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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.
pradha's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
heatherd's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I don't understand what makes this novel a prize winning book. I'm sure there book is full of metaphor and deeper meaning than what I could understand, but it really didn't work for me. Michael's journey is long, arduous, and truly boring, and I almost gave up in the first 20 pages. There were some sections in the middle that held my interest, but by the time I got halfway through the novel, I was just reading to finish it. I can see the beauty of Coetzee's writing but overall this was a disappointment for me.
sentencesiloved's review against another edition
3.0
pretty meh for me. went through the whole of part one, it was okay (?) I thought the second part will bring something new to it and it did for a period but that watered down my interest way below. Skimmed through the last 20 pages.
astridseijas's review against another edition
5.0
Ni sirviente ni mendigo. Jardinero.
Este libro narra la odisea de un ser humano por preservar su libertad y su dignidad. Michael K. termina convirtiéndose prácticamente en un insecto, con tal de no tener que ser el sirviente de ningún amo, un insecto palo que se alimenta sólo de lo que la tierra le proporciona a cambio de su trabajo como jardinero, pero que ha conservado su dignidad. No desea ser objeto de la caridad de nadie.
La guerra es terrible, así como el sufrimiento y la deshumanización de los desplazados. La caridad puede llegar a ser muy hipócrita. La historia es muy triste, pero tiene su contrapunto en esos momentos de fugaz felicidad que vive el protagonista, consolándose con los regalos más simples que proporciona la naturaleza.
La moraleja quizás sea que para ser felices necesitamos ejercitar más el desapego, especialmente a todo lo que no es esencial, y que no hay impedimentos físicos o psíquicos que nos puedan despojar de nuestra dignidad.
Este libro narra la odisea de un ser humano por preservar su libertad y su dignidad. Michael K. termina convirtiéndose prácticamente en un insecto, con tal de no tener que ser el sirviente de ningún amo, un insecto palo que se alimenta sólo de lo que la tierra le proporciona a cambio de su trabajo como jardinero, pero que ha conservado su dignidad. No desea ser objeto de la caridad de nadie.
La guerra es terrible, así como el sufrimiento y la deshumanización de los desplazados. La caridad puede llegar a ser muy hipócrita. La historia es muy triste, pero tiene su contrapunto en esos momentos de fugaz felicidad que vive el protagonista, consolándose con los regalos más simples que proporciona la naturaleza.
La moraleja quizás sea que para ser felices necesitamos ejercitar más el desapego, especialmente a todo lo que no es esencial, y que no hay impedimentos físicos o psíquicos que nos puedan despojar de nuestra dignidad.
bupdaddy's review
2.0
This is amazing? It's OK, I guess, but I don't get what blows people away.
Michael K's an interesting guy who is clearly a symbol for being one with the earth, and with animal nature, and in fact seems to be almost cold-blooded, and society can't leave him alone. He's happy when he's away from society, and he makes an interesting thought experiment about what freedom really is. Fair enough, I'll say you've got a book topic there. But then we get a minor character in the story spending about 5 pages near the end of the book TELLING us everything instead of showing, and then we get these oddball characters at the end. When a book, to achieve its English-lit teacher quota of morals and themes and metaphor, gives up some humanity in the characters or story, well, that book's in trouble with bup.
My son still has to read this sometime this year. And he'll have to buy into all the symbolism and pretend to like the book. Poor kid.
Michael K's an interesting guy who is clearly a symbol for being one with the earth, and with animal nature, and in fact seems to be almost cold-blooded, and society can't leave him alone. He's happy when he's away from society, and he makes an interesting thought experiment about what freedom really is. Fair enough, I'll say you've got a book topic there. But then we get a minor character in the story spending about 5 pages near the end of the book TELLING us everything instead of showing, and then we get these oddball characters at the end. When a book, to achieve its English-lit teacher quota of morals and themes and metaphor, gives up some humanity in the characters or story, well, that book's in trouble with bup.
My son still has to read this sometime this year. And he'll have to buy into all the symbolism and pretend to like the book. Poor kid.
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
South African Nobel Laureate Coetzee offers a bleak tale of a man traveling with his mother through an unnamed war-torn landscape. It’s no accident that “Michael K” has Kafkaesque echoes. With his hair-lip & awkwardness, he’s deemed simple-minded by a society that isn’t about anything other than cruelty. We never learn if characters are black or white or what they’re fighting for. A demanding little book about a solitary figure struggling to claw out a grain of dignity. “It is not hard to live a life that consists merely of passing time.” Maybe, but it’s hard to read about one.
yaaurens's review
Although it took me a while to get into this book, I eventually devoured it with a voracity that Michael K never showed his food. I loved the parts about K's garden - the tenderness he shows his children reminds me of my own garden. I'm still pondering this book, so I haven't much to say about it yet.