Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully and heartbreakingly narcissistic
Review: We all know this is a near-autobiography fiction. It moves me so much that Coetzee honestly record his struggle, love and desire and look into his heart, his self-contempt and self-esteem. Living a hopeless and routine life, at the same time our protagonist did not forget his poem, his dream of becoming a great poet in the obscure future. The whole book prevails an heartbreaking narcissistic atmosphere, but is sincere. The cordial sound makes this book moving and convincible, and we understand a melancholic soul in his adolescence.
However, this book ends suddently and surprisingly, without any conclusion. At first sight I am surprised, but after some contemplation, I know it is DOOMED to be so. Because in the real life Coetzee, after the age of 24, begun studying in US, and then got a phd, then taught in a college, then wrote fictions, then became famous, then got many award, include the Nobel. So what Coetzee could do if he wanted to continue the story? He could not record faithfully since after that year his life was much more smooth and satisfying than before (at least he was studying literature rather than math or cs), on the other hand he even could not fabricate a struggling life since the fiction is almost a autobiography.
So, readers should not anticipate any finale, good or bad, in this book. The prose is beautiful, elegant and like poetry. The story is sincere, the author is sincere, the atmosphere is then superb. And that worths.
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