Summertime; Scenes from Provincial Life

StarredReview.Nobellaureateandtwo-timeBooker-winnerCoetzeehasbeenshortlistedforthethirdtimeforthispowerfulnovel,asemisequeltothefictionalizedmemoirsBoyhoodandYouththattakestheformofayoungbiographer'sinterviewswithcolleaguesofthelateauthorJohnCoetzee.ToDr.JuliaFrankl,whobrieflysoughtinCoetzeedeliverancefromherhusband,hewasnotfullyhuman;tohiscousin,MargotJonker,heisboring,ridiculousandmisguided;andtoSophieDenoël,anexpertinAfricanliterature,Coetzeeisanunderwhelmingwriterwithnooriginalinsightintothehumancondition.Theharshestcharacterization—andalsothebestoftheinterviews—comesfromAdrianaNascimento,aBrazilianemigrantwhometCoetzeewhenbothwereteachersinCapeTown;shewasrepulsedbytheintellectual'sattemptsatcourtship.Heisnothing,shesays,wasnothing...anembarrassment.Thebiographer'seffortstodescribehissubjectultimatelyresultinanexaminationthatreachesthroughfictionandmemoirtograspwhatthetraditionalrecordleavesout.(Jan.)Copyright©ReedBusinessInformation,adivisionofReedElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.--ThistextreferstoanalternateHardcoveredition.