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Diary of a Bad Year
Diary of a Bad Year
by J. M. Coetzee
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Elizabeth Costello
by J M Coetzee

Elizabeth Costello Cover

Only 1 left in stock at $7.25!

Awards

Winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature
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Powells.com Staff Pick

"Elizabeth Costello is as good as fiction gets. Recently awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, J. M. Coetzee has surpassed his already transcendent talent for characterization with this divine portrayal of his most complicated protagonist to date, Australian novelist Elizabeth Costello....As always, Coetzee fills in the details with layer upon layer of spare, exquisite sentences, culminating in a rare and affecting reading experience." Ann Ellenbecker, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"The main question in this novel of ideas: What does Costello believe in? [Costello's] given her life over to words ? to the exclusion of her children, her sister, who's a nun in Africa, and who doesn't believe in 'the novel' or anything similarly humanistic ? but even words have betrayed her by the book's overwhelming conclusion." Adrienne Miller, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In 1982, J. M. Coetzee dazzled the literary world with the now classic Waiting for the Barbarians. Five novels and two Booker prizes later, Coetzee is a writer of international stature and a novelist whose publication of a new work is heralded as a literary event. Now, in his first work of fiction since the New York Times bestselling Disgrace, he has crafted an unusual and deeply affecting tale.

Elizabeth Costello is a distinguished and aging Australian novelist whose life is revealed through an ingenious series of eight formal addresses. From an award-acceptance speech at a New England liberal arts college to a lecture on evil in Amsterdam and a sexually charged reading by the poet Robert Duncan, Coetzee draws the reader inexorably toward its astonishing conclusion.

Vividly imagined and masterfully wrought in his unerring prose, Elizabeth Costello is, on its surface, the story of a woman's life as mother, sister, lover, and writer. Yet it is also a profound and haunting meditation on the nature of storytelling that only a writer of Coetzee's caliber could accomplish.

Review:

"Even more uncompromising than usual....It is a resounding achievement by Coetzee and one that will linger with the reader long after its reverberating conclusion." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"Elizabeth Costello has real novelistic force. Our pleasure is watching this fascinating woman wrestle with intellectual issues as if they are life-and-death matters — and being convinced, in the end, that they are." Keir Graff, Booklist

Review:

"[D]oes Elizabeth Costello succeed artistically, as a work of fiction? The answer is yes, but more despite its metafictional superstructure than because of it....Coetzee's unflinching exploration of this desolate and strangely beautiful terrain represents the cruelest and best use to which literature can be put." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Costello's rigid morality and probing intelligence finally illuminate the fundamental question of what it means to be human. An intense and challenging novel; highly recommended." Library Journal

Review:

"[A] disappointing hybrid that cannot, except by the loosest possible definition, be called fiction....As argument, literate, impassioned, and disturbing; as fiction, overemphatic and often dull. Perhaps only for Coetzee's most ardent admirers." Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis:

Nobel Prize winner Coetzee has crafted an unusual and deeply affecting tale of an Australian novelist whose life is revealed through a series of eight formal addresses.

Synopsis:

In his first work of fiction since his Nobel Prize-winning "Disgrace," this "New York Times" Notable Book and bestseller is the story of a woman's life as a mother, sister, lover, and writer that is also a profound and haunting meditation on the nature of storytelling.

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About the Author

J. M. Coetzee has won many literary awards, including the Nobel Prize, three CNA prizes (South Africa's premier literary award), two Booker prizes, the Prix Etranger Femina, the Jerusalem Prize, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. He lives in Australia.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
megcampbell3, November 2, 2007 (view all comments by megcampbell3)
Proof that the art of literature is thriving—proof that there are still pearls that appear naturally in the vast lakes and oceans of the world—proof that there are needles in haystacks, and they're worth searching for. The last book I read that lingered behind and affected me as much was "The Sea, the Sea", by Iris Murdoch. "Elizabeth Costello" is the first Coetzee book I've read, and I'm very much looking forward to reading more. Perfectly, exquisitely written; this is a book to be read through the ages. An essential read for anyone interested in reading today's compelling literature.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780142004814
Author:
Coetzee, J M
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Author:
Coetzee, J. M.
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Psychological
Publication Date:
November 2004
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
240
Dimensions:
7.88x5.18x.63 in. .42 lbs.
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