Why people recommend it
Disgrace is a critically acclaimed novel by South African author J. M. Coetzee that examines themes of power, post-apartheid society, morality, and individual culpability. On The Book Review podcast during the episode American Apartheid, released on July 18, 2024, John Williams talked about spending a significant part of his day sitting in a park reading the novel, noting that it was a book he had intended to read for a long time. In a separate episode from the same date titled Susan Orlean on a Great Library Fire, Greg Coles brought up Coetzee's novel while discussing another literary work by Jenny Erpenbeck. Coles observed that Erpenbeck's book reminded him strongly of Disgrace because both narratives share a remarkable structural and thematic similarity. Specifically, he explained that like Coetzee's work, Erpenbeck's book takes a focused individual story and cracks it open to reveal sweeping historical and political realities. Through these discussions, the podcast contributors underscored the enduring literary power of Coetzee's novel as a vital touchstone for examining how literature handles large-scale historical trauma through personal narratives.
Who recommended it
- John Williams Discussed
- Greg Coles Discussed
John Williams — 1 mention
“I just kind of sat in the park most of the day and read was um JM cat's disgrace which I've been meaning to read for a long time”
Greg Coles — 1 mention
“um I mean it it actually reminds me a lot of kota's book disgrace because like that book it takes this individual story and cracks it open to be kind of about history and politics”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Antifragile
- Blood at the Root
- Blood at the Root - A Racial Cleansing in America
- Death by video game
- Hero of the empire
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“and I read it in close conjunction with reading the only Jam cuta book that I've ever read disgrace”