Disgrace

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Average customer rating 5 (5 comments)

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On the face of it, this is the story of a rape. Or man's relationship with animals. But it is so multilayered and faceted that several readings are needed to delve into the nuances.

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Best novel of the decade.

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Disgrace is only the beginning This short novel begins as a story of personal excess, even disgrace, but quickly becomes much more. David Lurie is a fifty-two-year-old, twice-divorced, academic teaching poetry at a small college in South Africa, who sees his life and career ebbing away. Still a reasonably good-looking man, he partly counters his boredom, even disgust, at teaching indifferent students by keeping sexuality as an important part of his life, usually via paid services. However, his, by accident, though insistent, seduction of a female student in his class, who is not really all that willing, is, not surprisingly, turned back on him as a case of sexual harassment. In the subsequent hearing, his quick admission of guilt is actually quite offensive to college officials, especially the women in attendance. To expectations that he admit that his behavior was inappropriate, even deviant, and then seek counseling, he contends that sexual desire is only natural and “enriching.” And that gets him dismissed, which he almost seems to welcome. Little does Lurie realize that he is now on a path where gritty realities will come crashing into his life far exceeding the unpleasantness of violating petty sexual correctness rules. In what begins as only a short visit, he is quite surprised to find his daughter Lucy eking out a minimal living by growing and selling vegetables and flowers and boarding dogs on little more than a large patch of dirt, hardly a farm. He is startled by the isolation, the harshness of conditions, the dirt, and the danger of living in rural S. Africa. Simmering racial tensions suddenly intrude as he is stunned by the brutal assault by three black men on Lucy’s holdings and on them both. Not only is there physical devastation and personal injuries, but more significant is the physic damage and the shattering of personal and social illusions. Forced to manage Lucy’s affairs while she recovers, Lurie is astounded by her lack of vindictiveness and willingness to remain. However, Lucy recognizes that harmony with the land and one’s neighbors comes at a cost. Her neighbor Bev Shaw, who attempts to help broken down animals, mirrors that same toughness and acceptance. In fact, its Lurie’s work at Bev’s makeshift clinic that has a transforming impact on him. Euthanasia is a reality at the clinic. It is gut-wrenching to inject the drug, while a dog, seemingly aware of what is happening, licks his hand. Lurie accepts that there comes a time for us all. Perhaps one would want more character development in the book; there is little of their backgrounds provided. But they are well sketched for the author’s purpose. No doubt life is rather bleak in the author’s world, yet somehow accepting and dealing with gritty reality is strengthening, perhaps ennobling. This is a book that will stay with one for quite a while.

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I read this book a few years ago and intend to read it, and more by this author, later this year. How a book can be so sparse and so complex is beyond me. It's not a pleasant read but it's an amazing piece of literature. I would have loved to have read this in college. I imagine a classroom discussion of this book would be intense.

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A heartbreaking story so magnificently and tautly written that one cannot help but be propelled along with the story. This is a book that is destined to become a literary classic.