After a shoddy first foray into the post-modernist genre with Slow Man... Coetzee gives it another, more heart-felt, more honest shot and produces a book of breathtaking courage and poignancy. I have just finished reading the book and can honestly say that I am a little shaken, having come face to face with not just my own immortality but everything else that could be so much worse than immortality, the weakness of my character and inelegance of man in the face of circumstances.A sort of sequel to Youth, this is a semi-autobiographical novel where Coetzee turns the lens in on himself with such sharp rigor it makes you feel for his soul; what does it take to produce art of this quality? How much pain and guilt must you endure and embrace to produce that one honest sentence? The answer is here in this book... and it's not an encouraging one for aspirants. It is clear, when reading this book, that it is not a work of fiction. Summertime is the story of Coetzee himself as written by a biographer after his death. The book is structured as interviews with the biographer by those important to Coetzee at the time he was developing as a writer. Coetzee describes himself as without passion, disconnected, and uninteresting. Each of the people appears to be surprised that a biographer would have any interest in Coetzee at all.This book is the third in a series. It is not enjoyable reading, but it is technically interesting. The book serves to document Coetzee’s self-awareness. For those looking for an interesting story…probably should look at a different book from amongst Coetzee’s writings. For fans of Coetzee, this work is insightful.
Do You like book Verano (2009)?
Gotta love scathing self-portraits. O world of childless folk, is it really so different?
—cristinapiero
The premise seemed interesting, but in the end this one fell flat for me.
—Age
