On Thursday night in Sherman Function Hall, J. M. Coetzee, two-time winner of the Booker Prize, read from his most recent book, "Youth," and from one of his previous books, "Disgrace." Coetzee has written more than eight novels including "Age of Iron," "Boyhood," "Giving Offense" and "Stranger Shores." Coetzee, a tall, skinny man, was physically unassuming. But, when he began reading from his book "Disgrace," an intense silence filled the room. He was not loud-spoken, but his words carried to the back of the room.

The sexual overtones of Coetzee's wriing were pervasive from the first chapter. Coetzee's art consists of discussing sexual frustration and depicting the stresses of everyday life in a highly erotic manner. In his first chapter, Coetzee describes an explicit sex scene between a man and a whore. Instead of glorifying the passion and bliss of sexual intercourse, Coetzee's words and reading were unattached and unemotional, representing the apathetic way in which many people today view life. Although the words Coetzee read were simply the character's thoughts, the prose was much more complex than one might think.

The thoughts that go through the character's head, how he describes things, and the tone of Coetzee's voice, almost made me believe I was watching the movie "American Psycho," but without that creepy feeling Christian Bale gave me. People in the audience listened intently for the first half hour of the reading, very interested in the character's thoughts. The audience lsughed at certain sections in the book and learned one of life's lessons - "Follow your temperament."

During the second half of the reading, Coetzee read from his most recent book, "Youth." In this book, the audience was taken into the life of a 24-year-old computer programmer, looking back to when he was 18 and wanted to be a poet. The chapter Coetzee read also contained explicitly descriptive erotic scenes, yet the author remained monotonous. Coetzee's lack of expressive emotion might have been the best way to represnt the lackluster character, but it made the reading mundane and monotonous.

As the reading continued, many members of the audience became impatient and restless. Despite the brilliance of his work, Coetzee is obviously not a speaker. His lack of emotion in both his readings made one wonder how such amazing work could come from a person who could not verbally express himself with the same level of intensity. Unfortunately, despite the great pieces he has obviously produced, his lack of enthusiasm and emotion is not exactly the impression one should make to encourage people to read one's work.

Coetzee has written some great books. As his character in "Youth" says, "All that matters is doing the right thing, whether for the right reason, the wrong reason, or no reason at all." Coetzee did the right thing by writing his books and getting his thoughts down on paper and out into the world. His presentation of his work, although perhaps not effective, in no way takes away from this man's artistic genius.