David Lodge é da opinião que o perfil extremamente discreto de J. M. Coetzee até pode ser compatível com o prémio da Academia sueca. Ao terminar a longa crítica que dedica ao seu romance, Elizabeth Costello (novel, "as one must call it for want of a better word"), Lodge afirma com alguma ironia:
Coetzee has never sought popular-ity or celebrity. His books are always unsettling, unexpected, and uncomforting. He seems a rather aloof figure in the contemporary literary world, who seldom gives interviews, and often declines to collect his prizes in person. But he is one of the few living writers routinely described as "great." He deserves the Nobel because he is exceptionally intelligent and a master of his medium. If he goes to Stockholm the acceptance speech should be memorable—but what will they serve for the main course at the banquet?
Esperemos que a sobremesa seja menos insossa do que foi a de Saramago que, já agora, não perde um fiozinho de luz para dar corpo ao seu desmedido teatro de sombras.