Has anyone else read this? It was well written but there literally

/pol/: the nightmare

So what if the characters aren't likeable.

>>9562744

It's pretty hard to enjoy a book in which every character is despicable or pathetic

>>9562844
>reading for enjoyment
>>>/r/books

>>9562844
Only if you need to project yourself unto them in order to read the book.

>>9562861

I'm not despicable or pathetic, so that's a little hard

What a beautifully written novel. You're right, the characters aren't likable, from the female student to the black rapists, not even the protag. Which is probably why they feel so real and he won the Nobel Prize for literature. Everything else was close to perfect though; the structure, prose, pacing, character development...,

His second most acclaimed novel, Waiting for the Barbarians, features a slightly more likable protagonist. Though he is stuck in a bad situation and awful things happen to him.

His third most acclaimed work, Michael K, is probably the most depressing thing I have ever read. In just the first chapter alone, a retarded guy is born in war-era South Africa with a severely deformed cleft lip, grows up, loses his job, moves in with his dying mom, gets robbed, tries to wheel his mother hundreds of miles to her place of birth in a wheelbarrow, mother dies in barrow, has the rest of his money and possessions stolen by the military police, and begins eating insects while on the edge of starvation.

All of his books depict vividly real characters and highlight the underside of society. They're usually subjected to harsh conditions and horrific situations as a result of basic human nature.

>>9562879
why do white people like depression porn so much?

>>9562877
you shouldn't be trying at all. you're, by Nabokov's definition, a bad reader.

>>9563044

We're secretly glad that South Africa is falling apart without white people in charge because it proves that we're essential to the smooth running of any polity larger than a farming village and no matter how much non-whites resent or despise us they'll never be able to do away with us completely because they need us more than we need them.

>>9563157

This. Look at Zimbabwe

>you have to come back

>>9562844
think harry potter is more your speed. maybe play some video games.

>>9563280

Actually I think I'll go back to reading Tristram Shandy and leave the cuckarotica to you

What a disgrace

>>9563044
This.
>>9562879
I totally disagree. There were many well written moments but I would not consider them beautiful. He makes very smart stylistic choices in Disgrace but overall the book felt silly especially when it gets towards the end and there is a montage of him having sex with a repulsive women and incinerating dogs.

>>9563371

Don't forget when his coalburning aids infested lesbian daughter decides to keep her rape baby and take more African cock in exchange for not being raped again

This nigga went from fucking prime college pussy and living the easy life in Cape Town to fucking old shrew snatch and getting set on fire by African rapists in the middle of bumfuck nowhere

Yeah I wasn't too cool with the rampant racism either. I think it is odd that he would get a Nobel Prize in Literature from that book. I have Waiting for the Barbarians but I feel like I am done with Coetzee. I am really just looking for more African literature. Does any one have any recommendations?

>>9563400

>rampant racism

Such as...

>>9563400
The Africans were represented as beastly or passive. And their motivations were represented as stereotypes. I am not the only one who launched this complaint either. One literary critic said it is because Coetzee doesn't demonstrate a clear politics his motivation behind the characters remains questionable.

>>9563402
Whoops >>9563427

>>9563427

Okay well how many plausible motives are there for gang raping a white woman in South Africa

>>9563431
I remember there being some more questionable material than that particular incident. But then again, I read this book three years ago. I remember enjoying the scene in the board meeting and much of the stuff on Byron but beyond that the book was just kinda ehh.

>>9563453

Naw pham just niggas doing nig things

>>9563400

Of course he won a Nobel, the whole moral of the story is that whitey's time is past and he has no reason to exist except to provide reparations for muh apartheid in the form of wives and daughters

>>9562844
People like Crime and Punishment though

>>9562681

The only "disgrace" here is the ones who were so confident with their little games that they handed over their power and are now paying up.

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>>9563427

>The Africans were represented as beastly or passive

Maybe, just maybe, someone who grew up in South Africa and lived there for most of his life knows more about Africans than you.

>>9562681
I'm from South Africa. I read this in university when I minored in English. I have literally never hated a book or characters as much as this.

>white professor guy bangs qt coloured girl
>girl screws him over, he loses job because he doesn't apologize for consenting sex
>goes to live with dyke daughter in a nightmarish wasteland in South Africa
>niggers, rednecks and mangy dogs everywhere
>could have been the inspiration for Mad Max or some shit
>daughter gets culturally enriched by a gang of BBC
>gets pregnant (and AIDS I think)
>father gets set on fire, attacked
>all the dogs, the only sympathetic creatures in the whole book, are slaughtered by barely evolved rapists
>father now redpilled, decides to fuck up the chimps responsible for plowing his daughter
>leftist cuck daughter goes full SJW, defends chimps and keeps the baby, willingly marries boss chimp
>she is so cucked she also gives her farm to boss chimp
>father has sex with old fat woman who smells of cat piss from working as a vet
>spends the rest of the time playing a banjo and selling vegetables while his daughter gets regularly wrecked by BBC

>>9562844
You're absolutely right. I don't give a flying fuck how good the prose or pacing or whatever is. If you don't even care or respect the characters in any way it becomes impossible to read or care.

>>9563378
>>9563388
>>9562739
>>9563480
Pretty accurate assessment actually.

>>9562681
I enjoyed it. It reminded me of Lolita at times, both in his affair with the student and in the prose style. The stuff about Byron was very interesting. I agree with other anon that it seemed... A bit racist, maybe? I'd have to reread it, but it struck me that way.

>>9563754

kekaroni$ nice summary

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>>9563839

No, NO SHUT UP U STUPID U POOR. U CRIMINAL I SPIT ON U DRISGRSCE TO FAMILY. WE NOT COMMIT CRIME ARE RESPECT FAMILY ROOTS AND ARISTOCRACY. U FOREIGN SCUM U HARM ENTIRE SYSTEM U GO NOW.

>>9562879
Waiting for the Barbarians is 10x better imo. This certainly delivers the feels though.

>>9563400
>I wasn't too cool with the rampant racism.

http://www.genocidewatch.org/southafrica.html
Fucking go back

>>9563754
So you're saying the novel is an allegory about South Africa?

>>9562844
>>9562681
Are you a woman?

fucking kek

>muh nobel prize

Author even looks like a dindu apologist.

>>9564183
Probably. I don't know or care. I fucked up the assignment, got like 20% for it.

>>9564188

Who wants to read about dirty depressing people getting their shit ruined

http://www.latimes.com/world/great-reads/la-fg-c1-south-africa-white-privilege-20151211-story.html

>It took her five years to recover. Ask her whether she's happy in her small house with her chaotic mob of dogs, and she shrugs, not quite sure.

>But at least she knows she'll never be the white madam again.

>After the men were caught, there was a police lineup. They were jailed for life. She didn't feel relieved or victorious, but sad.

>"I think about how what drew us together that night was a shared humanity, a spark of something we recognized and respected in one another despite the fact that we were meant to be adversaries," she said.

>But mainly, she felt grateful to them, "for holding up a mirror to my soul and showing me the person I no longer wanted to be."

Literally the protagonist's daughter irl

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>>9563754
>>9563480
It's a book about animal ethics, you plebs. All that cultural shit is allegory for the human/animal binary.

>>9564715
>It's a book about animal ethics

You mean black morals?

>>9564663
LITERALLY "I got raped by niggers but liked it"

>>9564761

Worst part is she's raising her daughter to think the same way and the father is a total cuck

>>9564761

Sounds like The Vagina Monologues Part 2: Electric Jiggaboo

>>9563427
Maybe, just maybe, he wasn´t trying to stand in the middle ground and don´t support any race in particular. Both black and white have despicable characters.
>And their motivations were represented as stereotypes.
How? Are you denying the white slaughter that came after the apartheid ended? They did things like that or worst in real life. Coatzee didn´t imagined it
The idea that writers should create characters one way or another really gets on my nerves

>>9563286
Wow. you read Tristram Shandy? You must be a really smart guy, please tell us all about how you identify with the character.