#35: Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee

I am beginning to learn that it takes a small degree of will to read Coetzee. His writing seems to ask readers for full participation and yet he presents his opinions with such humility that appears the content shouldn’t be so difficult to grasp. This book is presented in three parts: personal political essays and the diaries of two separate protagonists. They can be read in tandem or apart, but I chose to read them as if it were a simultaneous stream of thought. It was this kind of back and forth motion that eventually brought the book together; the abstract political commentary versus the tension of strained relationships. And even though there are times when it all seems too much, there is a calming sense of realism that Coetzee seems to hit every single time.

In all, read it.