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savaging's review against another edition
5.0
Coetzee at his best, feeling out the reality of bodies amid the surreality of the State. This is the same foundational conflict he explores in [b:Waiting for the Barbarians|6194|Waiting for the Barbarians|J.M. Coetzee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1330879044l/6194._SX50_.jpg|1155689], but in this book we get to rest almost the entire time with the animal body of Michael K. K mostly doesn't worry about ideas, and that means when ideas come they are as rooted as a pumpkin vine. Like this one:
"He no longer found it so strange to think of the camp as a place where people were deposited to be forgotten. It no longer seemed an accident that the camp lay out of sight of the town on a road that led nowhere else. But he could not yet believe that the two young men on the guardhouse porch would sit and watch with equanimity, yawning, smoking, going indoors every now and again for a nap, while people were dying before their eyes. When people died they left bodies behind. Even people who died of starvation left bodies behind."
That's why I liked the first section best. The second section is Oops All Ideas (a Coetzee classic), this time going into the frenzied and muddled mind of a camp administrator, where we twist around with all his justifications and worries. The final section had some weird gender stuff (did Coetzee only figure out how to write women characters later in life?).
I can't figure out if it's messed up or brilliant that, in this novel of war and repression in South Africa, Coetzee never mentions race. Is this just the awkwardness of a white liberal? Is this a deliberate rejection of the linguistic short-cuts of modern discourse?
But in general, I loved this book for its indigestible Michael K and his unglamorous refusal of the logic of States.
"He no longer found it so strange to think of the camp as a place where people were deposited to be forgotten. It no longer seemed an accident that the camp lay out of sight of the town on a road that led nowhere else. But he could not yet believe that the two young men on the guardhouse porch would sit and watch with equanimity, yawning, smoking, going indoors every now and again for a nap, while people were dying before their eyes. When people died they left bodies behind. Even people who died of starvation left bodies behind."
That's why I liked the first section best. The second section is Oops All Ideas (a Coetzee classic), this time going into the frenzied and muddled mind of a camp administrator, where we twist around with all his justifications and worries. The final section had some weird gender stuff (did Coetzee only figure out how to write women characters later in life?).
I can't figure out if it's messed up or brilliant that, in this novel of war and repression in South Africa, Coetzee never mentions race. Is this just the awkwardness of a white liberal? Is this a deliberate rejection of the linguistic short-cuts of modern discourse?
But in general, I loved this book for its indigestible Michael K and his unglamorous refusal of the logic of States.
yasemin2's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Hikayenin sahici,ürkütücü ve sürükleyici tarafını bir kenara koyarsak sanırım bu kitabın bende kalacak bir diğer özelliği ritmi olacak, çünkü tam kıvamında. Coetzee, adeta bu kurguya özel altın oranı bulmuş ve Michael K.’nın hikâyesine seviye atlatmış. Tam da bu yüzden kitabı elimden düşürememe sebebim metinle muhteşem bir ahenk oluşturan ritmi oldu. Kapıldım rüzgarına, içinde kayboldum 🌸
P.s: Booker book club’ımızın Mayıs ayı kitabı olan bu güzel Coetzee eseriyle geçen ayki Yaşlı Kurtlar’ın yaralarını sarmış bulunuyoruz 😁
listensandy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ogollovesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
shiyryahh's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
henryspencer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
In this absurd novel, Michael K, wanders from place to place during a South African civil war. He is a perpetual outsider who is equally a figure of ridicule as well as of fascination for the people he meets.
Besides the obvious references to Kafka (bureaucracy stops Michael K getting a permit, things are sent to 'The Castle' for authorisation, he spends time perfecting his own 'burrow'), Coetzee also seems to draw on Dostoyevsky's child-like, Christ-figure of Prince Myshkin . In doing so, he has created a protagonist who similarly courts the readers pity, but never completely earns their affections.
For me, the novel also has strong echoes of Beckett's Molloy. Like Molloy, the first part largely focuses on Michael K's troubled and often-times oppressive relationship with his mother. In Beckett's novel the second part becomes an investigation, told in first person, by inspector Jacques Moran who is tasked to discover where Molloy is. In Michael K, an unnamed medical officer has an equally difficult task in discovering who Michael K is.
Besides the obvious references to Kafka (bureaucracy stops Michael K getting a permit, things are sent to 'The Castle' for authorisation, he spends time perfecting his own 'burrow'), Coetzee also seems to draw on Dostoyevsky's child-like, Christ-figure of Prince Myshkin . In doing so, he has created a protagonist who similarly courts the readers pity, but never completely earns their affections.
For me, the novel also has strong echoes of Beckett's Molloy. Like Molloy, the first part largely focuses on Michael K's troubled and often-times oppressive relationship with his mother. In Beckett's novel the second part becomes an investigation, told in first person, by inspector Jacques Moran who is tasked to discover where Molloy is. In Michael K, an unnamed medical officer has an equally difficult task in discovering who Michael K is.
yazzylicious's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
2.75
Not bad just okay
helena_handbasket's review against another edition
4.0
Set in South Africa, during the civil war, Life and Times of Michael K is the story of a man born without hope learning to be free.