I read this book for class and I have to write an Actual review for it, but in the meantime - I really did not enjoy this book. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt for the longest time, but it really didn't deserve it. It was boring and entirely too metatextual in clichéd and uninteresting ways. The characters were less than unsympathetic, but just watery, like bad oatmeal. It was made entirely too clear by the End that the author's Point was that writing cannot be about communicating beliefs, but it wasn't a point well made, and if that's your position, then the least you could do is make reading that position be an enjoyable experience.

A very interesting book. On the border of being pretentious and insightful. I lean towards the latter, but I can’t ignore the former.

I wish I had discovered Coetzee earlier. This is a very entertaining book, I wished it would not finish as it is not a long book. Looking forward to reading more of this great philosophical author/thinker.

I read this frickin book to impress a stupid boy who told me it was the best book he'd ever read and what I learned is that he has mediocre taste at best. Basically this book is worth reading to cure a misplaced crush but not worth reading in its entirety otherwise.

Only read the second half, beginning with part five. Instead of reading the first half, have a five minute conversation with any militant vegan.

Todas las obras de Coetzee tienen una fuerte carga ideológica y sus novelas de ficción le sirven para hablar de sus valores y su visión del mundo. En este caso la ficción es sólo una ligera envoltura para agrupar toda una serie de ideas que antes había desarrollado en ensayos separados.

La protagonista es Elizabeth Costello, una escritora australiana que se enfrenta al final de su carrera y que es el alter-ego del autor y a la que ya conocimos en Siete cuentos morales. A través de su vida, sus viajes, conferencias e intervenciones en diversas universidades, Coetzee va desarrollando sus ideas sobre el maltrato animal, el humanismo y la religión, la imposición del canon narrativo occidental en el ámbito africano, el problema del mal, el sexo... En total los temas se corresponden con nueve ensayos que había publicado anteriormente, pero aquí están bien engarzados en situaciones realistas. También hay muchas reflexiones sobre el papel del escritor de éxito en la sociedad, que puede llegar a ser una especie de 'entertainer' en cruceros de lujo o una bienvenida curiosidad en la aburrida vida académica.

El conjunto es interesante, si bien hay trozos muy densos y, para mí, excesivamente filosóficos. Tengo que confesar que disfruté más con la exposición de las mismas ideas pero encuadradas en la ficción, como por ejemplo en Desgracia o Esperando a los bárbaros. Pero para quien esté interesado en la obra de Coetzee creo que puede ser una buena introducción.

2 stars - I don't know what the hell this is or supposed to be

It started off well... I thought this will be about an ageing female writer, her struggles with ageing, role in society, the writing world etc

I'm not sure what this was about... As time went on, it got more and more incomprehensible to me, I couldn't quite understand that the heck Elizabeth Costello was going on about in her many talks, dissertations, lectures. Was her mind unravelling? Is Elizabeth Costello just a receptacle for Coetzee's philosophies, ponderings? I mean this had everything without meaning much: vegetarianism/animals rights - I was oh, ok, interesting, I'm open to it - but it went all astray.
There was a lecture on African literature - I found that interesting;
What else? Oh, these huge rants between Elizabeth Costello and her very religious sister, now a nun in a South Africa. As a devout atheist, I thought, oh, this should be interesting. I thought both women were batshit crazy and, as it's the case with most religious/theological discussions where there are two opposed sides, nothing comes out of it, they were just talking at each other, all well argued with fancy words, but nobody was listening.

There were many other subjects. I skipped ahead a bit just to see if this was going anywhere different. Nope. Elizabeth Costello was on another lecture yet again.

My biggest gripe with this - whatever it is, as I can't quite call it a novel - is that I never really understood who Elizabeth Costello was, the person, not the intellectual automaton. Most women are more nuanced. Maybe Coetzee should have chosen to write all this from a male perspective, as Elizabeth Costello wasn't that believable. She was too cold and detached. She didn't seem human. It's also possible that she was losing her marbles?

This book can be interpreted in a million and one ways. Some books you enjoy and have fun, some are informative, some you admire for their cleverness even though you don't necessarily enjoy them, I'm afraid, this one doesn't fall in any of the above categories, despite its intellectual highbrow lectures. I don't know ... It was all too dry, too intellectual without providing answers or that much food for thought in the end.

I'm not entirely sure what my thoughts on this book really are, other than that I didn't particularly enjoy it.

It doesn't really feel like a novel, instead at times more like a particularly pompous academic paper, or an exercise in technique. It is filled with monologues - external in the earlier part, and internal in the latter, all of which revolve around ideas or philosophies. The protagonist barely interacts with others other than speaking at them through her speeches at conferences, and through these the writer seems to be saying that all ideas and beliefs etc constantly evolve throughout our lifetimes, that none of these ideas are fixed but can always be countered, and indeed the protagonist herself seems to think herself in circles.

By the chapter on evil, the book had almost taken off for me, but over the course of the next couple of chapters it had sunk back again into nothingness. By the final chapter I was completely flummoxed as to what the purpose of it all had been, other than to reiterate the inconstancy of belief.

It may well be that more academic/literary minds than mine find something of worth in this book, but to me this was nothing more than a chore.

Sería de cinco estrellas si no fuera porque en momentos la protagonista resulta un poquito molesta, pero ese es un rasgo del personaje que se puede obviar. Esta es una obra hasta cierto nivel metaficcional. Escrita con en las conferencias dadas por Costello, nos lleva a las reflexiones sobre la novela en África, las humanidades, el realismo, y otras, dejándose en momentos ver la mano del autor en el mejor sentido.

Una obra fenomenal con una prosa impecable. Quizá resulte aburrida para quienes no están acostumbrados al estilo de la conferencia o la ponencia, para quien tenga un poquito más de experiencia en esas lecturas la va a disfrutar inmensamente.

En esta ocasión sí hay que estar de acuerdo con Vargas Llosa.

BLECH. As if Elizabeth Costello wasn't unlikable enough, with her mopey, childishly selfish late life "Oh, it's hard to be a respected writer" angst, Coetzee also puts her in this really blase framework where she basically pontificates at her audience, and by extension, us the readers. This wouldn't be such a problem, and her dogged critiques of rationalism/the enlightenment/carnivores could be palatable (could in fact be quite devastating), if it wasn't for the fact that they come across as the product of a reactionary, willfully irrational mind. The views she presents are like something a nihilistic highschool student who read too much Singer and Heidegger would come up with. I hate talking about novels like they are coherent arguments that can be taken apart one piece at a time. But what else am I supposed to do with this? We spend the vast majority of the book being lectured at by this person, am I supposed to pretend as though this isn't what the book is "about?" The conventional reading of this is that Coetzee is telegraphing at least some of his own ideas onto Costello. And maybe that's true, but if so, to what end? To prove that he can be an unlikable, misanthropic pedant? To acknowledge and to show the uglier side of his own idealism? Maybe that's noble and even kind of wise on his part. Unfortunately it doesn't make for very good reading here. In the book's penultimate section, Costello find herself in this weird universe that's sort of a combination of Kafka's 'The Castle' and 'The Trial.' Paralyzed by bureaucratic judges and gate guards, forced to justify her existence in a pathetic court room scene, Costello is unable to provide them with the answers that will presumably free her from her perverse bureaucratic/metaphysical stasis. She remains trapped there. Maybe they would have settled for her just admitting how much of a petty asshole she is.

Coetzee is like that douchey guy in seminar who is always interrupting people to say, “Okay, but let me play devil’s advocate here for a minute...” No. Stop. Go away, and quit writing novels that feel weirdly rapey even when nobody in them is having sex.

"Elizabeta Kostelo" man paliko drungną įspūdį.

Knyga parašyta gerai, bet ji manęs visai nesudomino, t. y. visai nepavyko įsijausti į tai, apie ką svarsto ir ką nori pasakyti pagrindinė veikėja Elizabeta Kostelo, kurios knygoje yra daug (kiti - tik šalutiniai veikėjai / stebėtojai). Knyga nesijautė vientisa, o tarsi sudurstyta iš atskirų dalių - Elizabetos kelionių, minčių, sakomų kalbų jos klausytojams (apie praeitį, rašymą, žmogaus keitimąsi, blogį pasaulyje), kuriose daug gyvenimo nuovargio.

Kas erzino, kad atrodė, jog jos refleksijos daugiausiai nukreiptos į išorę ir kitus, o daug mažiau į save: koks seniai pažįstamas rašytojas tebėra garbėtroška, kokia jos sesuo vienuolė griežta, nepaslanki ir nenorinti suprasti kitų, kaip kiti nesistengia suprasti ir priimti jos keitimosi "tu keitiesi, pergalvoji savo mintis, keiti nuomonę, bet kituose tu lieki sustingęs, kiti nemėgsta keisti požiūrio į tave, jie jau yra įstatę tave į tam tikra vietą, rėmus ir dažniausiai nebenori jų keisti", nors tokia pati nuodėmė, atrodo, būdinga ir pačiai pagrindinei veikėjai. Tik pačioje knygos pabaigoje Elizabetos refleksijos daugiau atsisuko ir į save - per abejones savo pačios mintimis paskutinio teismo vizijoje (kas pasirodė gana nuspėjama).

Knyga, norinti daug pasakyti - apie žmogaus kitimą ir kartu pastovumą, apie abejones, blogį ir gėrį, bet skaitant taip ir neradau kažko tokio, kas mane įtrauktų ar sukeltų norą įsigilinti.

I give it 4 stars because I know it’s a good book and it’s well written. But if I am fully honest with myself I am not entirely sure I’ve understood this book to its full extent.