Author Fiona Snyckers
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Lacuna by Fiona Snyckers (Pan Macmillan) .Lucy Lurie is deeply sunk in PTSD following a gang rape at her father’s farmhouse in the Western Cape. She soon becomes obsessed with the author John Coetzee, who has
made a name for himself by writing Disgrace, a celebrated novel that revolves around the
attack on her.
Lucy lives the life of a celibate hermit, making periodic forays into the outside world in her attempts to find and confront Coetzee. The Lucy of Coetzee’s fictional imaginings is a passive, peaceful creature, almost entirely lacking in agency. She is the lacuna inCoetzee’s novel – the missing piece of the puzzle.But Lucy Lurie is no one’s lacuna. Her attempts to claw back her life, her voice and heragency may be messy and misguided, but she won’t be silenced. Her rape is not ametaphor. This is her story.
made a name for himself by writing Disgrace, a celebrated novel that revolves around the
attack on her.
Lucy lives the life of a celibate hermit, making periodic forays into the outside world in her attempts to find and confront Coetzee. The Lucy of Coetzee’s fictional imaginings is a passive, peaceful creature, almost entirely lacking in agency. She is the lacuna inCoetzee’s novel – the missing piece of the puzzle.But Lucy Lurie is no one’s lacuna. Her attempts to claw back her life, her voice and heragency may be messy and misguided, but she won’t be silenced. Her rape is not ametaphor. This is her story.
