Disgrace
by J. M. Coetzee · first published 1999
67% recommend22% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
A powerful, emotionally difficult novel of post-apartheid South Africa. It ranks among Coetzee's best works and serves as a good starting point for his writing.
Common criticism: One commenter found it an unremarkable practical joke, but that view is not widely shared.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
At fifty-two, Professor David Lurie is divorced, filled with desire, but lacking in passion. An affair with one of his students leaves him jobless, shunned by his friends, and ridiculed by his ex-wife. He retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding, where a brief visit becomes an extended stay as he tries to find meaning from the one remaining relationship. David attempts to relate to Lucy and to a society with new racial complexities are disrupted by an afternoon of violence that shakes all of his beliefs and threatens to destroy his daughter. In this wry, visceral, yet strangely te
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…bunch of books by Kahlil Gibran. Read The Prophet twice. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez The Problem Of Pain by C S Lewis Disgrace by J M Coetzee The Road by Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek On Writing by Stephen King Atonement by Ian McEwan Dictionary Of The Khazars by…
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗King Lear (Shakespeare). Disgrace (Coetzee). The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky). Тихий Дон (Sholohov's name is on the cover; there are several translations under various titles as Quiet Don or something like that).
on “Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read?” ↗…corruption and despots since independence, then try Martin Meredith The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence One of my favourites is Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart Disgrace, by JM Coetzee. Outstanding book, emotionally difficult to read. Made into a not-too-bad movie with John Malkovich, but the book is infinitely better.
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗JM Coetzee - all, but Disgrace and Waiting for the Barbarians are good starting points.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗This is amazing. Disgrace is one of my favorite novels of all time and I always found it fascinating how versatile Coetzee is. The man seems to be good at everything.
on “The computer poetry of J. M. Coetzee’s early programming career” ↗Good point on reading multiple viewpoints. As for fiction, there are a few writers who say true and interesting things about the world but they don't write Star Wars novels. I'd say "Disgrace" by Coetzee and "Demons" by Dostoevsky are examples.
on “Ask HN: What talks or videos do you suggest to watch on a long flight?” ↗> I like to think that Finnehans Wake was an elaborate practical joke aimed at the literary establishment. This is how I feel about the two books by J.M. Coetzee[1] I've read, Disgrace and The Childhood of Jesus, minus the 'elaborate' part, they're simply practical jokes, and wholly unremarkable. A bit like Jean Micheal Basquiat's art. That's not art, it's a fucking joke. Coetzee must…
on “What to Make of Finnegans Wake? (2012)” ↗…this will work for novels. As an example, I got the first page of a book which talked about a middle-aged man and his relationship with a prostitute. I was surprised to find out the book was Coetzee's "Disgrace" -- a book I've read and which I do not associate at all with a middle-aged man and his affection for a prostitute. I really don't think you can decide whether you'll like a novel -- or even find out…
on “Read first pages of novels, and reveal the author and title if you're hooked” ↗This is exactly what I thought of Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. Someone else could have written that book, and we'd all be better off for it having never been published. I wonder if I'll ever try to reread it hoping I missed something.
on “In Praise of the Long and Complicated Sentence” ↗…white farmers face targeted violence, pointing to farm attacks and rhetoric like the ‘Kill the Boer’ song, which they see as incitement.” Have you lived in South Africa? Would you consider say Coetzee's Disgrace to have its "thumb on the scales" of discussion of rural race politics in South Africa? Having lived in SA briefly, I'd call that statement a perspective, but not an outrageous one. Race politics and…