Disgrace caught me by surprise. I didn’t like the main character; I didn’t like the events that happened in the book; but yet, as I turned the last page, I realized it was flat out brilliantly written. It definitely deserves its place on the shortlist for Best of the Bookers.
Before reading it, all I really knew about it was that a professor had an affair with a student. As it turns out, that’s only a minor point. The book has several issues: men’s subjugation of women, South Africa after apartheid, and animal rights. How Coetzee could say so much in just a little over 200 pages is amazing. There are several parallel stories going on. I want to say so much about it, but to do so would be to give away everything. I’m glad I was ignorant going into this novel, so I won’t say much except that it will definitely get a re-read from me someday and preferably in a group setting. There would be many, many things to discuss.
(1999, 220 pp.)
As to the film, I thought it followed the book almost exactly. It was produced by Australians but I believe most of the outdoor shots at least were filmed in South Africa; the scenery was beautiful. John Malkovich played David Lurie exceptionally. My only small quibble is that his South African accent went in and out some. I thought the actress who played Lucy was also excellent. I highly recommend this movie IF you have read the book. You probably wouldn’t appreciate it as much or at all if you haven’t.
“Now I realized that the least deluded of all women was the prostitute. That marriage was the system built on the most cruel suffering of women.”
Woman at Point Zero was written by Nawal El Saadawi in 1975. This feminist Egyptian author has quite a resume. She became a doctor in her early twenties in 1955. She campaigned against female circumcision in Egypt for over 50 years, with the practice not becoming illegal until 2008. Early in her career she lost her job as Director of Public Health because of her campaign. Later, she was even imprisoned by the Sadat regime over a political matter. And, not only that, she has written at least 16 books on women’s issues.
This book was written as a result of her visiting a woman in prison. While she was studying neurosis in women, another doctor told her about a prisoner who refused to ask for a pardon from the President for the crime of killing her pimp. After the author heard the woman’s story, she couldn’t sleep for days until she started writing this book. (Source: BBC interview below)
Firdaus tells her life story from the beginning, from being touched by her uncle inappropriately, to being married off and beaten by her 60+ year old husband, to being raped and then finally becoming a prostitute. It is a harrowing story and one I won’t easily forget. The book is short and it is structured to repeat in a few places, but this was intentionally done by the author to good effect. Highly recommended for those interested in women’s issues and feminist fiction.
“Everybody has to die. I prefer to die for a crime I have committed rather than to die for one of the crimes which you have committed.”
Author interview with BBC World Book Club:
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Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 2009
My grade: A+
I had no idea what Departures was about when I chose it on Netflix instant view. I just knew it won Best Foreign Language Film and it was something about a cello player. I’m kind of glad I didn’t know, because if I had I might not have watched it.
At the beginning of the film, Daigo lives with his wife in a beautiful apartment in Tokyo and is employed by an orchestra. The orchestra ends up disbanding, and Daigo must sell his cello and go back to the town where he grew up because he can’t afford to live in Tokyo any longer. He returns to his childhood home that his mother left him after she died. As he’s searching for a job in the classifieds, he notices an ad for ‘assisting departures.’ Thinking it’s a travel agency, he applies. When he gets to the agency, the boss informs him it was a misprint and ‘departures’ should be ‘the departed.’ The job entails the Japanese tradition of preparing dead bodies for cremation. Needing the job and the money it provides, he reluctantly accepts.
I cannot begin to describe to you the beautiful ceremony of this Japanese custom, and it is all done directly in the presence of the deceased’s family. The care with which the body is prepared astounded me. I was really taken by surprise with this film. Also beautiful was the cinematography. Just gorgeous scenes, and not just the snowy landscapes. The indoor shots were beautiful as well.
I highly recommend this film to anyone with an interest in Japanese culture or in foreign films in general. I really, really loved this one.
Nailer works on a crew in the Gulf who scavenges parts from rusted out ships along the shoreline. Crew life is difficult. He’s always having to make quota while also making sure he doesn’t get on the wrong side of his superiors. One step out of line and he could be cut from the crew; there really are no other work options. Nailer’s always hungry even with his job because his Dad spends most of his time drinking, doing drugs, and then abusing him. Nailer’s world is cutthroat enough even without his father. Bring him into the picture and it’s even worse. He wonders, too, if he’s like his father or if he’s going to turn into him. Fairly quickly in the story, his fears are severely put to the test.
A bleak book and eerily timely with the Gulf oil disaster, Ship Breaker is probably not too far off from what could happen in the future if we let greed go unchecked.
This book has been getting some really great reviews so I was excited to read it. An additional plus was that I love dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction. I will say it’s a good book, but I was a little disappointed after all the hype. While I liked it and thought the story was good, I wasn’t enamored with the writing. It probably didn’t help that I was reading Charlotte Bronte’s Villette on the same day. Not a fair comparison, but it couldn’t be avoided.
Other bloggers have raved about it, so I would definitely encourage you to check out their reviews as well.
“You can’t build a car that violates the laws of physics. Same goes for a time machine. You can’t go just anywhere, only to places it will let you go. You can only go to places that you will let yourself go.”
…
“But the reason I have job security is that people have no idea how to make themselves happy. Even with a time machine. I have job security because what the customer wants, when you get right down to it, is to relive his very worst moment, over and over and over again.”
I want to read more books like this one — philosophical, humorous, a little ‘techy,’ and demonstrating a great use of the English language. I really loved it. It reminded me a lot of how much I loved Rivka Galchen’s Atmospheric Disturbances, also a NYT Notable book. But, just as with Galchen’s novel, this one won’t appeal to everyone.
It’s really so difficult to even describe what’s going on in this story. Guy works at a job fixing time machines. Not only does he fix time machines, but while he does it, he’s in a time machine so he can travel to wherever the problem is. His operating system, TAMMY, and his not-really-alive dog, Ed, are the only ones to keep him company. He’s been living in the time machine for a long time. Some incidents happen (don’t want to spoil it), and he gets caught in a time loop. While in the time loop, he waxes philosophical about his parents, in particular his father, and just life in general. The book has all kinds of crazy diagrams and intended blank spaces to illustrate his points. (See pics below)
I really, really loved this book. I borrowed this from the library, so I plan on buying it when it comes out in paperback just so I can mark it up like crazy. Highly recommended for fans of offbeat, philosphical fiction.
“Those Impressionists,” she said, “they certainly knew about color. And about light and shade. Different kinds of shade: thinner shadows that let the light through, and heavier, denser ones. And it’s as if Monet made this garden to show the world how he saw colors. How he saw their power, their potential, and their purpose. I think he wanted to show that the world is color. That life itself is color. That if we can just see the colors, really see them, life will be beautiful. And meaningful. Because beauty has a value of its own, that”s how I see it anyway.” – p. 37
“People who read books,’ he went on, “tend to be dispensable. Extremely.” – p. 48
Useful or dispensable? A life of choice or no choice? And what if your own choices led you to have to give of your own body to the ‘needed’ until your ‘final donation’?
I love dystopian fiction, and this book was no exception. It reminded me quite a bit of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, so if you enjoyed that book, you’ll probably like this one as well. Reading books like this is always a reminder of the ways society could go horribly wrong, and sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if parts of the book actually do come to pass someday.
Dorrit, age 50, has reached an age where she is now considered dispensable because she has no children or parents to take care of and because she is a writer, which is considered an unessential occupation. The dispensables in The Unit are provided for in every way, a nice apartment, exercise facilities, and entertainment venues, etc. Except that they are monitored 24/7, and of course, they may never leave The Unit. Dorrit makes great friends here, and in some ways her life is better than when she was on the outside, but, obviously, her life and her body are not her own. She is essentially a commodity of the State.
The book raises some excellent ethical questions. Is a person’s life itself precious and valuable, or is it only what they can contribute to society that is deemed worthwhile? My view will always be the former.
How obtained: I checked this book out from my local library.
2006 (Swedish), 2009 for the English translation; 268 pp.
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? (1 Peter 3:12-13, ESV)
Winner, 1999 Booker Prize
Printz Award, 2011
