Disgrace by J.M Coetzee

18 months into reading the Booker Prize winners and time to stop and reflect for a moment.  31 read, 14 still to read plus the 2012 winner – whatever that may be!  The journey has taken me to various libraries and second hand bookshops, and two titles borrowed from family/friends, and around the world to a plethora of time points in history.  Fascinating stuff, and on the whole I have formed a mostly positive opinion about the novels.  Recently, I read an interview with Alan Hollinghurst which touched on his Booker success and he spoke rather derogatorily about people who read his book purely because it had won the Booker Prize – and I agree with him to an extent, but I still remain as enthusiastic about this process as I did in the beginning.  Mainly because it has introduced to a variety of writing which I may not otherwise have read due to human nature of tending to stick to what I’m used to and comfortable with, instead of challenging myself with different genres and styles.  It has also been interesting to read novels spanning the forty-odd year lifespan of the Booker Prize and their approach to story-telling whether contemporaneous or not.  So, although I probably won’t have finished within my rough goal of two years, I won’t be far off – and thank you for reading, whether you are a regular or sporadic visitor to my blog!

And so to the 1999 winner, a return to Africa, this time South Africa, and yet another rather uncomfortable read.  This was in no way due to the writing which was impressive with good flow and pace which effectively conveyed the atmosphere and protagonist’s view of the plot, but purely due to the subject matter.  Having visited and worked in South Africa for a time, this novel captured the underlying tensions that centre mainly around the feelings of guilt and redemption/revenge that exist from the years of apartheid as it copes with ongoing transition.  The sense of resignation mixed with outrage, experienced by the protagonist, as he adjusts to the system of justice and its way of dealing with what he describes as ‘redistribution’ of possessions amongst the different groups of society. 

It was a complex novel which worked on a multitude of levels which is difficult to convey in this review, suffice to say I certainly didn’t relish the time spent with the characters or setting of the book.  The feeling of uneasiness experienced while reading and thinking about this book is testimony, I think, to the success of Coetzee’s writing about this subject.