Slow Read

Although I read J.M. Coetzee's "Slow Man" in about a week, the novel felt like a slow read. The book is ostensibly about a man, Paul Rayment, who loses a leg in a bicycle accident. But what the book is really about is the writer having a little fun with the novel form. When Coetzee's reintroduces a character, Elizabeth Costello, from an earlier book, the reality and meaning of the story go topsy-turvy. Costello pops up like Gilda the Good Witch to coax and chide the main character. Is Costello or is Rayment a stand-in for Coetzee? Or is Rayment in some type of limbo purgatory after his bike accident? I couldn't make up my mind on any of these questions. All I wanted to do was finish the damn book. (Image via christodeklerk.com)