David Lurie is a white South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own daughter.

He is twice-divorced and dissatisfied with his job as a 'communications' lecturer, teaching a class in romantic literature at a technical university in Cape Town in post-apartheid South Africa.

His "disgrace" comes when he seduces one of his more vulnerable students, a girl named Melanie Isaacs, grooming her with alcohol and other actions that arguably amount to rape.

This affair is thereafter revealed to the school, amidst a climate of condemnation for his allegedly predatory acts, and a committee is convened to pass judgement on his actions.

David refuses to read Melanie's statement, defend himself, or apologize in any sincere form and so is forced to resign from his post.

Dismissed from his teaching position, he takes refuge on his lesbian daughter Lucy's farm in the Eastern Cape.

Three men, who claim to need Lucy's phone to call for aid for a sick relative, force their way into the farmhouse.

To David's relief, newspapers spell Lurie's name inaccurately ("Lourie"), meaning nothing will tie his disgraced academic persona to the news story describing the attack on his daughter's farm.

He attempts to attend a theatre performance starring Melanie, but is harassed into leaving by the same boyfriend who had earlier threatened him.

[4][5][6][7][8][9] The Guardian gave the novel an average rating of 7.3 out of 10 based on reviews from multiple British newspapers.

This characterization of violence by both the 'white' and the 'black' man parallels feelings in post-apartheid South Africa where evil does not belong to the 'other' alone.

By resisting the relegation of each group into positive and negative poles Coetzee portrays the whole range of human capabilities and emotions.

The novel takes its inspiration from South Africa's contemporary social and political conflict, and offers a bleak look at a country in transition.

His story is also local; he is a white South African male in a world where such men no longer hold the power they once did.

[23] Though the novel is sparse in style, it covers a number of topics: personal shame, the subjugation of women, a changing country, and romantic poetry and its allegory and symbolism.

Although Lurie teaches communications at Cape Town Technical University and is a scholar of poetry, language often fails him.