Disgrace

In another time and place...
History and personal journeys walk hand in hand in J. M. Coetzee's The Man Booker Prize winner 'Disgrace'. Telling the story of single man, the South African writer managed to give us a deep portrait of life in his country post-Apartheid.

David Lurie is a professor who, after having a relationship with a student, is fired. His only refugee is his daughter's farm in the countryside. His idea was to spend only a couple of days there, but after a violent event he is forced to stay there, analyzing their father-daughter relationship, to learn who to live in a farm, but, above all, to live in a different country.

Were 'Disgrace' only Lurie's personal journey to self-discover it would be a great novel, but as soon as Coetzee brings politics and racial issues in the novel, it is lift to another level. The story and characters are quite well developed. The three acts of the novel are very clear, and interlinked. The last part is the best, when all the turmoil comes to a conclusion --very plausible, by the way.

When David and Lucy --his daughter-- face an act of extreme violence, they are left helpless. And so is the reader. At a certain point, one can't believe in what is happening. You feel as shaken as them. The aftermath is very well developed and believable --not to mention the twists in the last pages.

Halfway through the book, when they are talking about it, its consequences and what can be done, Lucy says that in another time and place it would be different. David asks what place is that, and she replies 'This place being South Africa'. If you had any doubts that you'd been reading a political book so far, your queries are dissipated. At this moment the writer shows all his cards.

Coetzee is not looking for reasons or solutions, he is advising what his country came down to be, and that now 'black' and 'white' people have to live together and come to terms with each other. For this matter, Lucy and her 'neighbor' Petrus have a fine purpose. Each represents one racial group, occupying the same piece of land, having to stand the each other.

With 'Disgrace' Coetzee created a sort of fable that is perfect for our time of intolerance. Don't expect a teary ending. Like life, he makes no concessions. With his down-to-earth book, Coetzee's ideas are kept with us long after you've finished the novel.

COETZEE, J. M.
J.M. Coetzee nasceu em 9 de fevereiro de 1940. Foi vencedor do Prêmio Nobel de Literatura de 2003. É autor de ficção, ensaios de crítica literária e memórias e já publicou mais de uma dezena de livros. Recebeu prêmios na França, na Irlanda e em Israel e foi o primeiro autor agraciado duas vezes com o Booker Prize, por Desonra (1999) e Vida e época de Michael K (1983), ambos publicados pela Companhia das Letras, que lançou também A vida dos animais (2002) e O mestre de Petersburgo (2003), que foi publicado pela primeira vez no Brasil pela editora Best Seller com o título Dostoiévski, o mestre de São Petersburgo.