It started off as a 5 star book and sort of dropped as it went along, until the final section made me feel I'd lost it entirely. It's probably 3.5 stars, but I don't feel bad giving it just 3.

The book follows a woman called Susan Barton, a castaway on the same island as a man called Cruso, who after being rescued with the mute Friday, takes her story to a man called Foe, to write her tale and make her rich and famous.

But what follows is a discourse on language, on who writes our stories and who is listened to. How Susan, as a woman, and Friday, as a black man, don't get to tell their histories, unless through the intermediary of an old white man, who abandons them for months on end.

As the short novel drifts on, we lose our grip on who is real, who is a character, what has happened, what is fiction. I must admit I was flummoxed by the final chapter - I've had a suggested reading from the internet, which just about fits, but is horrendously pretentious, and this is when my final rating dropped to a 3. It's just too head scratching and disappointing a finish.

Un libro maravilloso sobre la desigualdad del habla y la imposibilidad de transmitir según que cosas a través de según qué sujetos. ¡También la obra más moderna que he leído en meses!

বইটি সম্ভবত রূপক অর্থে লেখা । মূল ইংরেজি বইটি কেমন ছিল বলতে পারব না , তবে অনুবাদ পড়ে মোটেই সন্তুষ্ট নই । নোবেল বিজয়ী একজন লেখকের বিখ্যাত উপন্যাস, আমি গল্পটা বুঝতে পারিনি; এটা অবশ্যই আমার ব্যর্থতা এবং অনুবাদকের উপরও এর দায়ভার কিছুটা বর্তায় । আর নাহলে বলতে হবে এরকম লেখা আমার জন্য না । সত্যি কথা বলতে এর চেয়ে একঘেয়ে বই পড়িনি ।

Kucijev "Fo", koji je prvi put objavljen 1986. godine, nudi nam jedan novi pogled na dobro poznatu priču o Defou i Robinzonu Krusou. Ta se novina ogleda u uvođenju novih likova, kao i preplitanju tekstualnih i vantekstualnih svjetova. Šta to konkretno znači? Kuci u priču uvodi i lik Suzan Barton, koja, nakon što izbija pobuna na brodu na kojem se nalazi, biva ostavljena usred mora, a potom završava na pustom (ili ne baš tako pustom) ostrvu, gdje sreće Robinzona i Petka. Ne, ova knjiga nije zamišljena kao prepričavanje istih ili sličnih avantura i događaja sa nešto proširenom postavkom likova, što postaje jasno već u trenutku kada se priča, nedugo nakon samog početka, izmješta s ostrva u London, gdje Suzan dolazi do Danijela Foa, koji treba da zapravo uzme njenu priču i uobliči je u jedno valjano djelo. Još je dosta tu nekih sitnijih i krupnijih događaja koji se smjenjuju i više ili manje jasno usmjeravaju djelovanje junaka, ali jedna od glavnih tema koja je obrađena na stranicama ove knjige jeste pitanje moći riječi, tj. govora, odnosno pravo i sloboda da se osoba kao jedinka izražava, a shodno tome i gubitak istog prava. Odnos između Suzan, Foa, Petka i Robinzona, tako, postaje gusto isprepletena mreža odnosa povlašćenih i potčinjenih, privilegovanih i onih koji su lišeni svega, pa i mogućnosti da sopstvenim govorom posvjedoče o svojoj sudbini, a u slučaju da to na neki način i učine, onda da budu saslušani na odgovarajući način. Idejno, knjiga je fenomenalna, ali zaista. Pravi je primjer toga kako se dobro poznati književni predložak može uzeti kao obrazac za neke univerzalne priče ispričane na novi, a opet upečatljiv i specifičan način. S druge strane, ovo jeste roman o govoru i riječima i iskazivanju, ali je u njemu i mnogo toga fragmentarnog i neizgovorenog i konfuznog. I sve više i više što se priča bliži kraju. Da, mozak jasno govori da to ima i te kako smisla kad se uzme u obzir tema koja je u srži romana, ali užitak samog čitanja nekako ostaje u drugom planu zbog te konfuznosti koja se samo pojačava i pojačava.

I keep wanting to like Coetzee, but I just can't get past my irritation at his characters' voices and the opaque symbolism scattered throughout. This is my second venture into one of his novels (the first being "Disgrace") and while I'm interested in the themes he explores, I can't get past the pretensions of his prose to actually be engaged by his writing.

Se vi piace giocare
Se vi piace vedere un Defoe trasformarsi in Foe, un Crusoe in Cruso, entrare ed uscire dalla finzione, assistere ai giochi di prestigio dell'autore che imbroglia le carte sotto i vostri occhi, trovarvi naufraghi con Susan su un'isola deserta, ed uscirne per scoprire che, forse, tutta la fatica che avete fatto era un artifizio per fornire una storia ad uno scrittore, il quale, a sua volta, suggerisce che, forse, è lui la vittima di Susan, la quale inventa lo scrittore per poter dettare la sua storia, se vi piace dubitare, chiedervi quale sia la lingua di Venerdì, l'uomo al quale è stata tagliata la lingua, e riflettere sul gioco che è la letteratura, allora sì, leggetelo!

4.5 stars.

what a spectacular piece of shit

COMMUNICATION WITH A FELLOW READER
(ABOUT NOTES IN THE MARGIN):

Footprints in the Sand of Time:

Hello. You don't know me. I bought your book online. I don't know your name. I don't even know whether you're dead or alive. You made notations in the margin. I noticed them straight away: some were in pencil, some, later, when I looked, were in pen, although they might have been made by someone else. We started to note similar things and make similar comments. After a while, I started to make fewer comments, because I was content with yours. Either that, or I started to think like you, to walk in your footsteps. I'm a reader like you. You're a reader like me. Reader. Like me. Please. Whoever you are. I don't think there are many of us around. Let me know if you get this message. In the meantime, I'll try to write a review. I hope it's an OK one. I hope we like it.



CRITIQUE (NOTES FROM THE MARGIN):

Friend or Foe?

"Foe" raises fascinating metafictional ideas in a text that is just as economical (157 pages) as it is intellectually and aesthetically stimulating.

It's a postmodern reconstruction of "Robinson Crusoe" that asks questions about empire and colonialism, slavery and dominion, history and fictional narrative, especially its ownership: What is the story about? Whose story or perspective is it? Who is telling the story? Who owns the story that results?

Plantation and Quotation Marks

Coetzee tells his tale in four parts.

The first is wholly contained in quotation marks. It purports to be the perspective of Susan Barton, incidentally a character from a subsequent Daniel Defoe novel ("Roxana"), who in "Foe" ends up on the island with Cruso (sic) and Friday (whose tongue has been cut out by slavers).

The second is largely epistolary, being the letters written by Susan Barton to Foe, trying to get him to write her story for publication. Again, this section is in quotation marks.

The third is an almost Borgesian confrontation between Susan and Foe, which begins, "The staircase was dark and mean." There are no quotation marks around the section.

History and Heritage

The fourth begins with the words, "The staircase is dark and mean." It mimics the beginning of the previous section (but in present tense), there are no quotation marks, however, it's not clear whether the narrator is actually Susan Barton or whether the "author" of this section is the same author as any or all of the previous sections.

It's quite possible that this author is a contemporary writer or reader (i.e., us) who is visiting Defoe's home (complete with heritage plaque). It's as if the narrator is a visitor to the home, narrating their experience in the physical space, as well as their imaginary extrapolation of events that could have taken place here three centuries before.

Dying to Tell the Tale

The bulk of the first three sections explores the power relationship between Cruso and Susan.

Eventually, it becomes clear that she will have to tell (or commission the telling) of his and/or their story. The second option necessitates the involvement of Foe, who de-authenticises the tale, in order to make it more entertaining and commercially successful.

Not only does this dialectic raise issues about control and ownership of the narrative, it dramatises a power struggle between two genders.

Friday on My Mind

Just as Susan recognises her own need and desire to communicate, increasingly, her own perspective comes to focus on the plight of Friday:

"...this is not a place of words…This is a place where bodies are their own signs. It is the home of Friday."

He has no tongue, therefore he cannot speak. He knows little English, and presumably cannot write. Therefore, apparently, he has no capacity to contribute his version of the story, in other words, a black version of history.

Susan starts to teach Friday how to write in the third section.

As if the issues raised in section four aren't enough, I wondered whether Friday might have "written" the entire novel.

Thus, there is a sense in which the book can be read as a post-colonial work that gives voice not just to non-whites, but simultaneously to women. In any event, just as it subverts the authorial conventions of literature, it subverts the social conventions of white male authoritarianism.

Friday, I'm in Love!

This review might make the novel sound very academic. The truth, however, is that it's exquisitely written. Not one word is surplus or out of place. It consumes our imagination so effectively that we don't need any distraction. However, having achieved its goal, it remains a distraction for the reader. I'm sure the previous reader would agree with me!




Date of Review: January 12, 2016


SOUNDTRACK:

The Cure - "Friday, I'm In Love"

"I don't care if Cruso's blue,
Author's gray and readers too.
Defoe, I don't care about you,
Coz, Friday, I'm in love."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGgMZ...

The Easybeats - "Friday On My Mind"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnqxb...

David Bowie - "Friday On My Mind"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCgNC...

Pink Floyd - "See Emily Play"

"She's often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R8Ep...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6HFk...

David Bowie - "See Emily Play"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjg5_...



"It is not whoring to entertain other people's stories and return them to the world better dressed." [J.M. Coetzee]

A reinvention of Robinson Crusoe with a widow Susan Barton on her way back from Brazil on an unsuccessful search for her daughter. She is cast off a ship after the crew mutiny and kill the Captain her lover. She finds herself on Crusoe’s island. Friday is basically Crusoe’s slave with his tongue out. The theme of not being able to tell his story is replicated with Susan after she is saved and returns to England. She meets Defoe but he finds her story boring and wanted to change it to something more entertaining with cannibals and monsters. Rather than the day to day monotony of being shipwrecked on an island.

The power dynamic of Susan and Friday and then her with Defoe is thought provoking. She is unable to write her story as Friday cannot tell his and relies on Defoe. A good novella well written. The building of the terraces on the island for crops that will never be planted. The dancing by Friday to keep warm in cold London to what is reality and what is the true story behind Susan Barton all made for me an entertaining read.

I had to read this for a class centering around Robinson Crusoe and I thought this was absolutely deplorable. It reads like a bad fanfiction with a MarySue for a protagonist. Her adventures are bizarre and difficult to follow. If I had not been made to read this for a class, I'd never have read past the first few pages, let alone picked it up to begin with.

???????????????????
36 pages into it and I started skimming (due to the vapidness of it) so fast I read the last 100 pages in 10 minutes.
A summary:
- Susan is shipwrecked
- She tells Cruso to do something
- They're rescued
- She wants her book to be published
- Foe disappears
- Susan tells her daughter she isn't her daughter (or something)
- Foe reappears
- Something happens
- Lots of talking
Still looking for a tangible plot that I'm starting to believe doesn't exist