The Pole

The Pole is one of those books where I can see exactly what Coetzee is doing and still not be sure I cared.

An aging Polish pianist named Witold comes to Barcelona to play Chopin and becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a married woman. Their "romance" happens mostly through awkward English, letters and projections, so even when they seem to be getting closer, they're talking past each other.

The smart irony here is that Witold has built a career interpreting Chopin's feelings for audiences, but he can't make one woman understand his own. Still, the prose is sparse to the point of comedy, and the characters are emotionally thin by design.

This is basically a one-sided crush story that makes you squirm, but the book doesn't dig deep enough to make the squirming worth it. 2.75/5