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Life & Times of Michael K
  
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Life & Times of Michael K (Hardcover)

by J.M. Coetzee (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Viking; Open market ed edition (1 Jan 1984)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0670427896
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670427895
  • Product Dimensions: 50.8 x 50.8 x 50.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,452,474 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Book Description

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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.


About the Author

JM Coetzee's work includes Waiting For The Barbarians; Life and Times of Michael K; Boyhood: Scenes From Provincial Life; Youth; and Disgrace which won the Booker Prize, making him the first author to have won it twice. In 2003 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Life & Times of Michael K
77% buy the item featured on this page:
Life & Times of Michael K 4.1 out of 5 stars (13)
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An unforgettable masterpiece., 30 May 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Life and Times of Michael K (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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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Michael K will stay with me forever, a ghostly book, 12 Dec 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Life and Times of Michael K (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.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful story, 11 April 2005
By Mikhail "mike" (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Life and Times of Michael K (Paperback)
Written at a time that Apartheid was still very strong, Coetzee gave a philosophical to life in that environment, which in this case is a surreal post-civil war South Africa with all the horrors that come with the aftermath of a civil war, especially an African civil war. However, Michael K. makes the effort to shield himself from the harshness of his environment by taking on a life of existential survival. In fact the lesson from this book applies to all environments or situations where society makes it difficult for a private person to live a personal life that is independent of the forces of the environment.

Other recommended reads: Disciples of Fortune, Disgrace, The usurper and Other Stories

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

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 4 months ago 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 16 months ago 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... Read more
Published 21 months ago 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 22 months ago 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 Jul 2007 by N. Beddoe

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Tragedy With Penetrating Light
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... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2004 by Garren Mulloy

2.0 out of 5 stars Sad life, sad times
Whilst appreciating the depth of the character that Coetzee had created in Michael K, I was still very dissapointed by the story. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars The hype of this novel outweighs the quality of the story
Although it is easy to appreciate the skill Coetzee has in creating such a character as Michael K who is an unknowingly almost tragic figure, and his abitlity to instill pathos... Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2003 by Kirsty

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but I preferred Disgrace
This is a very well-written book with an interesting story and a unique and memorable literary character in Michael K. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
I love this book and it's one of my favourite ever. It's beautifully written and portrays the harsh realities of South Africa wonderfully. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 1999

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