Advantages: Great characters, great storyline, thought-provoking Disadvantages: First read might be a little hard, need of background knowledge
Author
J.M. Coetzee was born on February 9, 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. After having spent some years in England and Texas he went back to South Africa in 1971 and immigrated to Australia in 2002, where he now teaches at the University of Adelaide.
He started publishing in 1974 and up to now has written 21 books. He was awarded the Booker Prize twice, the second one for 'Disgrace' in 1999, and the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Background
Disgrace is set during the aftermath of Apartheid, the policy of racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa between 1948 and 1993. Although most Apartheid legislation had been eliminated between 1990 and 1992, racial segregation and discrimination still existed - despite the new Constitution and the democratic elections Apartheid had been so deeply ingrained that ...
Advantages: Terrifyingly powerful. Disadvantages: No longer relevant?
at the time. A widow, she badly misses her daughter and thus feels particularly isolated; so when she finds a drunken vagrant camping out beside her garage, she takes him in as a companion. Ominously, however, he calls himself Vercueil - which means "the angel of death".
Elizabeth also has an uneasy relationship with her black maid, Florence, who says of her son Bheki and his generation: "they are like iron, we are proud of them." This is a generation who will not submit to the system, and who are determined to prevail by whatever means and at whatever cost.
One night, because of a family emergency, Elizabeth drives Florence into the township and is sickened to see for herself the callous treatment this generation receives at the hands of the South African security forces.
J.M. Coetzee has twice been awarded the Booker Prize, first ...
Advantages: Thought-provoking Disadvantages: Some may find it strange
Introduction
I have heard of JM Coetzee, but had no idea why until I did some research on this book and found out that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. He is also the first author to have won the Booker Prize twice. As such, I was expecting something rather complicated and dry. I couldn't have been more wrong. What I found was a very original piece of writing that was both vivid and thought-provoking.
The story
Paul Rayment is out on his bike one day minding his own business when a car comes out of nowhere and sends him flying. When he comes to, he is told that he is going to lose one of his legs from just above the knee. At age 60, he is sure that his life is over and turns his back on his friends, relying on nursing services to keep him washed and fed.
After a series of disastrous nurses, he is finally sent ...
