Slow Man

Following last time’s tipsy ramblings we have Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee.  Now Coetzee appears a fair old amount on The List and fair enough, I guess.  He has two Booker Prizes- he was the first person to achieve this- and he has a Nobel Prize in literature.  Suffice to say, the dude can write.  Even so, at times when reading his work I have trouble seeing what all the fuss is about and Slow Man is an example of this.

The book tells the story of Paul Rayment, an average sixty(ish) year-old man with a failed marriage and a penchant for cycling.  When he loses his leg in an accident he is forced to rely on a nurse- Croatian born Marijana.  Naturally, despite a wildly inappropriate age difference and the fact that she is happily married, Paul falls madly in love with her.  At this point in comes Elizabeth Costello, the eponymous heroine of one of Coetzee’s earlier works that I am now really not looking forward to reading.  The parts she’s in are basically the worst parts of the book.  Anyway, she forces her way in, claiming to be drawn to the pair in some mystical and utterly bullshit way, interferes with Paul’s life a bit until he works his way through his hatred for her and into begrudging honesty.  All the while, Paul is making romantic declarations to Marijana and trying to convince her husband to let him pay for their son’s schooling.

I’m being very harsh on the book.  It wasn’t all terrible at all.  The sudden loss of (and subsequent clinging to) one’s independence is something I think everyone can relate to a bit- if not in themselves then in their aging parents or grandparents.  And Coetzee does it well.  Paul refuses to get an artificial leg and you get the feeling it’s because he is in denial.  Marijana frequently goads him as he acts as though the leg to grow back and the fact that he won’t get the prosthetic limb does make you wonder if he thinks that his situation is temporary.

Another part of the book I enjoyed was a wonderful little rumination on love.  Even though his love is unrequited, he still loves Marijana.  He says that he doesn’t need her to love him back as he loves her enough for both of them.  It’s a lovely thought- this strange combination of eros and agape, even if it’s not entirely realistic and I’m sure it’s a thought anyone who has ever experienced unrequited love has had at some point or other.

My main issue with this book was Elizabeth Costello.  She is unnecessary.  The characters could have driven along the action without her and I’m not sure why she was there for most of it.  Coetzee is brilliant, but bringing her back feels lazy.  Slow Man had the potential to be really enjoyable, but she ruined that.  She is a book ruiner.  And I don’t think that there’s any worse thing to be.

So, there you have it- Slow Man.  It’s not Coetzee’s best book, but it’s far from his worst.  But when it’s compared to something like Disgrace or Youth, it’s nothing.  It’s not even comparable to Disgrace or Youth.  I am sure that it is only on The List because it was written by Coetzee and the Cult of the Author kicked in.  Had it been penned by anyone less revered, I doubt it would have made the cut.  It is quite simply mediocre.

My next blog will be all about Haruki Murakami’s wonderful After the Quake.  I can’t wait to tell you all about it.