Author(s): J. M. Coetzee

Fiction | Vijeta's Book Talkers

J. M. Coetzee's Booker Prize-winning novel Disgrace, set in post-apartheid South Africa, takes us into the disquieting mind of twice-divorced university teacher David Lurie as he loses his job and his honour after engaging in an ill-advised affair with a susceptible student.

When he retreats to his daughter's farm, a brutal attack highlights their fractured relationship. Is it only through intense suffering and shame--his own as well as that of others--that David can begin to change, to understand his country and what it means to be human?

In Disgrace, this Nobel-Prize winning writer examines ideas of evil, violence, dignity and redemption in a country dominated by the power dynamics of race.

CONSTANT READER STAFF REVIEW: VIJETA 

You would think I lived in a perpetual state of discomfort the way I constantly recommend books that have made me uncomfortable in the reading process – but, alas, that is undoubtedly my marker of a good book. 

Shame is such a difficult emotion to comprehend, let alone write a story about, but Coetzee has hit the nail on the head with Disgrace. We follow 52-year-old David Lurie, a university professor in Cape Town, who seduces one of his students, which leaves him scandalised. In the face of dishonour, he retreats to his daughter’s farm where more events reignite feelings of shame, but this time in a different way. 

This novel was hot and sticky and everything in between. It explores the dichotomy (or lack thereof) of right and wrong, and discomfort and pleasure, and prompts the question of just what it takes to uphold a reputation.