Emily Perkins' Lioness vs Coetzee's The Pole

I read Emily Perkins' latest, The Lioness, a month ago - a repeat of the experience of reading her previous work, The Forrests, which left no trace in my mind. She bores me, despite being extremely respected in New Zealand. Whatever it is that she does which others appreciate, it passes me by.

On the other hand, reading Coetzee's The Pole and other stories (2023, The Text Publishing Company): a wonderful experience. 

Coetzee writes in the 3rd person singular, like a fictional author - we are there with him as both the woman and the man appear: "All year they've been knocking at the door, wanting to be let in or else dismissed. Now at last, has their time come?" (This reminds me of Saramago's writing.) 

It's a love story which we observe through the author for almost the entire novella (it's not very long), as we seek to understand the nature of the relationship between them. The woman's name is Beatriz, like Dante's inamorata. She's Spanish (Coetzee studied Spanish and often visited Spain in the 1960s.) Thinking about the Pole in question, whose much less evocative name is Witold, Beatriz evaluates his behaviour as a Latin woman within a Latin context.

Like the Pole, I'm culturally North European. I once knew an Argentinian woman here in NZ who was preoccupied by the difference between New Zealand and Argentina, where it is common for married men to "acquire" a mistress, and married women a lover..."It's normal - everyone knows about it." We didn't discuss the prevalence of adultery here - was it common and hidden? or less common? Or was my friend's family an exception while she thought it the rule? I met her mother who was visiting from Argentina. On hearing my husband was British, she said, "Oh, what's he like in bed? Do tell, what are the British like in bed?" A Northerner, my shock and dismay at this intrusiveness were so great I couldn't dissimulate and the topic was dropped immediately. But the question remained - was adultery common and open in Argentina and other Latin countries - more so than among supposedly straight-laced people such as the British, the Dutch or the Germans? (Was this difference perhaps connected to the prevailing faith - Catholic versus Protestant? Divorce being impossible for a Catholic?) 

The writing is sparse and direct, the characters endearing. I read it again as soon as I'd finished, more than once.