Book Review - Disgrace by J M Coetzee

Book - Disgrace by J M Coetzee

Published - 1999, Vintage Books

Rating - 3/5

I have read quite a few Booker Prize Winning books and will continue to do so even in the future. It is going to be tough but I will make it through! The more I read them the more I know I will never make it to the esteemed list of winners… Ever! Hahaha.

So Booker books. Two things seem to be common in them. They all have abstract, abrupt endings. And other thing is the themes are invariably about exploring the dark world. Not like what I have grown up reading.  What I am most comfortable reading is books that have definite story line...proper beginning with proper end. Some end. Some conclusion. I know real life is not conclusive as things change every day. But that’s what fiction is for. Stories that have something conclusive. Good, bad, ugly, negative, positive, depressive, doesn’t matter. But there is a closure. But with these Booker books, they in real sense are slice of life...very close to the real world. Hence, don’t necessarily offer a definite end. I wonder if happy books have won or going to win a Booker ever.

I just needed to get this common factor about Booker Prize Winning books out of my system!

So now, finally focus back to Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize Winning Book. 

Disgrace is about a disgraced professor and “white dilemma in South Africa”, as rightly summarized by Justin Cartwright from Daily Telegraph. David Lurie, is a Romantic Poetry professor in Technical University of Cape town. But his career comes to an abrupt end when his illicit affair with one of his students comes out in open.  After refusing to apologize publicly, Lurie resigns, packs and goes on to live with his daughter Lucy, on her remote farmland. He was hoping that farm life will offer Lurie the serenity and anonymity he wanted after the whole affair episode but things take an ugly turn one day. Few men not only robbed them, but scarred them for life. What follows next is dark, frustrating and displays helplessness that is brought about due to shift in power. 

It is a multi-layered story that is smartly and smoothly weaved together. In a weird way, all layers are connected yet very distinct. That’s the beauty of this book.

There were times when I wanted to shake Lucy and ask her to do something instead of sitting on her rear and accepting the rape as an inevitable act and moving on. But as I read further, I resolved not to  judge her as I have no clue what it is like to live as a white woman in an African country. Given the history, I know it would be unfair to distinguish right or wrong, unless I truly understand the situation, which I clearly don’t in this case I have no idea as to what level of baggage one carries when it comes to the Racist/Slave  phase so won’t comment on it.  

Another great thing is the length and language. Only 200+ pages long, the language is simple and straight. Writing is brilliant. Thoughts are conveyed in the most open almost naked way. There is no romanticizing, exaggerating, sugarcoating dramatizing or throwing too many emotions in describing a situation. Disgrace is written in a no-nonsense manner and the bluntness in putting across the thoughts may shock some. 

The book shook me and made me very very uncomfortable. That’s a sign that it’s a good book. The author managed to make me feel what he intended his readers to feel. Read it if you want to read something dark and depressing as Disgrace is not a feel-good book!