Disgrace

 

I always enjoy a great novel that makes you think deeply about choices people make in life, and so it goes with J.M. Coetzee’s novel Disgrace.  Set in the post-Apartheid era in South Africa, the main character, David Lurie, is a professor of communications (and poetry expert) at a university in Cape Town.   Lurie is a brazen fifty-two year old who is twice divorced with a grown daughter.  He frequently finds sexual activity with prostitutes, wives of colleagues, and as the story unfolds, he is attracted to a student in his course, this leads to his demise.  Melanie, his student, is invited to his home one day after a class dinner, which leads to him sleeping with her.  He continues his pursuit of her, even though she is reluctant, even when her boyfriend finds out.  This leads to his demise as he receives a complaint that Melanie files against him.  Lurie responds by taking full responsibility, but unwilling to apologize, noting he would do it again.  After losing his job, Lurie goes to the rural area of Eastern Cape to visit his adult daughter, Lucy, whom owns a farm land where she raises animals and has something resembling a farm.  Lurie faces significant dilemmas as a father when he and his daughter are robbed by locals in her home, Lucy being raped while her father locked captive in the bathroom after being burned.  Lurie is consistent in his thinking, being solo, selfish, and one-minded in living his life as he wants to live.  He loses it all, but he never compromises his self-belief that one can never look back.  He does change somewhat, trying to convince his daughter to leave the farm as one of the three rapists is working on the farm for the manager of the land, a local.  Lurie confronts his past often, even going to meet Melanie’s father to explain to him why he did what he did with Melanie, (feeling there was a mutual attraction).  He clearly is the ‘white’ South African who still believes in whatever path he wants to take, no matter who is in the way.  It is a glimpse into a culture that permeated the society of the time.  Lurie has to grapple with the question, is what he did to another man’s daughter similar to what happened to his own daughter, and how can one protect another from the grips of men with power.  Coetzee was awarded the Booker Award for the book.  His prose, psychological foray into man of the era, and the complexities of money, race, and sex are all magnificently written in this coming of age over 40 book.  It is a quick read and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who enjoys novels for the ages.