The Power of One: A Novel by Bryce Courtenay
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Book Reviews of The Power of One: A Novel
Book Review: The Power Of One
Summary: 5 Stars
The Power of One is a book of its own kind; it is unique in many ways. Bryce Courtenay seems to bind the reader to the character in an amazing way. Taking place in South Africa, a young boy named Peekay is only five when he is sent to an all Black Boarding school. Being the only white kid there he is immediately singled out as an outcast and constantly harassed and beaten.
The book continues to tell the story Peekay's life and how he grows up. He eventually comes under the influence of two men who become his mentors. One who is black man in prison named Geel Piet, who teaches him how to box, for it is Peekay's life long ambition to become Welterweight Champion of the world. The other man is a music professor named Doc, who has an obsession with cactuses and other plants. Doc becomes very close to Peekay and teaches him the importance of love and friendship. Its theses people that drive Peekay toward his dream of being boxing champion, they and give him the necessities to become a hero of the people of South Africa.
In the end the story tumbles to a terrible and bloody climax that will leave you feeling maybe a little disappointed because not every thing is resolved, but it is meant to be that way in order to keep it from being to cliché. Non-the less it is a refreshing and well-thought ending. If this book does not make your emotions stir and arouse the power of one in your self then it sure will make you want to try boxing.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good humor, beautiful characters and a good boxing match. I thoroughly enjoyed this book front to back. It seemed to help give me a better under standing of why life is the way it is.
Book Review: Very Excellent Read
Summary: 5 Stars
This was an excellent novel. And it was good on many levels. First, the protagonist, known as "Peekay" was interesting and inspirational, granted to a level a bit beyond believable. But he was still very easy to connect with. He began the novel with problems that were very real and we saw how these small events early is his life really had an effect on just about ever aspect on the rest of his life. This perhaps was one of my favorite aspects of the novel, just how well this was captured in the novel.
The effect of Peekay's various mentors in the novel were also interesting to witness. As each new mentor picks up on different aspects of his life and molds various aspects of his personality in different ways and for different reasons, he almost becomes a collage of the various people that helped him along the way.
The novel also really had the coming of age aspect working well for it. We see the protagonist at few different age groups, and the effect of his own growth and the effect of his mentors is really apparent when time is shifted a bit. There are also some very interesting observations about the world due to his lack of information. Like when he aspires to become a Jewish person when he grows up because of a few people that he met along the way, not understanding the aspect of religion.
Overall, this was an excellent novel. The only real negative in the novel, is that it is not realistic that a single person like Peekay would be lucky enough to meet the amount of amazing people and them all take such a passionate interest in helping him grow. But once you move on from that, it is a real pleasure to read.
Book Review: Ultimate Inspiration
Summary: 5 Stars
In our effort to experience the world as fully and deeply as any travelers can, my wife and I search out good story teller novelists in all the strange places we eventually voyage to. It was in preparation for a trip to South Africe that we discovered Courtenay's Power of One. His description of the hostility and tensions between the British community there and the Boers whom they fought and competed with for almost a century, as well as his vivid picture of an oppressed, almost hopeless black community held in virtual chains in the country in the latter half of the 20th century is marvelously drawn. The antagonisms among the groups involved is etched boldly in these pages.
At the same time, the book tells the tender tale of an unfortunate, struggling young English child who is victimized by circumstance and background partly as a result of the hostilities that surround him. The tenderness and love he ultimately receives from others who are are willing to surrender their personal needs and even their lives on his behalf makes this one of the most inspiring stories I have ever read as well as a wonderfully conceived novel. It is this powerless child who imagines the unlikely dream of becoming a boxing champion and the events which lead toward that possibility make it difficult to put the book down for even a moment. You will not only learn about a South Africa in torment but this book will touch your anger, your tears, and your vision of what is possible when there is sufficient humanity to make good thing happens.
Stanley C. Diamond, author of What's an American Doing Here?: Reflections on Travel in the Third World.
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
The Power of One is one of the best books I have ever read. It is about a boy growing up in South Africa during and after WWII. As a young boy, Peekay is tormented by the Boers at his 1st boarding school. At times, his child's perspective is extremely funny, ("Adolf Hitler had taken Poland, which I took to be a place somewhere in South Africa, like Zululand, but where the tribe of Po lived."). With the innocence of a child, he observes the prejuidice and racism prevalent in South African society at the time. It is at this time he first dons his "camoflage", to disguise his precocity and to blend in. As he grows up, he acquires a set of mentors, beginning with Hoopie, the train guard who takes Peekay under his wing for two days, and leaves him with the ambition to become "the welter-weight champion of the world" and the mantra, "First with the head, then with the heart." This mantra becomes Peekay's personal motto, his way through any challenge. With Doc, a German professor, he learns to think and to reason on his own, and with Geel Piet, a black convict, he learns the first steps to the art of boxing. The Power of One is more than a story about a boy with a dream. It is about the power of one; one person, one thought, one dream. It is about not being afraid to be the loner, the one on the sidelines, for then you are the only one who thinks for themself, and has their own personal sense of justice. This book transcends the typical themes of racisim, prejuidice and not belonging. It is about finding yourself, being yourself (more complicated than it seems, and fighting for yourselfBook Review: Magical
Summary: 5 Stars
This is quite simply a magical story. I bought the book after accidentally stumbling upon the film late one night on the BBC. (The film is watchable but quite obviously adapted for a very different audience.) Once I had started reading I couldn't put the book down, so compelling is the plot. It wraps love, happiness, fear, suspense and death up into one bundle and can be deeply profound in places. I found myself crying time and again, sometimes with sadness, sometimes with joy, suffering and winning along with Peekay. The descriptive writing allows the reader to be completely drawn in and to feel part of the setting whether that be a small mountain village, an English boarding school, a boxing ring or a Rhodesian mine. I do agree with previous reviewers that Peekay is positively perfect in every way but if they wish to see him exhibit a few human flaws then they should read the sequel, 'Tandia', which I strongly recommend and don't feel is weak as is the won't of many follow up books. As for the criticism that the book presents all Boers as racists, I felt that it was more a case of many Boers being shown to turn a blind eye (as in the case of Gert and Captain Smit.) This theme becomes increasingly prominent in the sequel and I feel is reasonably accurate. Surely this is how a dictatorship flourishes. I think that this would be a great book for older schoolchildren and I note that many American students came across the book this way. However, I feel that because the book deals with some adult issues it will be avoided by schools in Britain and it is a shame that many kids will miss out as a result.