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In The Heart of the Country

J M Coetzee

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In the Heart of the Country J M Coetzee "I was interested in John Coetzee as an author because I'm gonna be taking a trip to South Africa, and I had figured that reading one of the leading South African authors would give me insight into the country. What I find is that Coetzee is, he writes about the human condition, and his books are tend to be set in South Africa because that's where he grew up. In the heart of the country is the story of a woman, an unmarried woman who takes care of her father on a very isolated ranch in South Africa; and she is full of hatred and fear and longing, sexual longing, intellectual longing. She wants out but is -- for one reason or another can't bring herself to flee, doesn't know where she would go. This takes place in the early 20th Century, so opportunities for women are kind of limited. She has fantasies, and we're not really sure what's true and what's not; but what happens is that her father is shot, and she describes shooting him and then has to make the black servant complicit in covering up the crime. So the book follows her as she tries -- either she just -- depending on your point of view descends further into madness or achieves clarity, and that's Coetzee's project is which is which? How mad is she really? It's an emotionally vivid and involving story. It's not very long; it's about 180 pages. I'd recommend In the Heart of the Country to anyone who wants to feel what Isolation is really like and what sadness is really like. I would give In the Heart of the Country four stars."