Book Review: J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace"

 

J.M. Coetzee is a fantastic author. I really began to read him in the early 2000's sometime, and for several reasons. First of all, I have long held a fascination with South Africa. Secondly, his books tend to be good stories, albeit depressing ones (depressing is right up my alley). Finally, he is an excellent writer, and I admire his abilities and brevity. As an aspiring author, I really would like to shorten my own writings to resemble the length of this particular book by Coetzee, for example.

This is not a long book, by any stretch. It might be a bit of an exaggeration to suggest that you could read it in one sitting. But once you really get into this book, you will be surprised at how quickly it goes. Suddenly, you are at the midway point. Before you know it, you are at the end.

And yet, despite it's compact size, it really does paint what I imagine to be an accurate portrait of modern day South Africa. This is a book with exploitation, with violence, with self-righteousness and anger. Despite how short it is, Coetzee weaves a complex web of interconnectedness between vastly different people, divided by race and geography and socio-economic realities, as well as mindsets. 

In these pages, we glimpse a bit of the old South Africa with white characters who either grew up in and/or romanticize the days of apartheid alongside an emerging black presence, which remains quite numerous and seemingly menacing from the point of view of David Lurie, the main character in this book. And all of this is extremely well done. You can appreciate why Coetzee won so many prizes and distinctions, including, of course, the Nobel Prize for literature. 

This was actually the second time that I read this particular book. At times, it is brutal, even frightening. Yet, it also smacks of the truth, and the underlying, mutual distrust that seems to linger, to periodically resurface in that still troubled land. Apartheid might have officially ended, but racial tensions clearly exist in what came to be known as the "Rainbow Nation." 

Again, this is a masterpiece of a book. That said, I would qualify that by brushing up on South Africa history, and perhaps also current events in the news for the past few years or so, in order to gain a deeper appreciation for this book. A must read!