In a South Africa torn by civil war, Michael K sets out to take his mother back to her rural home. On the way there she dies, leaving him alone in an anarchic world of brutal roving armies. Imprisoned, Michael is unable to bear confinement and escapes, determined to live with dignity. Life and Times of Michael K goes to the centre of human experience - the need for an interior, spiritual life, for some connections to the world in which we live, and for purity of vision. (20040603)
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A strong and memorable novel (Guardian )
It strikes deep inside the heart...The story is clean, clear, straight, the work of a mature imagination at full power...here is a book that will be celebrated for a long time (Mail on Sunday )
This is a trule astonishing novel... I finished Life & Times of Michael K in a state of elation, for all the misery and suffering it contains. I cannot recommend it highly enough (Evening Standard )
Beautifully written in a strong, plain, unpretentious style...distinguished by grim humour and powerful understatement (Sunday Express )
The quality of Coetzee's writing lies in his inner vision: dark, passionately compassionate, concerned with the nature of man (Financial Times )
It strikes deep inside the heart...The story is clean, clear, straight, the work of a mature imagination at full power...here is a book that will be celebrated for a long time (Mail on Sunday )
This is a trule astonishing novel... I finished Life & Times of Michael K in a state of elation, for all the misery and suffering it contains. I cannot recommend it highly enough (Evening Standard )
Beautifully written in a strong, plain, unpretentious style...distinguished by grim humour and powerful understatement (Sunday Express )
The quality of Coetzee's writing lies in his inner vision: dark, passionately compassionate, concerned with the nature of man (Financial Times )
Book Description
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2003 (20040603)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Michael K left me feeling on the one hand empty inside as though something had left me during the reading and on the other, elated. Wiser. On the surface it's a story of struggle but as you turn each page it slowly dawns that this struggle will never end. It's relentless. The forces against Michael K, a gardner, are too great and too many. In the end he takes his own route through an extrordianry maze of difficulties the best way he knows how until he is left at the end with everything intact, as though he never made the first step of this journey. We are left wondering, who is Michael K? We never discover what Michael K has to say or how he really feels, we must accept that we only know him by the hardships he encounters. The Life and Times of Michael K tells us more about ourselves than it does the characters in the book and this is the real essence of Coetzee's writing. Michael K will stay with me forever, a ghostly book that still haunts the mind.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel begins in a rather humdrum manner of everyday life in hardship. The hardship increases with the complexity of life, and it is the developing confusion of choices and the emerging landscape of morality that intensifies the hardship as much as the harsh physical and political environments.
The hardship can seem oppressive to the reader, particularly if you expect some of the more rounded colourings of Alan Paton or Doris Lessing's African works, but perseverance is more than worthwhile. The book can be divided into two main sections, each viewing the world from a distinct perspective: one black, one white. Neither is at ease, nor optimistic, yet, despite the air of oppressive hardship and misery, the ending is something quite unexpected, refreshing, and enlivening. It is too simple to refer to it as optimism or hope, simply a reversion to a simple universal truth.
This novel is both a classic of South Africa, and a classic novel of universal appeal. Despite its slimness it is one of the most moving works I have ever read, and perhaps particularly rare for being able to deal with the subject of a black man in apartheid South Africa without ever being a manifesto or sermon. It is simply a eulogy of humanity.
The hardship can seem oppressive to the reader, particularly if you expect some of the more rounded colourings of Alan Paton or Doris Lessing's African works, but perseverance is more than worthwhile. The book can be divided into two main sections, each viewing the world from a distinct perspective: one black, one white. Neither is at ease, nor optimistic, yet, despite the air of oppressive hardship and misery, the ending is something quite unexpected, refreshing, and enlivening. It is too simple to refer to it as optimism or hope, simply a reversion to a simple universal truth.
This novel is both a classic of South Africa, and a classic novel of universal appeal. Despite its slimness it is one of the most moving works I have ever read, and perhaps particularly rare for being able to deal with the subject of a black man in apartheid South Africa without ever being a manifesto or sermon. It is simply a eulogy of humanity.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
It has been a while that I have read anything as brave, honest and utterly compelling. Coetzee's insight into the struggle of life is quite humbling. Here the character wishes nothing more in life than to exist as a simple man living from the fruits of his labour. To enjoy life immersed in a simplicity which you or I can only read about. Through man's ignorance he is never granted this liberty.
I would recommend it a thousand times over - an unforgettable masterpiece for those who understand personal struggle. As I read the final words I dived straight back to the beginning.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy winner of the Booker
'Life and Times of Michael K' was the first of Coetzee's two Booker-winning novels. Published in 1983, it is set in a temporally unspecific South Africa that is sliding into civil... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Paul Bowes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary, Haunting and Bleak
Based against the backdrop of the final days of apartheid in South Africa and martial law, this is the story of Michael K. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Calypso
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dreary and depressing
If you liked Cormac McCarthy's The Road then you'll like this one. If not, don't bother. The main character is totally unconvincing, poorly described, the plot is dreary and... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2011 by Paul Mack
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting read
This is a very well written and insightful book that gives the reader plenty to think about. It was my first foray into the highly venerated Coetzee and I can see from this book... Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2010 by aus_books
3.0 out of 5 stars
Life and Times of the mind of Coetzee
`Life and Times of Michael K' is Coetzee vintage. One of the few books marking the milestones in the author's career... and I am not talking in terms of awards. Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2009 by Pankaj Saxena
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bleak and sparse but good writing
I was disappointed by this book because it was the first book I'd read by the author and I was aware that it had been much praised. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2009 by Phil O'Sofa
5.0 out of 5 stars
A revelation
Coetzee's writing style is typically lean, uncovoluted, and simple. This particular story is not long. The tone is direct. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2008 by Aesop
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad
I felt myself wavering through this book, sometimes I was fully engaged sometimes I wasn't. The story is essentially a narative of the central character Michael K, from living with... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2008 by Alex Ireland
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something brilliant from nothing
In a society in which a whole group of its citizens is accorded no value, what happens when one of them values himself even less? Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2008 by M. Harrison
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful writing.
I can't think of any other author who can write with the economy of Coetzee. With practically no imagery, he manages to convey a sense of emotion and place which is overwhelming. Read more
Published on 11 July 2007 by N. Beddoe
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