Book Reviews: Book Review of The Life and Times of Michael K, by J M Coetzee -- Blue Rectangle

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The Life and Times of Michael K

J M Coetzee

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The Life and Times of Michael K J M Coetzee “I read Life and Times of Michael K because I wanted some insight into South Africa. It's a fable that Coetzee means to apply to — many times and many places, he doesn't say — I mean he took pains to let us know that this could happen in a number of places other than Apartheid South Africa. The Life and Times of Michael K follows a young man who has a sort of cleft pallet. He's disfigured; and this has made him very shy; and he's been institutionalized for most of his life. He was rejected by his frail mother, but when she gets sick, he promises to take her to her birthplace in a remote part of South Africa. She dies on the way, and what happens that Michael is lost. He becomes like a leaf blown in the wind. This takes place during South Africa's war on its northern border, sort of a proxy war with the Soviets against Communist interests. The country's in chaos, and it's full of draft resisters and roving armies of looters and adventurers; and Michael is sort of an every man, and he is buffeted around by these forces. The story tells you and shows you what depression, what abject loneliness and depression really are like. Many of Coetzee's books — in fact, probably all of them — are very disturbing because he really gets to emotional bedrock. This book, Michael K, is kind of the beginning of Coetzee's thing with animal rights. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was in a crafty mood, or I wouldn't recommend it to a distressed or depressed person. It's a tremendously sad book. I give Life and Times of Michael K five stars.”