Play Book Tag discussion

This book is on many lists, including Tookie’s list of Short Perfect Novels (from Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence), Boxall’s 1001 books to read before you die, and lists of essential world literature.

It’s a very thought provoking book about colonialism, emperial arrogance, and how they perpetuate violence in various forms. The empire claimed to want to prevent an uprising, but by torturing innocent people for information, they incited rebellion. The main character is a local magistrate who is caught in the middle between the leaders of the Empire, and a desire to maintain the peaceful status quo in his region. His town trades with the so called barbarians, yet he looks the other way when innocent people are tortured. He is slow to recognize the extent of his complicity. After the army leaves, he takes in a barbarian girl who was left behind. He ruminates at length about his conflicting sexual feelings. This diversion seems odd at first, but his behavior with the girl eventually represents just another form of domination. She was compliant, so he is surprised to learn later that she was unhappy with him. This has great relevance to power relationships everywhere. There are many forms of sexual coercion. Many men fool themselves into thinking “she wants me,” when she is simply smiling to be polite to the boss.

There is one part of the book that I found confusing (and haunting) on audio. I must have missed something so i ordered the ebook. Someone else might have a better understanding of this point. (view spoiler)[ the mc seems very confused at the end, and I’m wondering if there was an element of delusion in his description of events. Was the city really bombarded with stones by the barbarians? In the accounts he heard, It seemed that few people actually saw the barbarians except at a great distance. (hide spoiler)]


”For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.”

”Mr. Coetzee tells the story of an imaginary Empire, set in an unspecified place and time, yet recognizable as a ''universalized'' version of South Africa. This allows Mr. Coetzee some esthetic distance from his subject…”