Life and Times of Michael K is a novel set in a South Africa torn by civil war. Michael K is a simple, quiet gardener with a harelip, who sets out to take his ailing mother from Cape Town back to the countryside where she grew up. Roadblocks, permits and soldiers make the journey hard.
Alone, Michael tries to live as unnoticed as he can, wishing only to grow food and be left in peace. Authorities and camps keep intruding on him. The book is a tender and stark study of freedom, survival and a person who resists being claimed by any cause. It won the Booker Prize.