What if Godot is not what's coming but Barbarism?

Waiting for the Barbarians - J.M. Coetzee
Tara and I heard Coetzee speak some time ago at Dartmouth; after being introduced this tall, quiet and unassuming man came to the lectern and began to read quietly from a paper. It was a story, then unpublished (later included in Elizabeth Costello), an examination of the relation between sisters one worldly, one Godly. The tale was largely indicative of Coetzee's style, one of brutal observation and subtle irony. Waiting for the Barbarians takes the reader into an Orwellian world of bleak survival and hopeless solitude. When viewed from a outsiders perspective as a social commentary on the state of South African society (and possibly colonial European/American society in general) it can be stunning. It succeeds as both good literature and good social commentary - a true rarity. Intense and brilliant are the two most common descriptions I found of this book when I researched other reviews, and frankly they seem to be the most apt descriptions available.
Rating: A
Related:
The Life and Times of Michael K - J.M. Coetzee
The Trial - Franz Kafka
July's People - Nadine Gordimer
1984 - George Orwell