Book Review:: J.M. Coetzee's "Youth"

So absorbed was I after the first page that I plowed straight through this slim volume, without pause. Coetzee's subtle mastery of the English language mesmerized me without bells and whistles to announce its cunning intent. The type of writing I best love, Coetzee's "Youth" renounces ostentatious form for true substance that leaves a mark on the soul after the last page is turned. The plot outline is offered in other reviews; I would just add that it is not dark and depressing at all, but an incursion into the life of the mind which cannot help but enlighten.