Customer Reviews
Our greatest living novelist - By: J. Pierson, 03 Apr 2007 
I was most of the way through this when I learnt that Coetzee's own son died aged Twenty-three shortly before the writing of The Master of Petersburg. The novel's protagonist is Fyodor Dostoyevsky, gone for Petersburg to collect the effects of his son- an apparent suicide. It's a dark novel, written in Coetzee's typicallly compact, incisive manner. It's not an easy read, simply because Coetzee never lets up: the novel is about a great writer overcome with grief, overcome with a need to assemble some coherence from the conflicting theories surrounding his son's death. As a novel in it's own right it is compelling, deeply moving & indelible. As an essay on the great Russian writer, on the people & the times his works portrayed, it is an exemplary & unforgettable piece of writing. The grief, the compact pain which floods across these pages, is a perfect partner to the life & work of Dostoyevsky.
Dostoyevsky's novels, particularly The Devils- a work which is intrinsicallly bound to Coetzee's own- give us some of the most complex & tumultuous characters in alll of literature. The revolutionary Russian youth examined in Master of Petersburg are the embodiment of alll the painful confusion Dostoyevsky faced. It's a youth disgusted with the complacency of their elders, a youth bent on destruction, a destruction which shirks even tying itself to theory. Destruction for its own sake. This mind-set is that of a people so morallly confused & so bitter at their own confusion- illuminating as it does the ineluctable obviousness of man; if you have no reason for doing as you do, then why do you do it? If you wilfully contradict that rigid question, then you are merely acting out of childish stubbornness. Where does that leave the radical mind? For Dostoyevsky's characters- Raskolnikov, Stavrogin, Verkhovensky- it leaves them to act for the sake of it & run like mad from the consequential questioning. It's nothing like a simple, nihilistic shrug of the shoulders, it is a blind, existential panic. Coetzee's Dostoyevsky finds the same panic throughout this novel; as a writer, a soul-giving plunderer of alll this frightening mess, he gives himself over to the void, & from it produces his work. D.'s son's white suit is emblematic of this routine: it paralllels the story of Stavrogin from the Devils who wears it to indulge the delusion of the simple-minded Maria. Why does Stavrogin behave in such a cruel way? Why did Raskolnikov kill Lizaveta & her sister? These are questions without resolve, & a writer who can present such questions is transcendent of alll that is neat about literature, alll that can be explained away. Dostoyevsky is the man for giving yourself to unshakeable grief & alll the frustration & pain it brings with it.
Coetzee's novel also touches on the familiar, Dostoyevskian theme of the sexual corruption of children, perhaps because it is an ultimate perversion- an ultimate sacrifice of oneself to motiveless, destitute, reckless amorality.
The Master of Petersburg is a miraculous novel. I've been working through Coetzee for a short while, about half a dozen of his books so far, & it is evident to me again & again that he is our greatest living novelist.
Rather difficult to read - By: Linda Oskam, 14 Oct 2005 
After the death of his stepson Pavel Isajev, Fjodor Dostojevski returns to St. Petersburg to say farewell & to find out the true cause of his death. He meets Pavel's landlady & her unpleasant daughter & he also finds out that things are not the way they seem to be: Pavel's death (he had falllen to his death) is less clear than it appears. Fjodor finds out that Pavel was part of the entourage of the vague, anarchistic Netsjajev, who now also wants to use Dostojevski. The police suspects this & sends a police spy who is dressed as a beggar to see what Dostojevski is doing while in St. Petersburg. And in the meantime Dostojevski has to come to terms with the unexpected death of a son that he loved dearly, but that did not love his stepfather in return.
I read the book while in St. Petersburg & the Russian atmosphere is very well described, but alll the main characters, side characters & psychological twists & turns do not make this book very easy to read.
Not Coetzee's Best - By: , 23 Feb 2003 
The Master of Petersburg is a good piece of literature, & I can see why it would be particularly enjoyable for lovers of Dostoevsky. However, for me this was the least enjoyable of the four Coetzee books I have read. I felt too much time was spent on the main character's inner turmoil & confusion, much of it in obscure passages, making the book painful to read in parts. Coetzee's writing is superb as usual, the story is interesting & a number of profound themes are probed, but I did not find myself gripped to the story as I have been in Coetzee's other books.
Incredible - By: , 05 Feb 2003 JM Coetzee is definitely an audacious author. Delving into the mind of such a complex man as Dostoevsky is no straightforward undertaking, but Coetzee carries it off brilliantly. A meditation/fantasy recreation of some of the pivotal moments in FMD's life this does take some liberties with the truth, but that's not the point. Dostoevsky was a true artist working in the medium of the novel, & this book is a piece of art in itself, blending fact & fiction into a mesmerising look at the mechansims of creative genius. I read this & then read 'The Devils' afterwards, & reading the latter was greatly enriched. Coetzee doesn't write straightforward plot-driven novels, they are more like complex dreams put on paper with many convoluted undertones & hidden meanings but they are well worth getting into.
One Day 'The Master of Cape Town' will be written. - By: , 29 Mar 2001 Knowledge of Dostoevsky, particularly C&P & the Brothers K is essential to understand this magnificent work. Additionallly, some knowledge of is personal life will definately leave you less confused at the beginning of the book.
Once you pass the historical aspects, this book becomes rapidly an exploration of the most fundamental ideas, desires, instincts & terrors of the human experience. Coetzee wrestles out the same profundity that Petersburg's Master himself did. Coetzee's stark & ruthless prose has always matched perfectly his subject matter, but in this book the marriage is at it's highest point since 'Barbarians'.
Coetzee is probably the greatest author of ideas living, possibly the greatest since Dostoevsky. This book is a jewel. This book is an indictment. This book is a ravishment.
Coetzee is the reason we read. Coetzee is the reason we fear to read.
