Disgrace (1999)

Parts were uncomfortable to read, but there's something about the author's writing style that compels the reader to continue on. I'm not opposed to books that take the reader outside their usual comfort zone. If anything, I respect authors who take those risks. However, I still thought that the characters were frustrating and the ending was too abrupt. ( )

David Lurie lives a very contained and well-run life. He is a professor in Cape Town, mostly he lectures in communication but he is also allowed to give one course on his chosen topic as well, Romantic poetry. He lives within his means, and emotionally he looks after himself. For sex he visits a prostitute once a week. He has two ex-wives and a daughter. He is relatively content until Melanie Isaacs catches his eye.

She is a student of his. 30 years his junior. Nevertheless he begins to flirt with her and eventually has sex with her.

As a consequence of that inappropriate action Lurie is pretty much sacked from his job and heads off to visit his daughter in the country. There a whole heap of other issues raise their heads.
Okay, on one level I hated and despised this book. Our protagonist, the only point-of-view character is a complete and utter bastard. He judges women constantly based on their appearance. At one stage he tells Melanie that because she is beautiful it is her duty to sleep with him, as he appreciates it. Beautiful women must share themselves with their admirers.

Every interaction he has with a woman he judges them on their appearance and how it pleases him, or does not. As thought that is the only role for women, to be appreciated by him!

He is such an asshole

But the book itself is such a great read. I think that Coetzee is well aware of Lurie’s failings, and that Lurie’s views are probably commonly held. Lucy, Lurie’s daughter, tells him at one stage that she is not his supporting character, coming in and out of his story when needed, she is her own person. But of course she is a supporting character in the book, but for Lurie to think of her like that needs to be pointed out.

I was continually angered and annoyed by this book. But that, I believe, was Coetzee’s aim. He certainly achieved it. ( )

It's a surprise to my why this book won awards. Maybe because those giving the awards are like the main character. ( )

I'm reading all the Man Booker prize winners this year, in the 50th anniversary of the prize. Follow me at www.methodtohermadness.com

Coetzee was the first author to win the Booker prize twice: first in 1983 for Life & Times of Michael K, about a young South African man of color trying to leave a terrifying city life to return to the country. One might say that Disgrace is similar in a way, since it is about another man who retreats from the city to a farm. However, Coetzee’s second booker winner (1999) reminds me more of Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist (1974), because both feature a privileged white South African man. Disgrace’s protagonist, professor of communications David Lurie, has not chosen his retreat: he is rather in exile, or disgrace, for sexual harassment of a student. This must have been one of the first novels to deal with the growing political correctness that began to be felt in the 1990s.

After David has his brief and selfish affair with a student, and refuses to cooperate with the investigative committee, he resigns and goes to his daughter’s farm and kennel. He begins to rebuild his life, volunteering and writing, until he and his daughter are attacked by local thugs. The two crimes and their aftermath are vastly different…or are they?

I try not to read too much about a novel before I finish it, preferring to form my own opinions. But as soon as I finished this one, I turned to the front matter: a page of extracts from reviews. The words that jumped out at me were “cold” and “uncomfortable”; “perplex” and “disturb.” I agree with all of those. I also try to refrain from too much interpretation in these reviews, in order to let my reader (readers, I hope!) form *their* own opinions. But I must say that this novel, lean as it is, is rich with symbolic material about fathers and daughters, crime and penance, even dogs and people. It is about a world in which the sexes, races, and species are overcoming centuries of inequality. It’s a slow and painful process. ( )

In some ways this book was challenging to read. It is written well and is easy to read and is not particularly long, but we are faced with a main character who is not particularly likable. I am glad that I continued reading it, however, as there is much to be learned, much to think about.

Professor David Lurie, divorced, 52 years old, pursues a young student who appears to be naive and inexperienced. He can't seem to stop himself from intruding on her life, yet one could hardly say she welcomes him. She is compliant in the way an unsure, insecure young woman might be.

When his affair becomes public he does himself no favors when he responds to the charges in a way that does not suggest any remorse for his actions. It appears he has few regrets and he sees no reason he should have to offer any.

All of this against the background of post-apartheid South Africa. Much tension remains in the country, and an attitude of resentment and revenge is left in many black Africans. When Lurie leaves his post to spend time with his adult daughter on her small farm, the two have to confront an act of aggression that clearly comes from the apartheid past. They respond very differently, and the uneasy alliance between father and daughter is not necessarily improved by the shared experience.

I found this novel to be an eye-opening window on a world I do not know enough about, as well as a character study that gave me stomach aches. ( )