My first interaction with Coetzee’s work was through a Caine Prize anthology in which his story, “Nietverloren” was featured. From the moment I read the concluding sentence of that short story, I just knew it wouldn’t be the last of that man that I would encounter in the literary world. His writing style carried a lyrical quality through which the words seemed to melt into each other, creating melodies that would continue to ring in my mind after I read the story. So, it is only natural that one hot summer day, in the shade of a bubbly bookseller’s stand, only three book titles stood out to me; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, Henrietta Rose-Innes’ Nineveh and Coetzee’s Disgrace.
Hours later, with high hopes and a warm coffee by my bedside, I found myself giggling, gasping and heartbroken, with each page I turned.
A masterpiece… perhaps the best novel to carry off the Booker in a decade
Boyd Tonkin, Independent
From the opening chapters of the book, I was instantly hooked. David Lurie appeared to me as a man who wasn’t exactly likeable, but for whom one could be sympathetic. His affair with Melanie, his student, became one of the major highlights of the entire book. Lurie’s fickle character was shown by how he failed to take accountability for sleeping with his student. The fact that he blamed cupid, a mythical character, for his own lust is symbolic for how most of his life was a fantasy, a coping mechanism that helped him escape reality. The book that he never actually writes in its entirety remains an idea and can be compared to Lurie’s own life, as he is idealistic and the fantasies that he cooks up in his head always end up in tragedy, or rather, disgrace.
While Soraya only briefly appears in the book, I think her story deserves recognition. The idea of her double life-a respectable mother on one hand and a sex worker on the other-is indicative of how positive and negatively viewed traits can coexist and shape the lives of ordinary people. It reminds readers that to be human is to be flawed, as there is no such thing as a perfect human being. It also hints at the fact that no human can be all bad(except for whoever’s in charge of setting data prices at econet, of course). The dichotomy also reflects through Lurie himself, as he expresses concern over his daughter’s rape, although it is likely that he only cared because his daughter was the victim.
The book brings up, not just the ill treatment of people by each other, but also the maltreatment of animals. The most popular covers of the book feature a stray dog and this echoes the attention that characters like Bev give to animals, attention which other humans do not give. Because of Bev’s love for animals, other characters seem to think of her as a strange and weird person, and this speaks of how people who speak up for unpopular causes are often ridiculed and receive minimal support. Of this, Lucy says about her “bulldog bitch”, “They do us the honour of treating us like gods, and we respond by treating them like things”. This reflects Lucy’s character as she, just like Bev, treats animals with respect.
The position of different racial groups in post-apartheid South Africa is also brought into question, as relations between black and white people are undoubtedly strained. This is epitomised by how when Lucy is raped by three black men, she admits that it felt personal, like the men felt justified in their deeds, like they were simply taking something that belonged to them. The rape represents the hatred that blacks still felt towards whites for the years of racial injustice that prevailed during the colonial and apartheid eras. While Lucy had never harmed the men in her personal capacity and knew nothing about them until the day they raided her home, her refusal to report the rape to the police seems to suggest that she was aware of the larger racial struggle that was taking place in her country, one that seemed to automatically render her responsible for her forefathers’ mistakes.
While there is a whole lot to say about the book, this article will end here, as some of the core elements of the text have been discussed. I hope you found the book as interesting as I did and I cannot wait to hear what you thought of it. As always, feel free to leave your comments and book suggestions and don’t forget to share this review with other book lovers in your life.
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By Augustine 
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