Synopses & Reviews
A major new novel from the Nobel Prizewinning author of
Waiting for the Barbarians,
The Life and Times of Michael K and
Disgrace Nobel laureate and two-time Booker Prize winner J. M. Coetzee returns with a haunting and surprising novel about childhood and destiny that is sure to rank with his classic novels.
Separated from his mother as a passenger on a boat bound for a new land, David is a boy who is quite literally adrift. The piece of paper explaining his situation is lost, but a fellow passenger, Simón, vows to look after the boy. When the boat docks, David and Simón are issued new names, new birthdays, and virtually a whole new life.
Strangers in a strange land, knowing nothing of their surroundings, nor the language or customs, they are determined to find David's mother. Though the boy has no memory of her, Simón is certain he will recognize her at first sight. But after we find her,” David asks, what are we here for?”
An eerie allegorical tale told largely through dialogue, The Childhood of Jesus is a literary feat a novel of ideas that is also a tender, compelling narrative. Coetzee's many fans will celebrate his return while new readers will find The Childhood of Jesus an intriguing introduction to the work of a true master.
Review
“A return to form….[Coetzee's] most brisk and dazzling book.” Benjamin Lytal, The Daily Beast
Review
“With this powerful and puzzling novel, Nobel laureate Coetzee…returns to the allegorical focus that defined Waiting for the Barbarians.” Booklist (starred)
Review
“At once lucid and elusive….The prose is clear and flat in the special way that Coetzee has perfected.” David Sexton, London Evening Standard (UK)
Review
“Beautifully put together.” The Spectator (UK)
Review
“The inspiring gospel according to J. M. Coetzee.” The Herald (UK)
Review
"[The Childhood of Jesus] plunges us at once into a mysterious and dreamlike terrain....A Kafka-inspired parable of the quest for meaning itself." Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
From the Nobel Prize-winning author of
Disgrace,
The Childhood of Jesus is the first book in
his haunting trilogy that ends with The Death of Jesus (forthcoming from Viking) Separated from his mother as a passenger on a boat bound for a new land, David is a boy who is quite literally adrift. The piece of paper explaining his situation is lost, but a fellow passenger, Sim n, vows to look after the boy. When the boat docks, David and Sim n are issued new names, new birthdays, and virtually a whole new life.
Strangers in a strange land, knowing nothing of their surroundings, nor the language or customs, they are determined to find David's mother. Though the boy has no memory of her, Sim n is certain he will recognize her at first sight. "But after we find her," David asks, "what are we here for?"
An eerie allegorical tale told largely through dialogue, The Childhood of Jesus is a literary feat--a novel of ideas that is also a tender, compelling narrative. Coetzee's many fans will celebrate his return while new readers will find The Childhood of Jesus an intriguing introduction to the work of a true master.
About the Author
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 9, 1940, John Michael Coetzee studied first at Cape Town and later at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in literature. In 1972 he returned to South Africa and joined the faculty of the University of Cape Town. His works of fiction include Dusklands, Waiting for the Barbarians, which won South Africa’s highest literary honor, the Central News Agency Literary Award, and the Life and Times of Michael K., for which Coetzee was awarded his first Booker Prize in 1983. He has also published a memoir, Boyhood: Scenes From a Provincial Life, and several essays collections. He has won many other literary prizes including the Lannan Award for Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize. In 1999 he again won Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for Disgrace, becoming the first author to win the award twice in its 31-year history. In 2003, Coetzee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.