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Shovelmonkey1's Reviews > Foe
Foe
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I read this a long time ago and have only just got round to thinking about a review now. Now is me sitting in front a netbook with a large glass of red wine, the work phone switched off (praise all your gods, it is the weekend) and a pile of salted cashew nuts to hand. You could cast me adrift on a desert island now, with no hope of redemption and as long as I could take the wine and the nuts (I'll leave the works phone, thanks) then I probably wouldn't utter so much as a squeak of protest.
Turns out that leaving it a while to review this book was probably a tactical faux pas on my part because it has not left enough of an impression to allow the memories of salient points ( a fellow goodreader pointed out today that book amnesia is frequently the benchmark of a bad book), witty lines and poetic description to come flooding back. Give me an hour, more wine and I'll probably fill in the blanks with some kind of skewed version of Coetzee's sequel/ parallel to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (recently read and reviewed), but I'll try to finish writing before it gets to that sloppy point.
In lieu of being able to offer any new startling observations on this text I have just read two excellent reviews:
Chris Holmes' http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and Brian's review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
both which are worth reading with or without the wine.
Coetzee tackles the story of Robinson Crusoe and his castaway years by adding into the mix, a female companion who has returned to England and brought with her the story of her life on an island with the now deceased Cruso and the man Friday. The story she tells is very different to that of the Crusoe we know from popular publication. Does this make it any less true? I suppose the point is that communication, or if you are Friday, lack thereof, is constantly open to interpretation. Is what we say actually interpreted by those who hear it in the way we mean it? Probably not. The faceless communications of today (text, Tweet, blog and even goodreads) leave a lot of scope for misinterpretation and error. With Cruso I guess the question is, how much of his-story is in this case her story?
Turns out that leaving it a while to review this book was probably a tactical faux pas on my part because it has not left enough of an impression to allow the memories of salient points ( a fellow goodreader pointed out today that book amnesia is frequently the benchmark of a bad book), witty lines and poetic description to come flooding back. Give me an hour, more wine and I'll probably fill in the blanks with some kind of skewed version of Coetzee's sequel/ parallel to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (recently read and reviewed), but I'll try to finish writing before it gets to that sloppy point.
In lieu of being able to offer any new startling observations on this text I have just read two excellent reviews:
Chris Holmes' http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and Brian's review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
both which are worth reading with or without the wine.
Coetzee tackles the story of Robinson Crusoe and his castaway years by adding into the mix, a female companion who has returned to England and brought with her the story of her life on an island with the now deceased Cruso and the man Friday. The story she tells is very different to that of the Crusoe we know from popular publication. Does this make it any less true? I suppose the point is that communication, or if you are Friday, lack thereof, is constantly open to interpretation. Is what we say actually interpreted by those who hear it in the way we mean it? Probably not. The faceless communications of today (text, Tweet, blog and even goodreads) leave a lot of scope for misinterpretation and error. With Cruso I guess the question is, how much of his-story is in this case her story?
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Foe.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
November 20, 2011
– Shelved
December 9, 2011
– Shelved as:
bookcrossing-books
December 9, 2011
– Shelved as:
travel-books
December 9, 2011
– Shelved as:
1001-books
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Tony
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Dec 09, 2011 12:14PM
You had me at red wine and salted cashews.
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The desert island bar would be well stocked or there'd be a mutiny!
I like the fact that you wrote this review on a Friday. Better than cruising Liverpudlian bars (speaking of which, I once saw the band Blancmange in a pub in Liverpool).
I rarely review books from memory, maybe "On the Road" and "The City and the City".
I don't think it's the fault of the book.
Sometimes it's like the difference between being in a wave and trying to describe the experience afterwards.
When you're in the wave, everything is so much more stimulating and sensational.
You want to shout, but it would probably sound a bit silly later on when you're trying to tell your story. That's if you're afraid to be silly.
I don't think any of the people I've met on this website are afraid to be silly. We play word games via the internet... have you noticed how not many other people join in with the punning? As for writing on a Friday, I'm going out tomorrow night so thought I would reserve my funds and units for one evening and instead spend a sociable evening with the some goodreaders!
Speaking of waves, Ian....I've always loved the ocean, perhaps because I live too far from it. When I was younger, if I was lucky enough to be at the beach, I would spend all day in the surf. Later that night, lying in bed, I could still feel the pull of the water. The books we love are like that aren't they? Even if we forget certain characters or even plotlines, years later we still feel their pull.Sorry. Time for a drink.
A nice philosophy. I'll drink to that.
@ SM1, writing has to be about word games for me (even if I get told "that's not interesting" or I get the occasional "OMG!!").I hope I didn't come across as questioning your social life. You were writing about Friday on a Friday, and your social life extended to me, here, on a Saturday.
@ Tony, I love that pull, the pull of the ocean, the pull of literature, the pull of an ocean or sea of possibilities.
My surfing holidays have always been about surf, read, sleep, and more recently drink.
No no it's ok I didn't think you were questioning my social life, don't worry! And for the record I am endlessly entertained by your word games and puns.
Goodie, I had a promenition you would say that.
cashews definitely, chablis trumps red anytime
I'm a new convert to red but its only the cheap stuff that doesn't have that tanin bite that makes you feel like all the moisture has been sucked out of your mouth. I have a very unsophisticated palette! (Read as "cheap date")
Me too. I remember a friend splashing out on a bottle of Moet and Chandon Champagne cos he loved it and my having to drink it knowing that anything with bubbles in it is supremely uninteresting to me. I feigned enjoyment and waxed lyrical you will be relieved to hear
Good man, it wouldn't do to crush a chaps feelings! Give me prosecco any day. But not Lambrini... I said I had an unrefined palette but i do still have taste buds!
lol and yep Prosecco I do like but only cos it makes me able to imagine I am sitting in Venice
I felt transported by the surf exchanges, pulled as it were. I elected to read Michael K by Coetzee first with Foe to arrive further down the queue.
Good choice. I liked Michael K very much.
I appear to be still uncertain concenring Coetzee. I was truly moved by Disgrace and Barbarians but have felt indifferent to most of the others, except for the Dostoevsky biopic.
