Saturday, March 21, 2015

Book Review: Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee






Disgrace

Author: J. M. Coetzee
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Date of Publication: October 31. 2000
Pages: 220 (Trade Paperback Edition)

       Disgrace diminishes the disgraced.  J. M. Coetzee hammers this theme home in this brilliant study of a despicable college professor who loses his job after his tawdry affair with one of his students comes to light.  Twice divorced, Professor David Lurie retreats to the South African countryside to stay with his daughter during the aftermath of his fall from grace.  What happens during this sojourn is pure karma.  Does the professor get what he deserves or has the world gone mad?  

     Every word (including the diminutive "Disgrace" on the cover) is pitch perfect.  The author has masterfully created a totally unlikeable main character.  It is impossible, really, to like or feel sorry for David Lurie.  His arrogance is displayed often and early:

 "He continues to teach because it provides him with a livelihood;  also because it teaches him humility, brings it home to him who he is in the world.  The irony does not escape him: that the one who comes to teach learns the keenest of lessons, while those who come to learn learn nothing."

Later, even as he accepts humble jobs cleaning in a veterinary clinic he still manages to irritate the reader through his constant use and abuse of vulnerable women.    As evil befalls both him and those around him you feel he is reaping what he has sown. 

     This is a book about power and the abuse of power.  Professor Lurie abuses the trust placed in him by the University and the parents who send their children for education. The consequences of his actions on some levels seem unfair, in that the collateral damage affects innocents around the shameful academic.

     This book succeeds on many levels.  First, it is an expertly crafted work of literature.  The settings and tone are expertly conveyed.  It also succeeds as an in-depth character study, mainly of Professor Lurie.  The reader is repelled by this man's constant rationalization of his aberrant behaviors but, at the same time, gains tremendous insight into his psyche and lack of moral integrity.  This book was not a "fun" read, but a very thought provoking and intense one.  

Friday, March 6, 2015

Book Review: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber



The Book of Strange New Things

Author: Michel Faber
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Date of Publication: October 28, 2014
Pages: 500 (Hardcover Edition)

     This book is itself somewhat of a strange new thing.  The main character, Peter Leigh, is an Englishman, a recovered alcoholic, drug addict and petty criminal.  He reinvented himself as  a Christian minister after being befriended by a nurse during a convalescence.  This nurse becomes his wife and partner in his ministry until he is selected to go alone to another planet to spread the Word of Jesus to aliens on a recently colonized planet called Oasis.  The colonization project is run by a nebulous company identified only as USIC

     It takes a while for Peter to become acclimated to his new planet and even longer to meet and begin his work with his new parishioners.  The author does a masterful job of describing this new world, including details of agriculture, climate, topography and the native inhabitants, called "Oasans" by Peter.  Peter is able to communicate with his wife, Bea, via an inter-stellar e-mail.  Just as Peter's ministry begins to flourish, troubles at home strain his relationship with Bea.  As he desperately tries to reconcile his missionary success with his personal failures, suspicion regarding the motives of USIC muddy the waters.  

     One can't help but be reminded of Mary Doria Russel's The Sparrow.  In The Sparrow the missionary is a Jesuit priest and the theology espoused is most definitely Ignatian.  In The Books of Strange New Things Peter's denomination is never characterized other than "Christian" and the religious concerns bounce around from issues of faith, suffering, redemption and salvation and even predestination.  There is not a particular theology presented, although the Bible is thoroughly explored as Peter translates Jesus' parables and teachings (Oasans prefer the New Testament).   

     The Book of Strange New Things is a marvelous exploration into faith and sharing.  It raises serious issues of being so concerned with others that you lose track of what's going on to those right next to you and trying to find that balance of saving the world but being true to your own relationships.