Ripples Book Club, September 2026 — J.M. Coetzee: Waiting for the Barbarians
Advertisement
Welcome to our English-language book club!
This book club is for you if you’d like to:
• meet like-minded people and have engaging conversations about the books we read
• improve or maintain your English vocabulary, reading comprehension, and speaking skills
Participation is free for now, but registration is required so we can keep the group small and comfortable (maximum 10 people). If you’d like to join, send me an email to [email protected] and I’ll confirm your registration provided that free spots are still available.
You can order the book online at Libristo, Amazon etc., or borrow it from libraries such as Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library.
About the book:
For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.
J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between oppressor and oppressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency.
This book club is for you if you’d like to:
• meet like-minded people and have engaging conversations about the books we read
• improve or maintain your English vocabulary, reading comprehension, and speaking skills
Participation is free for now, but registration is required so we can keep the group small and comfortable (maximum 10 people). If you’d like to join, send me an email to [email protected] and I’ll confirm your registration provided that free spots are still available.
You can order the book online at Libristo, Amazon etc., or borrow it from libraries such as Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library.
About the book:
For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.
J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between oppressor and oppressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Magvető Café, Dohány u. 13,Budapest, Hungary
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherRipples Book Club
