770. Foe

Foe
J.M. Coetzee
1986
Around 160 pages

I lowkey love it when authors put their own spin on previous List books a la Jean Rhys with Jane Eyre. This time, Coetzee is putting his twist on Robinson Crusoe. It was enjoyable, although I still think he is overrepresented and this one could have been cut.

Susan Barton is on a quest to find her kidnapped daughter who has been taken to the New World. During a mutiny on her way to Lisbon, she is sent adrift, lands ashore, and meets Friday and Robinson. 

It seems surprising that Coetzee would turn his attention away from South Africa to revisit the plot of a 300 year old novel, but of course, he is a master of metaphor so there's still contemporary social commentary. Friday has lost his tongue to former slave owners, and the novel's themes include regaining a voice through writing. 

So a pretty fast read, and I'll be interested to see where Coetzee goes from here. It  seems like he is trying to do something different than his previous work. It's admirable when successful artists grow and change, rather than spew out the same work over and over again.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Coetzee revisited the composition of Robinson Crusoe in 2003 in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

UP NEXT: Watchmen by Alan Moore