After reading so many “domestic” stories lately (Lovely Bones, Unless, The Hidden Life of Bees, Three Junes), I picked up a couple of more “heady” books: Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee and In Custody by Anita Desai, in the Los Angeles airport, to read on the long journey home after Christmas. Elizabeth Costello is about a successful writer in her later years, how she felt her mind was disintegrating, how she doubts her own beliefs. Most of the book consists of lectures that she gives, mainly in various university settings, once on a cruise ship. And how the audience challenges her hyper-intellectualizations. It would take sitting with a library of reference material for me to follow all that she puts into her lectures. It is difficult reading, but reading that is rewarded in the end by the last chapter which so perfectly plays with her questioning mind in a setting appropriate to the journey of the entire novel.
The other novel, In Custody was also about a person doubting himself. This man is a university instructor in a small town in India, a weak man, overwhelmed by the circumstances of his life. The novel was difficult to enjoy mainly because it felt like all the characters were playing one note continuously. No one was appealing. I look for some insight, some growth or change, but it was hard to get to the last page and still feel nothing but distaste for the characters, all of them. I have heard Anita Desai is a good writer, and I do usually enjoy reading about other cultures, but this book left me unsatisfied. At the advice of a good friend who does enjoy Desai’s writing, I will try another one.
Posted by leya at January 21, 2004 01:02 PM