Upon the completion of pages 47-105 I found that I was happy about David Lurie going to stay with his daughter. Although his superficial ways arose when he first got there, here is the first time we see Lurie as human. Lucy appears relatively accepting of her father’s affair with a student and offers him “refuge”. However, when Lurie first sees his daughter, the first think he notices is that she has gained weight and makes a living from selling produce and flowers. We also learn that Lucy has a girlfriend (Helen) which David fixates on for about a paragraph (once again forever lost in his superficial thoughts). Although they exhibit many differences it seems that they are able to live harmoniously. However, when both Lucy and Lurie experience an intrusion, the differences become crystal clear. The incident that has occurred seems to hold a sort of power. The nature of each incident (or better yet crime) that they have suffered separates them in that Lucy (having been raped) does not want to tell the cops about it–”David, when people ask, would you mind keeping to your own story, to what happened to you? You tell what happened to you, I tell what happened to me….” This suggests that they aren’t on the same side as each other, therefore dividing them. However, Lucy’s decision to not report the rape is crazy (to me) but pertinent in that she understands the judicial system (like David) and knows that the men will not be persecuted for their crime. This seems familiar to me in the case of David’s “situation” in that he could never produce an adequate confession to the vice rector. Here is where Lucy is similar to her father in that they both possess knowledge of the judicial system . However, under the system where Lucy lives, the exposure to this system is very different in nature: Lurie is the rapist and Lucy is a rape victim. This crime placed Lurie in a heroic position, but also allowed him to focus on the situation at hand instead of filtering it through his head in how it should have happened. Given the brutality of the crime, I don’t even think it was possible for Lurie to transform it.
It is the reality that he needed to take him out of his fanatical filtered world!
I am LOVING this novel 
So real. So authentic.
I am surprised to read that you are loving this novel, as it is not the reaction most people have to the book when they first read it. I do not know that I would call Lurie changed yet, just from his experiences thus far. (Although I am a person who believes that even to the end he is a stagnant character with very little redeeming qualities). He is still “not getting it” as far as being a supportive father and friend to his daughter. In my opinion, he is still in “la-la land” or as you put it, a “fanatical filtered world.” Also, I don’t think it is quite fair to put Lurie on the same level as Lucy’s rapists. The rape of Lucy was violent and personal, whereas the rape of Melanie was as Lurie puts it “the act of Eros”. I agree that Melanie’s decision not to go to the police was a crazy idea. The fact that she did not angered me so greatly. I stopped reading the book at this point because I was so annoyed. I hate what happens in the novel on the whole.
Comment by Candace — October 27, 2009 @ 12:52 pm |
yeah,i kind of agree with candace about anyone really liking the book,but then everyone is a critic -right?!.Anyway, i also agree with the fact that both characters (Lurie and lucy) experiences are different as well.What happened to lucy clearly was rape and as far as iam concerned so is what happened to melanie too.David ,however does not seem to think that he actually raped melanie.That is probabaly the reason he wouldn’t cooperate with the school board “jury” .To David, what he and melanie had was a consenting ,mutual relationship and he would rather keep it that way and not talk about it to the school board disciplinary committee.Judging from his actions however, i beg to differ.
Comment by chichi mbila — October 29, 2009 @ 4:06 am |
I too am surprised that you like the novel. However, I do like your point of view about how Lucy and David are in someway similar, but I agree with Candace that it’s not fair to compare the two in the matter of rape. Melanie, to me, seems undecided in what she wants. It’s unclear if she feels compelled to sleep with Lurie because of his position and age, or if she manipulates the situation to gain a grade. Lucy clearly didn’t want anything to do with the intruders and her rape was more than violent. I do believe that this tragic incident did “wake” Lurie up a bit. Lucy’s hesitation to tell anybody about the rape is in question and I’m not sure I would go as far as saying that she knows the judicial system. I would classify it more under, she’s afraid, she’s embarrased, she’s ashamed, and doesn’t really want to relive it by retelling it. This angered the most about Lucy.
Comment by Ana — October 29, 2009 @ 4:26 am |
I agree with most of your opinions; your saying is that Lucy and David are in similar somehow eventually. But I also think that David does not care about disgraceful behaviors and activities, while Lucy, his daughter, is hatred of being recognized as a disgrace, hesitating her raped life. So, I am kind of know her feeling of her not telling her rape (disgrace) to anybody. Yeah, of course, she is ashamed of her life, and she wishes if these bad things had not happened to her.
Comment by Kei Ara — October 29, 2009 @ 5:35 am |