Monday, May 21, 2007

Elizabeth Costello* - J.M. Coetzee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Costello - Luckily, this wasn't the first book I read by J.M. Coetzee. If it were, I probably would never have picked up another. This is a book about the fictional Australian novelist, Elizabeth Costello - who finds herself late in life, after receiving numerous awards for her writing, giving speeches on topics ranging from the modern novel to vegetarianism to the nature of evil. The novel unfolds in eight chapters - each chapter a different speech. Coetzee seemed to use the book as a vehicle for laying out his philosophies on various issues - or setting up debates that didn't seem to move forward any sort of story line. While each speech certainly provided a window into the character, I found them tedious, and the character narcissistic. The ideas are intriguing (though granted I didn't understand half of them), but I didn't find the book particularly enjoyable.

(* - listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die)

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