Disgrace

Author - J. M. Coetzee ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Vintage UK was reviewed on 24-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0099289520 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Disgrace Reference Book. Classifications : Authors Arts & Literature Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Central & South African African World Literature Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General African World Literature Literature & Fictio . Click the following link to view the cover of Disgrace.

Related topics: Authors. Arts & Literature. Subjects. Books. African. World Literature. Subjects. Books. General. African.

1) Paperback Book Disgrace by Vintage UK. The first book I read by Coetzee was ´The Life and Times of Michael K´. It was difficult to get through and I avoided this author for many years. Recently I picked up ´Disgrace´ and I could not put it down. It is written with intelligence and, more importantly, focuses on the power of emotions in human life. ´Disgrace´ is poignant, frightening and loving - sometimes all at once. The horror of a new nation that has finally rid itself of Apartheid is a controversial topic. Mr. Coetzee grasps the many-faceted and difficult issues that come with change. He is not afraid of being politically incorrect. He is an artist and creates with his heart and mind through his pen. Most Nobel prize winners are difficult to wade through. This book is a page-turner. It is one of the few books I choose to re-read. While the book deals with families, race, change and the country of S. Africa, I believe that race is talked about only one time. Yet this is the underlying theme - how anger, desperation, revenge, reparations and hope create a desperate time for a new nation, newly rising from an ugly past. Disgraceful things occur from the embryos of the past. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about people, Africa, apartheid and the effects of the disgraceful era of colonialism on a nation. Setting people free does not make them better. Feelings of revenge, hopelessness, and anger have had decades to fester and grow. To try and understand this country rationally is impossible. Thank you Mr. Coetzee for the gifts of literature you have given the world.¤

2) Paperback Book Disgrace by Vintage UK. Another example of "literature" that gets that moniker by virtue of being dark, depressing, anxiety producing and pointless. It has the most flagrantly negative ending since Romeo and Juliet which is a roaring comedy in comparison. If you enjoy that, you may get off on reading this annoying, condescending, purposefully grim little book.¤

3) Paperback Book Disgrace by Vintage UK. I fully expect for this review to get trashed given the popularity of this book but here it goes anyway. This was at best a mediocre book. Unlike many of the negative reviewers I did not dislike it because it was depressing. The author tries very hard to write a depressing book but I felt little for the characters to be disturbed or to be depressed by their misfortune. That is a big failure for the author. The protagonist is not meant to be a likable character but that is not the problem either. Coetzee simply fails to develop his character or for that matter any of the other characters in the book. They are not believable. Their actions are unconventional, which by itself is not a problem, but the author´s lack of explaining and convincing readers leaves readers puzzled.

I noticed that many of the 1-star reviewers rated the book poorly because of the sad emotions it brought on them. Unfortunately for me I cannot even admit to those same emotions. At least they felt something! Yes, it was a depressing book but it lacked depth and hence I did not become too involved in the story. If your goal is to learn a bit more about South Africa I would also recommend looking else where. Skip this one!
¤

4) Paperback Book Disgrace by Vintage UK. Coetzee´s Disgrace is a complicated read and experience for the seasoned novel reader. The protaganist, David Lurie, is an unsympathetic, unlikeable main character. He is a womanizer, immoral, and emotionally immature. We meet him initially as he is engaged in his weekly tryst with a prostitute; we see him through a misguided -- and almost unrealistic -- seduction of one his students, which ultimately leads to his unapologetic downfall within his university community; and then, finally, we watch him physically degenerate through an attack while visiting his daughter´s farm. All of his life-altering changes play against the backdrop of a South Africa experiencing its own transition. South Africa´s political alteration, though painful, will ultimately lead to a freer and more enlightened society; so, too, will Lurie´s recent experiences and growth lead to a more enlightened individual. We can only assume so, given his embracing of a woman who is described as physically unattractive, but emotionally and intellectually beautiful, a far cry from the exotic prostitute and attractive 20-year-old he had been with. Coetzee´s language is beautifully sparse, and painful, similar to Ian McEwan´s most moving prose.¤

5) Paperback Book Disgrace by Vintage UK. Disgrace is not about a rape. It is not about an University professor having affairs with students. The fact that he is 50sh, the fact that he has a daughter running a kennel in the countryside are not relevant.

The book is about the condition of living as a white in South Africa today. The rape is not an ordinary rape, it is a bloody premeditated vengeance on an innocent victim who must leave for ever. The living in the country is not an expression of freedom any more. It is nightmare that rapists, African rapists will come again and again and again, until David Lurie´s daughter will have to leave.

She wants badly to stay. She even considers that raping is a price she now must pay, for privilege of staying on her property, in country she always lived.This exasperates her father, David Lurie. The hospital of the dogs is mostly doing euthanasia for dogs, while they lick the hands of their executioners, deluded that they will be cured. Professor Lurie, expelled from a decent teaching job, works as hireling in a veterinary clinic, not saving the dogs´ lives. Is this the life he wants?

There is no doubt in my mind that this book explains clearly why the only Nobel prize writer had to leave South Africa. He went to Australia, where, Coetzee was received as a hero, after being denied a US residency by a real dimly-lit-minded bureaucrat from INS.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 21-Nov-2008, 00992895209780099289524, 200-5X0-580-470-330-991-8

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