Beatriz, a Spanish matron, found herself entertaining a elderly Polish pianist after his performance at her music circle. He fell in love with her and pursued her with suggestions that she meet him, that she travel to Brazil with him, that she was his peace. She was repelled at first but her cool relationship with her unfaithful husband led her to agree to invite him to stay with her at her husband's cottage when he was in the vicinity. She eventually slept with him but after the visit was over, she put him out of her mind and out of her life.
Coetzee is a writer who delves into a person's interior life and lays it bare on the page. I could see Beatriz unwillingly drawn to this man who seemed to be infatuated with her. She wanted to see an image of herself in his eyes that would make her understand his love for her. Maybe she did not understand love at all.
This short novel is written in numbered paragraphs - an interesting format - and is fairly short. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book; the opinions are mine for which I was not compensated.

This is one of those books that I feel must have gone over my head. Either that, or it was just a bit on the boring side. Our MC's is a musician, a, pianists to be exact late in life, in his 70's. There's not a lot I can say about this, I feel that this is a book that has to be experienced, you will either love it or feel like I did... which is that I felt a bit bored, and also a tad bit... eye rolly. Coetzee was being dramatic, like in the sense that I wanted to tell him to chill. That not everything is so intense, life is not always (or really ever) like a poem by Dante.

I think it was supposed to be like some big commentary or reflection on love & connection and all the various ways that we as people can ache for love, yearn for love, yearn for people, connect with people, even people that are out of reach, etc etc.

Beatriz is a much younger married woman who's supposed to entertain a polish pianist Witold Walczykiewicz before and after the recital that her social group organized with Withold. She doesn't exactly fall in love with his playing or his interpretation of Chopin's work, but he becomes obsessed with her and she somewhat inexplicably finds herself drawn to him.

This isn't your traditional story of love, or adultery, it vacillates between passion and intentional rationality, Beatriz is the rational one, while Walczykiewicz is the passionate one, they speak different languages and there is misunderstanding when they try to communicate. I am very sure that it all was some commentary on the way of love, the unknowability of it, the unreachable elements within ourselves in each other, a longing for love and beauty, but personally to me it felt just a little more complicated than it needed to be. Love doesn't need to be contemplated, we don't need to dissect every motivation and action, we can sometimes just exist and react. That is not who Walczykiewicz is, and so I assume it's not who Coetzee is either.

This is my first book by Coetzee, but as he has written much more famous works and won the nobel prize for literature I think it's safe to say that I will eventually give him another shot. Maybe his newest work, written at his oldest age, was not necessarily the best place to start. He is aging himself, it's only natural; that he would write about the intellectuality of getting older, getting OLD. I feel like I wanna give this 3 stars because he's such a famous writer, but for me it was barely a 2.

Many thanks to W.W. Norton and NetGalley for the eARC of this wonderful little novelette.

I have several of this author's books on my to-read list, but this is the first one I've actually tackled, and I'm now inspired to push his other works forward in my queue. This is a lovely, easy-reading study of the nature of love and desire between two people who are never quite on the same page with their feelings during their brief relationship: a 50-year-old Spanish society wife and a Polish pianist in his 70s ("The Pole" of the title). After a lukewarm initial meeting, he professes his love and devotion and doggedly pursues her over several years. At first she doesn't understand his fixation on her, but her affection for him grows all the way to the end of the story. Dante and Beatrice are invoked, but it's not a 1:1 analogy, which works perfectly. I suspect re-reading this (it's a very fast read) will be rewarding.

JM Coetzee writes about the life and perspectives of a single mind, using his literary talents to dive into character. The beauty is in the writing, and this book is ideal for readers who enjoy Coetzee and appreciate stories of the individual.

Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Pole is the story of Witold, a Polish pianist, who meets Beatriz, a patron of the arts, when he performs at a local venue in her Spanish town. Shortly after meeting her, Witold declares his love for her and makes many proposals to her. Meanwhile, Beatriz, who is married, initially resists him but, ultimately finds herself getting entangled in this web.

This book was a breeze to read through and I finished it in a sitting because I had to know what would happen. I thought the premise of the story was interesting and I appreciated the craft/message but, ultimately I struggled to really enjoy this book. From my understanding, this book highlighted to the reader the sort of power struggle that existed between the two main characters, as one pushed for love and a relationship, and the other was caught in a struggle of whether to resist. There were many elements that kept Beatriz from fully succumbing to his proposals, including societal expectations, physical appearances, her own self doubt, etc, which I think is a great social commentary on love/connection in modern society. Beatriz also makes an interesting point that perhaps her love with Withold would’ve been more successful if they were kids (a time when they would’ve had less standing in their way), which is something they stuck with me after finishing the book.

Ultimately, I think the author was able to succinctly get his message across in this book but, I just don’t think it was for me. I found the characters a bit difficult to empathize with but, maybe that is part of the point. I did appreciate the short chapters, which I found helped move the book along at a good pace and kept the events of the story well connected.

I’d recommend this book to literary fiction fans and those who enjoy short novels that really pack a punch. There is a lot to think about with this book and a number of ideas that will probably stick with me. Thanks again for this advance reading opportunity!

The Pole explores the well-known theme of artists finding their muse, but does so in a new, heartbreaking way. Rather than someone young, whose love story (successful or not) inspires and launches their works to the upper echelons of success and notoriety, we see instead a man in his twilight years who grasps for the woman who inspires him, but finds obstacles at every turn. Where we expect to see either requited love or greatness born from rejection, we find neither. Instead, we are forced to face the multitude of limitations that keep us from understanding both one another and ourselves. There are so many barriers to overcome in trying to connect with those around us, from language to age and even to the way we interpret the same piece of music. On its face, this book sends a grim message, presenting all the challenges we face in our attempts to understand one another. But lurking beneath the surface, in every action the main character takes, there seems to be the reminder that we can always try. Deep down, we all wish to know others and be known, and are better for making the effort. However, we should all take heed from this story and do so before it is too late.

The Pole, if I’m understanding it correctly, is all about what’s lost in translation between people: from what’s lost by an author as he attempts to translate his nebulous ideas into words on the page, to what’s lost when two strangers are forced to resort to “global English'' in a necessarily superficial effort to understand one another. And as this comes from J. M. Coetzee — a native of South Africa who does not consider English to be his mother tongue, and who has released his last two novels first in Spanish after having them translated from his English originals — there are layers of meaning and irony beyond what might appear to be a simple girl meets boy story. This is about art, and the effort to use art to transcend what can be put into words, and about the basic impossibility of any two people understanding one another at all; if I’m understanding this correctly. I loved every bit of this short novel.