Juan's Diary

Diary of a Bad Year - J.M. Coetzee

Out of all the books I've read so far this semester, I think Coetzee's really hits the spot for me. When you first pick up the book and flick through it, you'll immediately realise that the structure of the book is quite different as most pages are split into two or three parts. Coetzee's clever but foreign use of two (and later on, three) simultaneous narratives is initially difficult to read but in my opinion, reflects identically the reality of life, which then makes it worth the difficulty. The reality is, everyone's interpreting the events in their lives through their own perspectives without knowing the thoughts of others unless consulted, and Coetzee's technique really accentuates this.

The novel is split into two sections, Strong Opinions and Second Diary. Strong Opinions are a collection of thoughts which the main character, J.C. or Juan, an aging intellect of great credentials, has written to be sent to a German editor for publication. The Second Diary however, are simply "soft opinions" in the words of the female protagonist, a Filipina woman named Anya. The latter part of the book are essentially thoughts which didn't make it into the publication. What is interesting through this structure is we see Juan develop through the three different narratives within the two sections; firstly, through his gradually altered undertones in his 'official' submissions for publishing (which leads him to write his 'Second Diary'), his own personal reflections on how he views himself and also how he views others, and Anya's understanding of their interactions.

There is no real 'strategy' to reading this novel despite its complicated structure. Personally, I read each narrative on each page at a time until the sentence was completed, which sometimes meant having to go over the page. Then, I would go back and read the second narrative and so on. However, other times, I would be so engaged in what is written that I'd stick to the narrative until the end of the 'opinion'. If there's a humble advice I could give to any interested readers, don't be bogged down by the unfamiliarity, don't go by a strict rule, just go with it.

The 'opinion' I personally enjoyed the most would have to be 'On the Afterlife', the only opinion which did not have two or three narratives, but simply Juan's submission. It is also the last opinion in the first section of the book, which I feel ties 'Strong Opinions' and 'Second Diary' together neatly. It is the most human writing of it all, as Juan poses all these questions which he cannot answer to himself- questions about life and death. 

"Will those who loved many enjoy a richer afterlife than those who loved few; or will our loved ones be defined as those we loved on our last day on earth, and them alone? In the latter case, will those of us who spent our last day in pain and terror and loneliness without the luxury of loving or being loved faced eternal solitude?" (p.153)

What beautifully crafted sentences; so dense but yet, so raw. And that, I feel is the satisfaction of reading this novel- that readers are privileged to see a cold, unemotional old man reveal his humanity by the end of the novel; fearing and having doubts over his life, like you and I.


For me, dear reader, I once feared the same things as J.C. but now fear no more. For I know, that when I pass this world, eternity has just begun and each day will be better than the past.