Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee

With snow falling and covering the country in a blanket of white, it’s a perfect excuse to stay at home, curled up in the warm with a good book.  And for some reason it’s at times like these that I would ideally pick up a classic novel and immerse myself within its pages.  However, despite my instincts, instead I reached for the next Booker, and although it can be a rather unpredictable process, thankfully J.M. Coetzee’s second Booker-winning novel was actually a treat.  I read this book in pretty much one sitting, mainly because it’s quite short but also because it was captivating.

The story follows Michael K a black South African who has a cleft lip and since being born, even by his mother, has been judged as having learning difficulties due to this deformity.  He is placed in an institution by his mother as a child and grows up to become a gardener.  However, his mother becomes ill and he agrees to take his mother from Cape Town, back to where she grew up in the countryside.  They encounter many obstacles in their improvised ricksaw, due to apartheid, the civil war and his mother dying en route, but he remains committed to burying her ashes on the farm where she grew up.

He tries to forge a life for himself living off the land, not bothering anyone else and yet people involved in the civil war keep bothering him and interfering with his life telling him what to do and physically removing him to various institutions where they try to dictate what should be important to him.  He is admitted to a medical ward at a rehabilitation camp and the medical officer struggles with his emotions of compassion towards this malnourished man with a cleft lip.  He struggles to understand, and yet respects how Michael K seems to live outside of the trivialities of the ‘wheel of history’.

This is a simple story told by simple story-telling about a simple man, which manages to be totally engaging, emotionally impacting and enriching, so that it makes you reflect on what is truly important in life.  A very affecting, sometimes heart-wrenching, book that will have me reflecting on the issues raised within its pages for a considerable amount of time to come.

The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer

I love to read, although I struggle to read in public places such as on the train or sat in a café, as I too easily become distracted by my surroundings and conversations around me.  I like to think, contrary to cynical thought, that your book/newspaper/Kindle isn’t a barrier to interaction with others say on the underground (although sometimes useful!), it’s that the daily commute/travel is often a welcome opportunity to read. 

Unfortunately though I seem to have read a considerable amount of ‘The Conservationist’ while travelling (it may be the curse of a thin book, as it’s easy to carry around in my handbag!) and I fear that the combination of my easy distractibility and its rambling sentences and subtleties, has resulted in this book failing to make much of an impact on me.  It is most definitely not a plot-driven narrative and for large parts of the book I struggled to work out from whose point of view it was written, what was happening and what, if any, relevance it played.

The book is set in apartheid South Africa and based around the protagonist, Mehring, a white man who had made sufficient money to buy a farm, which he visits at weekends and supervises the black workers who basically run the farm.  Amongst other events, they discover the body of a dead African on the farm, which is just buried instead of being thoroughly investigated by the Afrikaans police, and there is flood during which amongst other occurrences, the body reappears.  But as a said, it’s not really about what actually happens, as the writing is more metaphorical of the bigger picture of apartheid and the sometimes strained relationship between the various people existing together in South Africa. 

Gordimer’s writing can be poetically descriptive but overall I fear that this particular book has not left much of a lasting impression on me except for a sense of ambivalence –and I apologise for the profound lack of analysis in this review.  It’s interesting to note that this book was in the running for the “Best of the Booker” award to mark the 40^th anniversary of the prize, despite not winning outright in 1974, when it won jointly with Stanley Middleton’s ‘Holiday’ – however, I fear when I compile my own “Best of” list after completing this challenge this particular title will not feature.

The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens

Happy new year dear readers!  Can you believe that I have been winding my way through the literary world of the Bookers for two years now?!  Therefore, one of my new year’s resolutions is to finally finish and it should be pretty achievable as the end is definitely in sight.  Especially, as thanks to an amazing Oxfam bookshop, I have only three outstanding titles to obtain – imagine my joy as I discovered four of the last few elusive titles – I couldn’t quite believe my eyes as not only author but titles matched up – I perhaps rather sadly could barely contain a whoop of excitement…I guess two years of trawling bookshelves for the same few books will do that to you!

That’s enough of looking ahead though and I must focus on the here and now – although I really should have written this review sooner after finishing the book but I blame the festive season for happily distracting me.  Especially as this book was not one to exude joy and happiness, though, thankfully, this was due to the subject matter and not the writing.  I thought this book was an excellent insight into mental illness – from the family and patient’s perspectives.  Admittedly I’ve not experienced mental illness myself or in my family, but I have spent time working in Psychiatry as a medical student and doctor and I found this novel to explore the complexities adeptly.  It was also interesting to read about how practices have changed in the management of mental illness as this book was written and won contemporaneously in 1970.  Although, in contrast, I fear progress in attitudes towards mental illness have changed less dramatically with stigma and lack of understanding still existing. 

The story is centred on a Jewish family, whose prodigal son has sadly become unwell with psychosis as a result of substance abuse.  The narrative switches between the various characters in the novel giving a great depth to the story-telling and highlighting the varying perspectives of each of the family members. They describe current events as the protagonist is sectioned and admitted to hospital for treatment and reflect on past relations amongst the family.   Perhaps the most striking emotions were those of guilt and regret weighing heavily within the family and impacting on each of the characters in different ways. 

Reubens’ winning novel was atmospheric and haunting while exploring mental illness with an extremely sensitive and engaging approach, but in a way that means this book is about a family and their interactions and reactions and not purely about sensationalizing or gawping at mental illness.