Dairy of a Bad Year is one of the latest works by Nobel Prize winning author John Maxwell Coetzee. This is a book that I personally wouldn't pick for myself since my tendency is to read books by non-living authors and to avoid books dealing with the "recent" political climate. Indeed I didn't pick this book for myself, this is simply the book I'm reading this month for my monthly English reading group in Milan.
The main character Señor C, is an aging (white) South African author, living in Australia. His latest project is to write a collection of short essays detailing his opinions about anything and everything. The book jacket will emphasis the essays are about the war on terror, The United States, and George W. Bush, but the character goes into many topics such as music, death, as well as photography and paedophilia. I can only assume terrorism is given emphasis to mislead perspective readers. Terrorism is the new hot topic!
Señor C soon meets a young Filipina woman by the name of Anya living in his apartment complex. He convinces her to help him with his essays by becoming his typist/ editor, all so that he can be close to her. This is basically the plot of the story but I feel like I'm misleading you because the "novel" (if you can call it a novel) is not really about that. The book works like a collection of essays intertwined with a short story to create a book. The story of Señor C and Anya is in no way capable of keeping a reader interested for 220+ pages. In the end it's the essays that keep you reading and after the first few you're pretty sure that they are just the opinions of the author and you start to wonder why Coetzee went to all the trouble of writing this book in the way he did if all he really wanted to do is talk. It probably would have been easier to call this book Diary of John Coetzee.
Did I like the "novel"? Well no, I didn't. I felt lied to, this isn't a novel this is John Coetzee. Was it interesting Well... yes I have to say it is. This is a book perfect for discussion, there is so much to agree and disagree about. I find myself constantly talking about this book with my husband. So I can't say that this is a terrible book, all I can really say is that this just isn't a novel. What happens to Señor C and Anya, in the end? Who cares. By the end I've almost totally forgotten that they are a part of the book. What has me captivated are the authors thoughts on thinking, on children, on water & fire, and even of boredom, which makes me think of how boring the beginning of this book actually is. But once you get past that, this is a book for thinkers, something that they can really get into.
A word of advice: Keep a dictionary (English, French, German, and Latin) handy as well as an encyclopaedia. I ended up with a few hours of research reading this books. Coetzee talks about a lot of interesting things and he references many historical figures and events. If you really want to enjoy this book, it's probably in your best interest to understand it as well.