Comments on: Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee

By: Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:37:05 +0000

@Wendy:

“Tough read, but worth it” is, I think, what Harold Bloom means when he says that reading is a “difficult pleasure”. Thanks for your reviews! I’ll check them out.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:04:49 +0000

Rebecca: Coetzee is always a tough read, but worth it (in my opinion). I've read three of his books (including Life and Times of Michael K and you can see my reviews here: Slow Man and Disgrace and Life and Times of Michael K

By: Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:39:23 +0000

@Kim: I’m thinking this author might be one best read in a setting where others can weigh in on their thoughts and we can all learn together! Hard to read otherwise. I haven’t read Crusoe.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:25:47 +0000

I read Foe, which is a deconstruction/post-modern re-telling of Robinson Crusoe. I read Robinson Crusoe first, and I think Foe is better that way because I think the jokes he makes about the book are better. It’s very complicated though, and I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much as I did if I hadn’t been reading it for my senior seminar in English and gotten to talk about it in class each day. It’s not super long, and it’s not unpleasant, just complicated.

By: Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:34:53 +0000

@Jessica: Sounds like this author is always a hard read. I probably won’t pick that one up. Michael K was hard to pick up every time but like I said it seemed worthwhile to read and it was short so I pushed through to the end. I wonder if any of his are pleasant?

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:27:24 +0000

I am currently slogging my way through Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee. It is an interesting book (about half of each page is a non-fiction essay, the next quarter is a story from the old man who wrote the essay, from his point of view, the next quarter is the same story, but from a young woman’s point of view). Whew! Okay, so while interesting, I’m just not feeling compelled to finish. We’ll see. Your review actually made me want to pull through to the end.