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Book Review of Disgrace

Disgrace
Disgrace
Author: J. M. Coetzee
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
emeraldfire avatar reviewed on
Helpful Score: 1


At fifty-two, Professor David Lurie is a disgraced man. He is divorced, filled with desire but lacking passion. An affair with one of his students has ultimately left him without a position and without friends. Except for his estranged daughter, Lucy, who works on her remote South African farm with her neighbor, Petrus, an African farmer who now lives a life of modest prosperity.

David decides to leave the city and moves in with Lucy and her partner, in an attempt to achieve a better relationship with his daughter. He has plans for the future to write an opera about Lord Byron and his Italian mistress, Contessa Teresa Guiccioli. Instead, David finds a job working with Bev - Lucy's friend and an animal welfare volunteer, who also works as an unofficial veterinarian.

Lucy and David's relationship is extremely strained to begin with - there is much from their past that they need to reconcile - and the situation becomes even more critical when they are the victims of a vicious and horrifying attack. I have to say that I'm not exactly sure why I waited so long to read this book, except that there are so many other books that I wanted to read as well, that this one kind of got lost in the shuffle for a time. It was beautifully written and very thought-provoking - just the sort of story that I love to read - I give this book a big, blazing A+!