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Simón, Inés
and Davíd had to flee and now come to Estrella where they hide among fruit
pickers. Quickly it becomes obvious that Davíd is not an ordinary child, he
asks a lot of questions and at the same time his view of the world cannot
really be understood. When he is enrolled in the Academy of Dance – public schools
are no option for obvious reasons – he feels comfortable and at home. The
school’s strange philosophy seems to give him everything he needs and dancing
becomes a new passion for him. For Simón and Inés this is difficult to
understand and with the child’s gradual alienation they also find it more and
more difficult to agree with each other.
J.M.
Coetzee’s novel was nominated on the 2016 longlist for the Man Booker Prize.
Normally, this is an indicator for me to read and book and I was never
disappointed. However, this time the novel really had me despaired. First of
all, I could hardly orientate in the novel. Where are we? And when? At least
approximately. As I figured out in the meantime, there is another novel by
Coetzee called “Childhood of Jesus” which might give some explanation to that.
Second, most of the book is about the academy’s philosophy – and this was
completely lost to me. Even more than to the protagonist Simón who also does
not understand the least of what the teachers try to explain. Thirdly, which is
closely linked to my first point, the family relationships were all but clear
to me, this might be due to the fact that there is a first book in the series
that I was not aware of.
Leaving
aside the unease while reading, what does this text qualify for the Man Booker
Prize nomination? It raises some questions which are definitely worth asking:
who am I? What defines me? Which role do the family and the surrounding play in
constructing me? Additionally, we have complex inner and out of family
relationships which develop, intensify and loosen in the course of the story.
The way especially Simón and Davíd not only interact but also react and define
themselves through the other are quite interesting to observe.
All in all,
I guess a lot of the story was lost to me. Unfortunately, there was too much I
was wondering about to really enjoy it.
