A well written book but I found it to be far too similar to the "Power of One". Would almost certainly have enjoyed it more if I had read it first. Still if you haven't read the "Power of One" and decide to Whitethorn I'm certain you will enjoy the read.

This book was excellent, although not as good as The Power of One. One of the frustrations was that the narrator begins as a 7 year old boy. He is a little unreliable because he either forgets important information (and fills in the blanks later) or he rambles on and on about unimportant things - but I guess that's how a 7 year old's mind works. My only other issue with this book was that the ending was very abrupt. Courtenoy builds you up for the ending and the climax takes place in one chapter and without any fanfare. The ending also seems like he got tired of writing and he ended the story (almost like a movie where all the loose ends are tied up in the last 5 minutes). It's a little disappointing because I got to the end of the book and turned the page expecting more and there was no more to read. I had to reread the last chapter because I wasn't quite sure how it ended.

I loved the characters in this book. Great read if you are looking for something to get lost in.

It was only Bryce Courtenay's death which led me to read this book - the first of his works I have ever tried. Reading his obituary in the Times I was surprised I had never heard of him and wanted to make up for that deficiency.
I'm so glad I did. Whitethorn is a sweeping work which deals with many of the issues of today, set in the recent past of South Africa and Kenya. It's a doorstop of a volume - it could easily have been two or three books - and so it's taken me 3 weeks to find enough time to complete it. But I have found it compulsive reading - picking it up at any opportunity.
In some respects Courtenay is an African Dickens - his main character grows up from a bullied orphan in a hideous Afrikaans institution to being a Rhodes scholar at Oxford. His journey is mostly in 50s and 60s South Africa, but also in Kenya's Mau Mau uprising.

A great read. It is a bit far fetched but leave your brain in mid gear and you will enjoy it.

Whitethorne is passionate, demanding and unputdownable.
Tom Fitzsaxby is an orphan. It is 1939 and the eve of World War II. Some Afrikaners believe Hitler will liberate South Africa.
Tom is six years old and has an English name. He is open to abuse from the Afrikaans staff at the orphanage. Tom’s only friend is Mattress, known as the pig boy.
The boys work together to hide his beloved puppy, Tinker. After Mattress is murdered, Tom promises that will avenge his friend.
A teacher visiting the town tutors Tom in English. He eventually wins a full scholarship to an excellent school. Tom achieves his goal, avenges Mattress's death. He also fallis in love love, finds friends along the way.

Pretty much a re-hash of Power of One. There are plot and character elements which are so similar it's ridiculous - growing up as the lone English boy in an aggressive Afrikaner community, boxing, a murdered black friend, becoming a lawyer and so on.

I fell in love with Bryce Courtenay over 20 years ago with his first novel The Power of One, he will always be one of my most favourite Authors.

I can't even find the words to describe how excellent his command of the English language is, to be able to engross me so much in his writing and storytelling. I just love all of his books.

This was a book I listened to on audio and it was told by the amazing Humphrey Bower. His dulcet tones only enhance the story, so much so, I find I am missing him when I have finished the book.

This is an amazing book.

This is a wonderful book. It’s the story of a boy’s life from five years old to thirty-something. From the orphanage to a first-rate education to a career of his choosing, Tom Fitzsaxby somehow lands on his feet innumerable times and ways. He lived in an environment as a child where lying was surviving. Something in him always saw truth with such clarity. Because of his capacity for caring and loving, addressing the injustices he witnessed became his life’s work. His capacity for acceptance is stellar and yet he lets you be privy to the less than stellar motivation behind some of his behaviors.

Bryce Courtenay is a world class storyteller with a style not unlike a verbal storyteller. His characters may be complex, but his focus on his story keeps them clear.

If you like your history and sociology dished up with “10 different (delicious) toppings” then this is a wonderful way to meet South Africa, Kenya, Rhodesia and other points beneath the Southern cross. This book, for me, deserves more than only the five stars I was able to award it.

Bryce Courtenay has once again managed to immerse the reader in the real life drama of history and social injustice without becoming biased, political or preachy. It is the plot and characters of his narrative that tear into the very soul of his reader. Readers feel the injustices, cruelty and pain of the dysfunctional aspects of society. The story is more than a journey into the history of Kenya and South Africa, but more of an immersion into the lives of his characters in those settings. There are no accusations or apologies, but simply a narrative that takes the reader deep into the lives of THE PEOPLE. Along the way there is pain and suffering, but it is laced with heavy doses of hope and fulfillment. For those of us who lived through these times and places it is like a journey into your own past, sometimes almost too much to bear. For readers who may not have had these experiences it is an eye opener into the realities of history and prejudice and an opening of the mind.

I absolutely loved this book! This was the first Bruce Courtney book I have ever read and boy am I impressed at the way Courtney paints the picture of the time and the landscape and the experiences of different people as if you were there and as if you were the character yourself. I loved how the deep racism and political issues of Africa were depicted to us through the innocent eyes of a child. And with that child being white, it reminds us how deeply rooted prejudice and racial resentment can be to the point that it affects and marks a child, the symbol of innocence, for life. I loved how Courtney tracked the common stages of life from childhood right through to late adulthood and the typical sentimental phases every human goes through as if to emphasise that no matter what you look like, we all have the same human stages and phases of growth and life (we all desire love, acceptance, etc). In particular, I loved the use of motifs and repeated reference to things from Tom’s childhood that were meaningful things to who he sees his real identity to be (ie. the red book, Tinker, Mattress, the people from his childhood, etc). I loved how he emphasised Toms childhood more than the rest of his adult life which he briefly skipped over as if to convey how significant our experiences as a child shape who we become. I also loved how satisfying the ending was and it traced right back to the beginning with Mattress’s mysterious death to top the theme of racism and the hope of a new future for Africa off! So I definitely recommend this book - very engaging and very important!!

Can't believe I'm quitting half way through, but I'm just too bored to continue. It felt like a rough draft of The Power of One. Worse, it overexploited the theme of injustice to the point that it started to feel like a series of short stories on mean people. There was, surprise surprise, the story of the noble black guy whose heroism and selflessness gets completely flipped on him. Then there are all the really mean people at the orphanage who just love to take Tom's things and trample on his basic human rights. It was like Courtenay had one trick, and played it over and over and over. Not to mention, the boy is a wunderkind (yawn), yet is so sweet and naive all the time that it sounds like he's never read a book in his life.

Life's too short to give another 12 hours to find out what mean things happen next on Tom's way to self actualisation.

Humphrey Bower though is the best narrator in the world.