turn them into stories. It's reminiscent of Jean Rhys's take on Jane Eyre in Wide Sargasso Sea and just as much a classic as that earlier postcolonial retelling.