Reviews

Summertime by J.M. Coetzee

jayden_mccomiskie's review against another edition

5.0

Coetzee is not nice to himself in the conclusion to this trilogy...but this book is my favourite of the three.

andrew_russell's review against another edition

2.0

This tells the story of John Coetzee from the interesting perspective of several interviews with family and acquaintances he made during his lifetime. It also has a number of extracts from his notes at the end. It is fictional and I did find that what held it up was the unique aforementioned approach to writing a fiction book. It is not a novel, for it has no central plot. The characters only descriptions are in the imagination of the reader and arise from the interviews with others, rather than first hand.

While at first this possesses some novelty value,there are several characteristics of John Coetzee which are common in all the interviews. Once these are known, they are repeated, albeit through the means of descriptions given by several different individuals. While this could be seen as a strength in the book, I found it a weakness. It left me feeling that Coetzee was two dimensional and I could summon up neither sympathy or distaste for his character, due to a lack of concern on my part (due to boredom by the end of the book) as well as lack of information provided.

However, in spite of being rather dull the book had a strange hold over me and I found it exceptionally difficult to put down. I wasn't sure whether to give it 2 or 3 stars and in the end decided on 2 as, while the premise of the book was interesting, the book itself was not.

dllh's review against another edition

3.0

It's a well-made book but not, for me, an especially interesting one. It's good-but-not-interesting in the way James is, I suppose. At least it's briefer.

katherineharnisch's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

 

I’m sorry, this book was NOT it. The problem with this book does not lie in the actual content, but in what it is trying to achieve. This book was supposed to be about this man (John Coetzee, how original), but the actual time spent discussing him or reading about his life was minimal. I do know and agree that there is some merit to understanding a person through their family/friends/acquaintances, but we need to see those people interact (more than briefly) with the person in question to make that effective.  Unfortunately this book did not do that. 

 

Another problem I have with this book is that it was originally (and may still be) marketed as an autobiographical fiction book. I cannot wrap my mind around why that is, as only the smallest elements of this book seem to be true to the real Coetzee’s life. This is the third in a series, and the first two books were written as and marketed as memoir. So naturally, the reader expects that this will be heavily rooted in Coetzee’s life. For that, I feel tricked. 

 

The writing itself was okay, which is why I am giving it a couple of stars. I did underline a few quotes (none from fictional Coetzee, since he barely showed up in his own book). In Margot’s section, she says, “…this is not a new source of pain, no, it returns again and again like a toothache, to the extent that it has now begun to bore her.” The secondhand emotional damage I received from that comment was…a lot lol 

 

Anyway, marketing this as autobiographical fiction is ethically questionable at best, ethically reprehensible at worst. I don’t recommend reading this UNLESS you are fully aware that this does NOT follow Coetzee’s actual life. It is NOT autobiographical fiction and should never have been marketed as such. 

dutchtineke's review against another edition

2.0

I've finished the book today. And I think it was an okay book. So okay in fact that I just now had to think really hard what the story was about and if I liked it, and I finished it three hours ago! It is a bit forgettable, just like the Coetzee in the story was, actually.
This book is going on the AVL-stack.

maizie_77's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

kaylamarnitz's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

bettyvd's review against another edition

4.0

Heel erg van genoten.
De gekende stijl van Coetzee: uitgepuurd en droog. Maar ook nu weer het elegante spel met de perspectieven. Een roman over een biografie over een schrijver die misschien ook de auteur zelf is, maar misschien ook niet...Het boek doet nadenken over in welke mate het mogelijk is om iemand of jezelf te kennen. Een aanrader.
Gelezen in het Engels.

harleyburch's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

hollymarshall's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0