Simply captivating and challenging - Rated 
Simply captivating, Coetzee's story line and characterisations are crafted to perfection, every word and phrase is superbly judged with humour and humanity in equal measure.
Living in comfortable, suburban Adelaide sixty-year-old Paul Rayment's future is turned inside-out when he loses a leg as a result of a devastating cycling accident. He retreats from the world outside and his past as he struggles to accept the consequences of his physical loss. He comes to depend entirely on the ministrations of Marijana, a professional nurse of Croatian origin, and gets to know more of her and her family, especially Drago, her teenage son. All seems to be progressing until interrupted by the unheralded arrival of novelist Elizabeth Costello, who seems to want to take over his life and loves. Just why has she appeared on the scene now, or at all, and what are her intentions for Rayment? Is he simply a research project for a new book or is there more to it?
Slow Man could be viewed as a story of mental and physical suffering, a lonely man failing to face up to his seemingly curtailed future and choosing infuriating self-pity as his opt-out. Perhaps it a case of the sad delusions of someone entering his older years who believes he can still offer romance and enjoyment to a younger woman. Or is it a childless individual, out of touch with the modern world who believes there is one last opportunity to act as godfather to a ready-made family who will care for him in his old age?
Coetzee has us tracking all possibilities, and with such skill and sharpness, and he does not provide all the answers. This work of fiction forces us to ask questions of ourselves and those we love and the realities we will all have to deal with at some point. For Paul Rayment, it is the loss of a limb, but we will all have to deal with some sort of loss as we get older, Coetzee simply challenges us to think about that.
Read and enjoy a laureate at his peak.
Not a 'Foe' - Rated 
After an accident (`Your missing leg is just a sign, a symbol or symptom') an old man looks back at his life (`a wasted chance') of missed opportunities (`having no child was the great mistake of my life'). Partly to blame are `those in whose lives you are born (and who) do not pass away.'
As a lonely heart, he looks for affection and falls in love with his nurse, who perfectly looks after `a helpless old man in ruinous pyjamas trailing an obscene pink stump behind him from which the sodden bandages are slipping.' His nurse, however, is already married and has a son.
The `slow man' projects his dream to become a father in his nurse's son.
One of the main characters of the tale is the writer Elizabeth Costello (subject of another book by J.M. Coetzee) who is introduced in the middle of this book. Her role here, however, is not so masterly woven in the plot as the author Daniel Defoe in Coetzee's masterpiece `Foe'. She seems rather to be more an early deus ex machina.
This book, where `the need to be loved and the storytelling are connected', is a very worthwhile read.
SLOW MAN IS NOT REALLY SLOW - Rated
It's not first time that J. M. Coetzee, the Nobel Prise winner, has put into the fictional characters in his novels. But in Slow Man, his first novel after getting Nobel Prize, is unique in several ways. Mrs. Elisabeth Costello, the protagonist of his earlier novel visits the life of a Slow Man, Mr. Paul Rayment.
Here the man, debilitated by age and an accident, wishes to replenish his love-less life with half dream and half reality. Though he needs his nurse due to his disability, too, he wants to have her son as his son. He, however, doesn't rule out a corporeal desire vis a vis his nurse's younger body. For her son's future he wishes to be a benefactor.
Mrs. Elisabeth Costello, a sudden and uninvited guest in his life, confuses him about the real purposes left in his life.
In shape, the slow Man is as small as other novels by J. M. Coetzee, and in taste it's as strong as pickles from the hot sand of Australia. Slow Man is a must readable one for those who enjoy the class and the slow pace of writing penned by a master.
More for writers than readers - Rated 
The first 80 pages of this book are riveting. Coetzee's prose is almost flawless as we follow Paul literally from the moment he's hit by young Wayne Bright or Blight, through his experiences with rehabilitation nurses and social services, unsuitable carers and finally the arrival of Marijana. It's a very human experience - the reader understands Paul's feelings that his life is over, even as you are frustrated by his willingness to just give up. With Marijana, Paul sees a chance at a fresh life and again, you sympathise with his dreams of becoming her lover and thereby gaining the family he never had.
All this just seems to stop when Elizabeth Costello comes on the page. She seems to represent Coetzee himself and instead of a story about a man's rehabilitation from amputation, the rest of the book is essentially Coetzee's musings on the writing process and specifically, the relationship between author and character. This robs the story of all its life as you become aware of its artificial nature. Costello's discussions with Rayment are just an excuse to swap speeches, a sickness that spreads to Marijana and her family. If you're a writer, then there is some intellectual interest in this but as a reader I felt disengaged from the story and all sympathy I felt for Paul disappeared.
Like I said, Coetzee's prose is excellent. I liked the way he set out Marijana's use of English, I enjoyed Paul's inner thoughts and I thought the imagery was great. It's just a shame that the introduction of Costello robs the story of any direction and sets up something of a flat ending.
Another Elizabeth Costello disappointment - Rated 
I'll keep it short, as previous reviewers have pointed out the excellence of the first third of this novel...
It really is a good read, an excellent book - or so I thought - Coetzee, back to what he is good at, writing excellent prose, great characters, with an intriguing, understated storyline. Then he (re)introduces Elizabeth.
The fact is I squirmed through, but ultimately enjoyed and respected Disgrace. I loved Youth. Then I came across Elizabeth Costello - what was that? A book I went through pains to finish and, at the end, left me wondering why I had bothered?
Elizabeth Costello is, to my mind, simply an irritating and ultimately irrelevant character - Mr. Coetzee, please "get over her!".
So, Slow Man, it lifts you up... and then leaves you in mid-air, slowly deflating... next time I pick up a Coetzee work I will be sure to check that Elizabeth Costello is nowhere to be found in its pages...
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