Disgrace (1999)

823.914 COE

It is an unsettling work.
My favourite parts were the inquest where Lurie stands for what he believes in disregarding the ways of society, the puzzling attitude of Lucy towards the rapists, the incineration of the dogs, and the short essay on Petrus, the angst he felt when Lucy decides to ‘forgive’ her violators, the rage against the little boy. And above all, the narrative voice which are the self-reflections and thoughts of Lurie. It is that beautiful and uniquely effortless stylistic voice that manages to get the multi-layered intentions of the author across to the reader. If a book was written just exploring Lurie’s self-reflections in the voice of the author and ran for a thousand pages plus, most people including me would enthusiastically read it.
Finishing the book leaves you in turmoil and makes you look hard at your own morality. It did at least for me because I thought the way Lurie did. The indifference, the apathy and cold-heartedness as the perfect solution to a happy, satisfied life devoid of the worries of others. And a bit of the misogyny. But Lurie doesn’t feel that way for Lucy, quite the opposite. When Lucy tries to get him to be indifferent, he can’t and becomes naggy. I feel Coetzee was teaching Lurie something through Lucy. And in effect, teaching us. I am confident there is a lesson here, a lesson Lurie learnt which allowed him to ‘love the dogs’ and apologise to the Issacs family. Perhaps the lesson of patience, tolerance, understanding. Perhaps how to live in a world divided by the race and gender, in a world of violence. A re-reading would serve this novel well. ( )

This book was given to me by my SantaThing through LibraryThing.

Let me first say that this was my first book by Coetzee and I was immediately reminded of Philip Roth, but soon found a richer, more poetic style of writing with Coetzee.

To quote The New Yorker, Disgrace is "compulsively readable" and transports the reader into a world of the unthinkable, although not unfathomable. Well worth the read and very well written. ( )

A sad book. Interesting to read, the story wasn't going the way I expected it to.
Sometimes all the good will in the world can't make problems go away. And sometimes no possible solution is a good one.
I can't stop thinking about the possibility that this/these kind of circumstances may be real life for real people. Not just a fictional story. And for some reason that makes me shudder a bit more today. ( )

Disgrace by South African author, J. M. Coetzee is a difficult book to review. I actually quite liked the book but a big part of the main story-line involves both rape and violence toward animals. The book’s main character David Lurie is a lecturer at a Capetown university who, when accused of sexual misconduct with one of his students, chose not to defend himself but rather to simply suffer his fate with stoicism. In his mind, Lurie has done nothing wrong, so he prefers to get fired and suffer the disgrace rather than to endure a process of rehabilitation. He loses his job and then goes into the country to live with his daughter, Lucy, on her isolated farm.

At first this seems like a peaceful interlude, but this is South Africa and the violence is never far away. The farm is attacked by a group of black men, Lurie is beaten and burnt, while Lucy is raped. His daughter refuses to press charges, even when one of rapists turns up at her ambitious coloured neighbour, Petrus’ party. Instead she signs over her land and equipment to this neighbour in the unspoken agreement that she will not be attacked again.

This is a novel of bleakness, turmoil and conflict. The reader is drawn into the psychological makeup of David, yet the story is also about the political standards of South Africa and conditions in that post-apartheid country. There is also a connection made between humans and animals, both as David helps out in an animal clinic and at Lucy’s farm with her dog kennel business. I found myself both shocked and deeply affected by the brutal reality of this book yet I am eager to read more by this author. ( )