The Schooldays of Jesus - Jesus Series #2
by J. M. Coetzee
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good (ex-library)/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 1925355780
- ISBN 13
- 9781925355789
- Seller
-
Traralgon, Victoria, Australia
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
The Text Publishing Company, Australia, 2016. First Edition. Hardcover. Good (ex-library)/Very Good. Hardcover. 274 pages. *** PUBLISHING DETAILS: The Text Publishing Company, Australia, 2016. First Edition. This is the first Australian edition. *** CONDITION: The book itself is in good (ex-library) condition and comes in very good dust jacket. More specifically: Text and spine/cover marked with Library stamps, in all other respects in very good condition throughout. Boards have no wear, rubbing or soiling. Edges of dust jacket have moderate bumping. . Dust jacket is protected in clear, plastic sleeve. Pages are lightly tanned. *** ABOUT THIS BOOK: David is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simon and Ines take care of him in their new town, Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog, Bolivar, to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon, and he should be at school. And so, with the guidance of the three sisters who own the farm where Simon and Ines work, David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky. But it's here, too, that he will make troubling discoveries about what grown-ups are capable of. In this mesmerizing allegorical tale, Coetzee deftly grapples with the big questions of growing up, of what it means to be a parent, the constant battle between intellect and emotion, and how we choose to live our lives. *** Quantity Available: 1. Category: Fiction; Historical; ISBN/EAN: 9781925355789. Inventory No: 24040234.. 9781925355789
Reviews
On Sep 18 2016, CloggieDownunder said:
"Passion can't be explained, it can only be experienced. More exactly, it has to be experienced from the inside before it can be understood from the outside"
The Schooldays of Jesus is the second book in the Jesus series by award-winning author, J.M.Coetzee. It follows on directly from The Childhood of Jesus and was longlisted for the2016 Man Booker Prize. David, Simon and Ines have left Novilla, perhaps as fugitives. In the town of Estrella, David and Ines find work on a farm until the harvest is over, while David spends the days with the children of other workers. Queries about David's schooling, now that he is almost seven, lead to his enrolment at the Academy of Dance, with tuition funded by the farm's owners.
The owner of the Academy of Dance teaches a philosophy with which Simon finds difficulty: the dances may be beautiful, but calling down numbers from the sky? The relationship that David forms with the Principal Attendant at the ground floor museum also concerns Simon, and he cannot deny feeling hurt by David's preference for the Academy's care over that of Ines and himself.
In this slightly bizarre, seemingly third-world and possibly post-apocalyptic setting, many of the characters are rather flat and passionless (although less so that in The Childhood of Jesus), often somewhat intriguing but not endearing: their strangeness allows Coetzee to explore their reactions and ideas. Coetzee uses both David's incessant questions and the encounters his characters have, in various scenarios, with officials, employers, a tutor, patrons, teachers, other parents and random strangers to philosophise about various aspects of life: identity, passion, the reliability of memories, kindness, meat eating, lust, culpability and the state of mind of the perpetrator, being in love, guilt, repentance, and forgiveness.
Readers may find allegory and deep meaning in the text (or perhaps not, as it never really becomes clear if there is any, and even readers who have read The Childhood of Jesus may be confused).The ending is, again, rather ambiguous and leaves scope for Coetzee to continue on this philosophical journey with the same characters in further books. At times surreal, often perplexing, this is another unique offering from Coetzee.
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Details
- Seller
- Manyhills Books (AU)
- Seller's Inventory #
- 24040234
- Title
- The Schooldays of Jesus - Jesus Series #2
- Author
- J. M. Coetzee
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good (ex-library)
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 1925355780
- ISBN 13
- 9781925355789
- Publisher
- The Text Publishing Company
- Place of Publication
- Australia
- Date Published
- 2016
- Keywords
- BZDB5 Fiction; The Schooldays of Jesus - Jesus Series #2
- Bookseller catalogs
- Historical; Fiction;
Terms of Sale
Manyhills Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Manyhills Books
Biblio member since 2009
Traralgon, Victoria
About Manyhills Books
Manyhills Book Store stocks New, Unread, Collectible and Used books.
Glossary
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- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Rubbing
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- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...