Author: J M Coetzee
A young biographer - Vincent tries to construct the life of a
deceased Nobel laureate - John Coetzee– at the time of which John was trying to
establish himself as a writer, through his thirties - with a series of
interviews of various people, mostly women. Vincent chooses these people based
on John’s notes.
It is a reflective piece of fiction. Autobiographical to an extent.
My great take-aways:
o The
whole narrative is a series of interviews. Lovely conversations. Delightful
insights. [This is what I feel -
Conversations, interesting and engaging,
be it with a person or in a book, active or passively involved, are one of the best indulgences of life. ]
o The
women interviewed seem very real. That goes to show the author has a great
sense of observation and understanding of the human nature.
o Great
men, even a Nobel laureate for that matter, may have confusions, needs to sort
of things to getter a perspective, may not be sure of his calling and lead a
“boring” existence! Lives of great people may not be a series of exciting
events. [ No one ever claimed so, just
that as a child I expected life to be a series of fun adventures and exciting
moments as an adult – the greater the person, the more I felt his/her life was
interesting. Only life itself, literature and insightful interactions sobered
me down to accept the plainness of adulthood and the ordinariness of life!]
o John
is an introvert [And it turns out, an
introvert is not closed or cold when he starts writing!]. The book has
interviews at first followed by notes of John. One of the points in the notes
about dance can be linked back to the what a Brazilian woman thought were
John’s undue advances (as shared in an interview) when he tried to learn dance
from her! It is actually comical if you could link the two!
o A
grown man’s struggle to understand his own father, how without a woman the two
men of the family have nothing to bond over and just co-habituate
uncomfortably! He is ill at ease with people who are not ill at ease! He is a
product of a damaged childhood, as his notes say. His relationships and
expectations from women don’t seem natural, it takes effort on his part to even
have them in his life, he is not sure if he belongs in their world and all of
it is obvious to the women.
In the notes section there
is a mention of one John’s lists titled – “Ways of doing away with oneself”.
If literature cannot open
up to you the life in all its variations, and give a peek into minds and lives
of people very different from yourself, what else would? Life is too short to
know all kinds of people. And it is always a pleasure to read a book like this.
o There are very interesting ideas, to ponder, muse about. Hmmmmmm. Thoughts
and ideas that makes the reader feel like having a very intimate conversation with
the author(of course the reader is a “good” listener here!) are some of the best moments of reading a
book. This is at the fag end of the book, and by then you know the kind of
person John is. I was nodding, smiling and couldn’t agree more!
o I
love the cover picture of the book. This was what caught my attention first.
Enjoyed reading the book a great deal. A delight.
Makes me wish living was as pleasurable an experience as reading a well written
book! J
