Reading 1001 discussion

9. Please share your review and rating of Waiting for the Barbarians. Does it belong on the list?

Rating: 4 stars
Read: May 2017

This was one of the better books I have read by Coetzee. I appreciated the use of symbolism and the relevance of the book. I think Coetzee conveys a very important message.

As to whether of not it belongs on the list - hard to say. I think Coetzee is one of the most (if not THE most) over-represented author on the 1001 list. I think he is deserving of at least one, maybe two list books, but certainly not the amount that he actually has (is it 10?)

4 stars
Finally, a book by Coetzee that I liked!
A magistrate in an outpost of an unnamed empire. He has a peaceful existence with the natives and the nomadic group, eventually called Barbarians. The empire sends military to the outpost, and things get ugly, leading to the question of who really is the Barbarian. There are allegories to the Bible, and many examples of symbolism.
This is a timeless story. It could be anywhere at anytime. Leaders generate suspicion, fear, hatred, and eventually war, for reasons only known by them. It is current, but, sadly, it will always be current. For this reason, it belongs on the list.

I remember really, really disliking this book when I read it some years ago. I nevertheless gave it three stars, because Coetzee can write! However, I disliked the subject matter and more importantly I disliked his handling of it. I thought it was a meditation by someone who has benefitted from colonialisation, attempting to assuage his guilt

I will write the review and rate it later...

and now it is later; 4 stars. This book, written by South African author J. M. Coetzee in 1980, tells the story of a magistrate of an outpost of the Empire. The magistrate and the Empire are never given a name. The Empire sends some soldier's or government agents to investigate the barbarians and to stop any insurrection that might be brewing. Their methods are brutal. They learn nothing about the culture. They capture and torture people who probably have no information and they do unspeakable cruelties. The magistrate finds himself confronted with knowledge that he wishes he could avoid, cover his head, stick his head int he sand but he no longer can do so. Later the magistrate is removed from his office, accused of treason and also tortured. In between there is this diversion where he finds one of the female torture victim and there is a quite a bit of pages about his messaging her, oiling her and in general doing some kind of penance to make up for his allowing such cruelty. I do think this story may reflect how it might be to be South African in a country under apartheid which Coetzee was when he wrote this story. He was one of the privileged. This magistrate may be the author. The Empire may be South Africa. There is a lot of sexual content that I think might be significant. It did not read as gratuitous. The magistrate was a womanizer but in the end he barely was able to engage with other people. Another item that is reoccurring are eyes and especially blind eyes. What i got from the book is that if you use torture then you are the barbarian. If you try to be blind to what your country is doing, you still are participating and you are a barbarian. I think Coetzee is very good with his writing though his stories are far from enjoyable pleasure reads. Rating 3.875

Waiting for the Barbarians by J M Coetzee
4 stars

The author uses generic titles for his characters to create a timeless book set in a desert land that could be anywhere in the world.

At the beginning of the book the Magistrate lives in peace with the so called Barbarians who live nomadic lifestyles outside the walls of the Empire settlement. When the Empire sends new representatives to fight the Barbarian "threat" things rapidly fall apart with it becoming clear that the Empire are the real Barbarians.

Due to graphic scenes of torture and humiliation this is not a book that is enjoyable to read, however it is a book with an important message and one that it manages to convey effectively to the reader.

Rating: 4 stars

This was my first book by Coetzee, and I thought it was a really good book with an important message. Basically, this story is about the wrongness of Empires. Empires need enemies in order to maintain control. With an unexpected twist, Coettzee has made us realize that the barbarians come from us, from our ideas, attitudes and values. It is doubtful that the Barabarians were really a threat, as they only appear as prisoners who are subsequently tortured. This defintely did not make it a pleasant read, but the writing was really good. I think the book is worthy of the list.

Waiting for the Barbarians (J.M. Coetzee) *** 1/2

The best Coetzee I have read so far. The allegory Empire/Magistrate/Barbarians universalises the relationship between oppressor and oppressed, but is also a reflection about the South Africa he grew within, during the Apartheid period. Not an easy reading topic, but nevertheless a piece of work with many messages, plenty of symbolism and lots of food for thought.