Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ursulamonarch 's review for:
Disgrace
by J.M. Coetzee
What a book! It's my first (but I hope not last) by the author. I must have heard of him during his heyday, which was a bit early in my consciousness of contemporary literature, and then his worked was incepted to me through [b:The Friend|40164365|The Friend|Sigrid Nunez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544364669l/40164365._SY75_.jpg|56847766].
There are so many layers to explore this book through - I'm glad I read it with a book club, but a short class might have been more helpful (although there certainly is plenty of commentary and criticism available!). I completely missed the connection to Byron, except as a general stand in for the Western canon in the context of "the great rationalization" (one of the many references to South African politics/culture that I also didn't understand). I'm sure I missed most of the Biblical references as well, although we were at least able to catch the scapegoat, sheep, and, on the last page, reference to the lamb.
It was also interesting to approach the book through the lens of #MeToo. While the book predates the movement by a number of years, of course, the situation is eternal. Personally, I was really surprised at the ability of the narrative to present the main character's duality in considering his own sexual experiences vs what happens to his daughter - which I think is a common compartmentalization, but as a reader, seemed both understandable and reprehensible.
I was more concerned with the degree to which this book is intended as an allegory to political situations in South Africa, but I read it as a more sophisticated commentary without absolute moral judgement or a simple conclusion around any of these topics.
Anyway, once I finished this, I turned around & started it all over again, and it moves The Friend back up on my reread list too. I've also added some other South African voices to my tbr. What a satisfying book - which, while writing this, I also realized I had confused (prior to my reading) with [b:The Human Stain|11734|The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3)|Philip Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308953496l/11734._SY75_.jpg|1118624]!
There are so many layers to explore this book through - I'm glad I read it with a book club, but a short class might have been more helpful (although there certainly is plenty of commentary and criticism available!). I completely missed the connection to Byron, except as a general stand in for the Western canon in the context of "the great rationalization" (one of the many references to South African politics/culture that I also didn't understand). I'm sure I missed most of the Biblical references as well, although we were at least able to catch the scapegoat, sheep, and, on the last page, reference to the lamb.
It was also interesting to approach the book through the lens of #MeToo. While the book predates the movement by a number of years, of course, the situation is eternal. Personally, I was really surprised at the ability of the narrative to present the main character's duality in considering his own sexual experiences vs what happens to his daughter - which I think is a common compartmentalization, but as a reader, seemed both understandable and reprehensible.
I was more concerned with the degree to which this book is intended as an allegory to political situations in South Africa, but I read it as a more sophisticated commentary without absolute moral judgement or a simple conclusion around any of these topics.
Anyway, once I finished this, I turned around & started it all over again, and it moves The Friend back up on my reread list too. I've also added some other South African voices to my tbr. What a satisfying book - which, while writing this, I also realized I had confused (prior to my reading) with [b:The Human Stain|11734|The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3)|Philip Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308953496l/11734._SY75_.jpg|1118624]!