This book frustrates me. I read the premise and the first few pages and I was excited. And then it took me almost a week to read the remaining 150 pages. The writing, initially fresh and circuitous, got old really fast, and it was a complete chore to finish this novella. I don’t see why this is considered a classic other than how it reflects societal decay, but I have seen it done a whole lot better than what was in this book.
So here is my rant:
You know, I was just wondering when something was going to happen. Oh! Something happened. Wait, that plot point and the character reactions make no sense. I really don’t like the magistrate (main narrator) – he is basically a sleazy governmental official who neglects the people he is supposed to protect. He complains in such a way that is not whiny, but really annoying nonetheless. Can you imagine a whole book filled with that? It was a completely nightmare in that regard. The rest of the characters were really flat, and basically had no personality – it sometimes reminded me of some of the side characters of The Good Earth, albeit even more boring. The setting was probably the only thing this book had going for it, and that was even squandered when Coetzee demonstrated his inadequacy of portraying scenery without using extremely similar phrases that quickly got repetitive the second or 10th time he used it. The writing was overly pretentious, and this book should have really just been 20 pages – it would have been a whole lot better if it had been. I had previously thought this book was be like a sequel to Things Fall Apart, but now I realize how much of an insult that would be Achebe’s work.
Basically, I hated this book, even though I tried really hard to love it. It had flat, boring, and unrealistic characters manufactured by extremely pretentious prose, with a relatively boring plot. I WOULD STAY AWAY FROM THIS!!!
Overall: F (41.1/100) OR 2.205/5 Stars
Character/Setting (30%): 2.7
- Magistrate: 0.8/2.0
- Rest of the Cast: 0.15/0.5
- Setting: 1.75/2.5
Writing (35%): 1.7
- Style: 0.35/2.0 (Something about it really bothered me, but I can’t exactly place my finger on what it is; maybe the pretentiousness?)
- Flow: 0.95/2.0
- Consistency + Meshing: 0.4/1.0
Plot (25%): 2.6
- Exposition: 0.55/1.0
- Rising Action: 0.2/1.0
- Climax: 0.7/1.0
- Falling Action: 0.45/1.0
- Resolution: 0.7/1.0
Enjoyment (10%): 1.5
- General Enjoyment: 0.8/2.0
- Personal Preference: 0.4/2.0
- Recommendation: 0.3/1.0
Note: Sorry this review is a bit jumbled and out of the place. I just don’t really feel this book deserves an organized review analyzing themes, and that effort could easily be spent on something a whole lot better. Seriously. Don’t read it.
strangertogravity 