Reaction to the novel Disgrace

"Yes, I'm giving it up." When I read those lines and realized that I had finished Disgrace, I was reluctant to put the book down. It felt as though I had unfinished buisiness with Mr. Lurie, like our relationship was cut off too quickly, too suddenly. I did enjoy reading this novel in spite of the fact that I didn't feel like I'd accomplished much in regards to enhancing my intellect or whatnot. It felt like I'd read any other ordinary novel...nothing particularily original or different, just a well written book. Unlike one hundred years of solitude that was abstract, implicit, and much harder to read and understand, I found. Disgrace is simply written and, it would seem, is straight forward and to the point. It is easy to finish this book and just by reading, to understand the story well, and it still makes sense. But then one must pause and think that this book won the Booker prize and has substantial recognition in the literature community. Therefore one must assume that there is much more to the novel than beats the eye, and when we start reading inbetween the lines, we discover a whole other aspect of the book. Allusions are omnipresent in the story, understandably so since David Lurie is a university professor, clearly an educated man, and the recurring use of latin quotes exemplfies this well.

What I thought was particularily noteworthy was that there is two well-defined settings, set of characters, and essentially stories in Disgrace. David Lurie, the main-character, is the only one to run through both of them. The first part of the story deals with David's way of life, affair with Melanie Isaacs, the trial, and consequently, his move to live with Lucy which brings us to the second part of the story. This second part revolves mostly around Lucy's rape, which is essentially the climax of the story. I actually didn't enjoy that much reading the climax, the part with the robbery etc., the novel up until then wasn't action driven at all, and I thought that this sudden burst of excitement kind of killed the nice laid back vibe. This was intended, but still I preferred the story before that point. Following the climax I thought it became kind of repetitive, with the dogs and Petrus, and when David goes back to once again discover that his apartment had been robbed...I liked the parallel that the author makes with Lucy and the dogs, which is strikingly evident at the end, stating that he is letting go the dog, like he is Lucy.

All in all, a good story, light and pleasent to read. Though a bit repetitive and perhaps too simple, its subtlety and implicitness makes it that much more interesting.