Barcelona by Mary Costello review – potent snapshots of solitary confinement
The Irish author’s second volume of stories is written with an unsparing precision that is both affecting and uncomfortable
October 2023
Book of the day
The Pole and Other Stories by JM Coetzee review – a late love affair
The Pole and Other Stories by JM Coetzee review – lessons in beauty
September 2023
Where to start with
Where to start with: JM Coetzee
For 50 years the Nobel laureate and double Booker prize winner has been dividing opinion with his novels on power, humanity, war, the death of ‘Jesus’ and dogs – many dogs
July 2023
Life and Times of Michael K review – brutal war brought to life with exquisite puppetry
Australian book reviews
The Pole and Other Stories by JM Coetzee review – if this is his final book, it is a great one
May 2022
Book of the day
Lacuna by Fiona Snyckers review – a heavy-handed response to JM Coetzee’s Disgrace
This muddled feminist reworking of Coetzee’s celebrated novel fails to grasp his book’s ambiguities
September 2021
Margaret Atwood and JM Coetzee demand release of jailed Iranian writers
A letter by PEN America, signed by dozens of high-profile writers and artistic figures, calls for Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan, and Reza Khandan Mahabadi to be acquitted
July 2021
Top 10s
Top 10 books about the aftermath of empire
From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to John le Carré, the novelist recommends reading about a vast, anguished legacy
August 2020
Writers, actors and directors call for end to homophobia in Poland in open letter
More than 70 signatories including Poland’s Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, Margaret Atwood and Mike Leigh accuse Duda’s government of using LGBTQ+ people as ‘a scapegoat’
January 2020
Book of the week
The Death of Jesus by JM Coetzee review – a boy who challenges the world
The final book of Coetzee’s Jesus trilogy is also its darkest, keeping the mystery at the books’ heart intact to the end
December 2019
Book of the day
The Death of Jesus by JM Coetzee review – a barren end to a bizarre trilogy
This empty-hearted conclusion to Coetzee’s allegorical saga feels like an elaborate joke at the reader’s expense
November 2019
Top 10s
Top 10 books about vegetarians
From Mary Shelley’s monster to HG Wells’s guileless future race, plant eaters have provided a rich diet for literature
September 2019
Waiting for the Barbarians review – Johnny Depp turns up the heat in the desert
The arrival of merciless security officers shatters the peace in a remote colonial outpost in Ciro Guerra’s stately, horrific drama
August 2019
Rylance, Depp and Pattinson bring Coetzee to big screen
Waiting for the Barbarians, a complex story of immigration and integration, to premiere at Venice film festival
December 2018
Top 10s
Top 10 books about the seasons
A writer who has swapped city life for sheep farming chooses reading attuned to the year’s cycles, from Rachel Cusk to Marcel Proust
May 2018
Liu Xia: Paul Auster and JM Coetzee lead renewed calls for Chinese poet's release
Liu, who has never been charged with a crime, has been under house arrest in China since her late husband Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel peace prize in 2010
October 2017
Late Essays by JM Coetzee review – dos and don’ts of classic novel writing
Many ‘prestige’ introductions to great works of fiction are disappointing, but these pieces are different. The Nobel laureate is a wonderful critic
September 2017
Australian writers urge yes vote in same-sex marriage survey
An open letter signed by more than 100 authors including JM Coetzee, David Malouf and Helen Garner encourages support for ‘equality and social reform’
June 2017
Top 10s
Top 10 books about lies
You’ll need to watch who you believe in these books by writers from James Baldwin to Anita Brookner and Thomas Hardy to Toni Morrison
