After two years of thinking about this novel after I wrote the review below, I have upgraded to five stars. It was that impactful for me.

The Power of One is a semi-auto biographical coming of age story set in South Africa during the 1940’s.

PK is an English boy who endures a great deal of abuse from the Boer children, some of whom are Nazi sympathizers until he is taught to box. He is an exceptional student who later befriends Doc, a German professor who is a great pianist but who is confined to the local prison for the duration of the war. The professor teaches PK many valuable life lessons including the piano but boxing and excelling at schoolwork remain his true passions.

This is a great novel for the first 2/3 of the book essentially covering the period when PK is age 5 to 12. PK is the ultimate underdog throughout the first half. He becomes a local boxing champion and always displays a great deal of humanity towards Zulus and seemingly anyone who is not part of the power structure in those awful conditions that made up Apartheid. Returning home from boarding school to live with his grandpa and mother, PK first meets and later visits Doc at the prison when he is incarcerated. PK knows three languages which is uncommon even for adults. With the help of the professor and Geel Piet, a Zulu prisoner with a huge heart, PK helps smuggle letters in and out of the local prison. Along with his boxing prowess he becomes a real hero to the prisoners. This does not escape the notice of some of the racist guards although they don’t suspect PK, one guard does suspect a clandestine activity. There are incidents that follow that are quite sad and I won’t spoil but rest assured the incidents are masterfully told.

The last 1/3 of the book covered PKs teenage years into young adulthood and for me were not as interesting. The child like innocence and wonder were gone after age twelve and the end of WWII. I think the story would have been perfect if he had ended there.

Bryce Courtenay, the author, was a truly gifted writer and there are some truly beautiful passages in this novel and many valuable life lessons.

I probably learned more about South Africa from this novel than any history book on Apartheid or the Boer War that I ever read.

“First with your head, then with your heart PK”

4.5 Stars.


The Power of One is a very long but breathtaking story with characters and moments which I will never forget. It is coming of age story; a wonderful journey through the life of Peekay, a boy growing up in South Africa from 1930 to 1951. The book takes the reader through his life until the time he goes off to University. On an individual and societal level the story is marked by great struggles to overcome injustices and stiff odds. At the same time it imparts a real sense of South Africa and the friction between its diverse peoples: Dutch Afrikaners, native Boers, a host of black tribes, and the English.

This was a fabulous read offering picture perfect descriptions of people and landscapes. I felt I was there in South Africa, viewing African landscapes, from the outsides of the rural town of Barberton, to the deserts, to the beauty of the city of Johannesburg. I was completely immersed in this story from beginning to end and I fell in love with some of the characters and hated others.

Peekay is exposed to his first experiences of hatred and prejudice when his mother suffers a mental breakdown and he is sent to boarding school. He is called a rooinek (“redneck”) which refers to him being an Englishman and his classmates bully him because they blame him for everything the English have done in South Africa. His years at the boarding school are violent and traumatic.

After Peekay leaves boarding school he meets several mentors and friends who will influence his life and mold him as a person. Even on his first train ride home from boarding school he meets his first mentor, Hoppie, an amateur boxer.

Hoppie is a kind man who sees that young Peekay is alone on a train so he takes him under his wing and they have a wonderful time together. I breathed a sigh of relief (I think I had a little PTSD too) that Hoppie treated Peekay with kindness after the years of abuse he endured in boarding school, not to mention the final abusive bullying by way of a goodbye present. During this train journey Hoppie brings Peekay to a boxing match in which he competes. Hoppie beats a much larger opponent and after watching this Peekay immediately develops a deep passion for boxing and decides he wants to become the welterweight champ of the world. In this pivotal scene Hoppie explains how he beat a man much larger than himself, "first with the head, and then with the heart.” Along with this mantra is the idea of the Power of One, the power that one has inside his or herself to achieve anything. Hoppie repeats the mantra to Peekay several times before the two separate and it becomes Peekay’s mantra for the rest of the novel.

After Hoppie, Peekay meets a German music teacher, cactus collector and lover of South Africa and it’s people. Doc, is a wonderfully endearing character with whom I fell in love; my favorite friend and mentor of Peekay’s. They have many adventures together and throughout they help each other with Doc often offering Peekay priceless and unique philosophical advice on life.

There are other mentors and friends but I will not describe them all but I promise that you will want to meet them. As for boxing, I have always hated it and any form of fighting so this was not an obvious novel for me to read. But I’m so glad that I did read it because although there are boxing matches this is not a boxing story but a story about a boy growing into a man with the right moral and personal compass and the experiences he has along the way. It's a novel that has lessons about courage, responsibility, friendship and independence. As Peekay said, “I learned that in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed.”

My only complaints are that at times Peekay's accomplishments strain credulity and that it sometimes felt like it could have used some editing.

I will end with my favorite scene in the book which is a piano performance by Doc of an original piece of music which he created and performed. This piece of music includes individual songs from each African tribe in the audience but in between these songs Doc weaves together lines of music from each tribal song into a harmonious whole of it’s own. I had goosebumps listening to the description of this concert.

I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator, Humphrey Bower, was amazing. He captures innumerable accents and voices and pronounces words native to Zulu, Africaans, German, Latin and English.

Do I recommend this book? Absodoodle, as Doc would say in his thick German accent while speaking English.

**Note: This was NOT the Young Readers Edition. I wish I would have known that there were two different versions...**
This book has a lot of good themes. Important themes--that's probably why it has such a high rating on goodreads and is on a gazillion "best book/must read" lists. It's filled with likeable, complex characters placed in impossible situations that display goodness, patience, resolve, kindness, and integrity. However... the "bad" characters and obstacles were too much for me. There is a lot of rough stuff. A LOT. I have no doubt that this is a realistic portrayal of WWII and post-WWII South Africa, but the language and violence (in many cases, stomach-turning) are severe enough that I can't think of very many people--if any--to whom I would recommend this book. If I could rate the overall story and message, it would definitely get 5 stars, but when you factor in all the "yuck," it gets one star.

*note to self* look for the "young readers edition!"

This was given to me quite a few years ago and has been sitting on the shelf waiting to be read. I would probably give it 4.5 stars, taking away that last bit for the ending & parts that slowed to a crawl. Overall, a surprising wonderful read full of life's lessons. I have underlined quite a few quotes in this one.

A coming of age story set in South Africa in the 30's & 40's. We follow Peekay from age 5 to 20, an English boy caught in a world of prejudice and racism. I loved that we see the people behind the ethnicity through his eyes. If I could describe him in one word, it would be resilient. He suffers losses throughout the book especially in his formative years and yet is able to take what he learned and turn it into a strength. His desire for knowledge is stoked by some incredible people he meets throughout his life, some for just a short time such as Hoppie who taught him the power of one and gave him a dream, to Doc who became a mentor for most of this time period. An "absoloodle" of a novel!

Excellent, superb and intellectually challenging.
I was impressed in different ways.
On Peekay his character development and self knowledge. From a boarding school 5 year old : facing daily physical brutality. That brought tears to my eyes. Even the 'matron' used a cane! His childhood friendship with the 'Doc' (really a Professor of Music) being the most influential on developing his intellect while giving him the most 'parental' love. His next boarding school experience, starting a few years later, was mostly shaped by friend Hyman. A youth who also had a complex character and sharp, curious intellect. Through this time Peekay's desire to be 'the welterweight champion of the world ' gained force.
The incredible cruelty of the social and political South African attitude to people of colour was brought out so clearly by Courtenay. A system which also brought out the worse in some white people also.
I have meet people over the years who have left South Africa to come to New Zealand. They, like Peekay, were people with no racist feelings. But who found living in South Africa to be a daily frightening experience.
This book appealed to me on many levels. Mostly the power of Courtenay's writing allowed me fully enter the minds of his character. Plus feel the horror of the 1940, 1950, South Africa political and social system: which also, I believe, handicapped the 'whites' too.
Unputdownable. Courtenay is now a top favourite author for me.

One of my top 5 favorites. Read this at the deeper/figuring your life out moments - it will give you strength and inspiration.

n  The power of one was based on the courage to remain separate, to think through to the truth, and not to be beguiled by convention or the plausible arguments of those who expect to maintain power.n

I love when I fall in love with a book that appears to be about a subject I don’t generally feel any enthusiasm for. In this case, that would be boxing. I watched a man named Kid Paret beaten senseless in a televised fight in 1962. He died a few days later. My father loved watching the fights, and we watched them frequently, but that is the only one I can remember in any detail. I remember my daddy saying “The ref needs to call this, he is killing him” and then the strange feeling that told me that was true. All of which is a roundabout way of saying I had reservations when I realized boxing was about to play a major part in this book’s plot.

Like so many books in which sports figure, this book isn’t about the sport at all. It is about the shaping of a boy. If you only view boxing as a “fight”, this book will give you some insight into why boxers are willing to take that beating or give it.

In teaching me independence of thought, they had given me the greatest gift an adult can give to a child besides love, and they had given me that also.

Peekay is an English South African, a child in the days just before World War II, and part of a country divided into the English, the Boers, and the black Africans. Peekay, because of circumstances, finds himself intimately involved with each of these groups, and with a marvelous German professor, known as Doc. And, because of this, the book becomes a story about racial injustice, overcoming adversity when the deck is stacked against you, finding your own place in the world, and having the power of one.

As Doc had pointed out, mystery, not logic, is what gives us hope and keeps us believing in a force greater than our own insignificance.

A reference that brought to mind perhaps my favorite book of all time, made me smile, when Peekay says, “Look, Doc, it’s like Merlin’s altar in the crystal cave!” I laughed and said to myself, this is really a book written for me.

There are moments of brilliance in this novel. It is a timely read, for much of it is about the bridges that can be built between races and the importance of recognizing individuals for who they are and for the wonder each of them brings to our lives.

Is this a good book? In the words of Doc, n  “Absoloodle!”n

A huge thank you to Bob, who has once again opened a new world for me in the pages of a great book.

My latest reread!

It is hard for me to find words to describe this book. I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the end, but that was only because of my desire to have it wrapped up and end with Peekay reaching his goal. But, that is not how life works and I think that is what Courtenay was getting at. I can't remember a book that I felt so invested in the character AND loved the writing. I also can't remember the last time I read a book that made me cry more than once. It was a beautiful coming of age tale that I was sad to see end and I can't stop thinking about it.

One sentence review: pretty solid high school book.


Multiple Sentence Review:
I kinda struggled with this book for awhile. This was the first modern novel I’ve read in a few years and wow do the writing styles change a lot from the 19th to the late 20th century. I’m not a huge fan of the writing style, so it put me at odds with the book immediately. Quick paragraphs barely 2 sentences long make me feel like I’m having an ADD attack. You may be able to describe a bunch of things, but it doesn’t pull you in. Shallow sentences and paragraphs make shallow story telling to me. That being said, playing in the shallow end of the pool can be kind of refreshing and relaxing, as long as you get acclimated to it. So, as the book progressed I ended up liking it more - maybe because I started reading it with a heavy Australian accent… (yes I know it’s a book about South Africa but the author is Australian and I really can’t be bothered to understand the difference so leave me alone)

The book is written from the first person perspective, with Peekay narrating (as an adult, looking back) and trusting the reader with his thoughts and feelings, as opposed to a detailed description of places and account of action. To be honest, his thoughts aren’t that interesting and I just overall didn’t really like him. I found the book to be at its best when showing the racism occurring in South Africa, and it honestly does a good job of this. The scene, towards the end of the book, with the police officer trying to shut down the night school best highlights this for me, as I got genuinely frustrated with the circumstances and the clear abuse of power.

The book does a good job of allowing you to navigate through the landscape of South Africa at a high level, but at the expense of not having a real main character. Peekay (or PK) is a ‘Marty Stu’ (male version of a Mary Sue), meaning he can go anywhere and basically do anything successfully – he’s free of any real weaknesses or flaws. He is put in different circumstances, not really because that’s what a real person (especially 5-18 year old boy) would do but because the story requires it, as it wants to expose you to as many of the different aspects of the world of 1940/50s South Africa as it can. Which, again to the authors credit, seems to have succeeded in doing for a younger audience, and to whom the book seems to be clearly aimed at. The multifaceted moods of South Africa are clearly captured in this book.

Supporting cast characters are bland, and pretty one dimensional, as their roles can be boiled down into a one sentence description. That being said, some of them fit into their roles very nicely, and I did like most of them – Doc the most.

The other theme, having ‘My destiny is in my own hands’ is fine I think for a younger audience in some regards, but I find this theme to always end up being shallow and a bit egotistical. From reading ‘A Man’s search for Meaning’ and ‘War & Peace’ I don’t really think highly of entertaining this theme anymore, to me it’s naive at best.


Quotes:
- Mediocrity is the best camouflage known to man
- The smile, Madame, is used by humans to hide the truth. The artist is only interested to reveal the truth.
- But sadness, like understanding, comes early in life for some. It is part of intelligence.

I've read this book three times and each time it's as good as the previous read, if not better. A semi-autobiographical novel, Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One is set in South Africa immediately before, during and after WWII. The novel's protagonist is Peekay - just Peekay - who is, in all respects, a remarkable young man. The story begins when Peekay is 5 years old and ends when he is 17, but the 12 years covered are formative; although we don't know what lies in store for Peekay by the end of the book, we know he will carry the experiences of his boyhood with him for the rest of his life.

Young Peekay is a white child of British heritage growing up in South Africa after the British absorbed the Boer republics into the British Empire in the early 1900s after winning the second Anglo-Boer War. The Boers, who speak Afrikaans, and the British, who speak English, spend a lot time looking down on each other, both both group look down on black South Africans, who speak many languages. Peekay learns to speak all the languages, which of course is symbolic of his uncommon ability to find a way to relate to and communicate effectively with so many other human beings throughout the book. He is treated horribly at times but somehow manages to meet some extraordinary people who help him in his endeavor to grow up. The rich character development is my favorite aspect of this novel.

This third time around I listened to the audiobook and it is a great listen. The narrator is excellent (even if his pace was a tad slow), and it was very helpful to hear all of the African and Boer names and vocabulary words pronounced properly. I recommend this book often, even to young adults since Peekay spends a good portion of the novel between the ages of 10 and 17, and even to men since there are very masculine themes, and it is universally admired. All my book clubs at the library just read it and loved it (despite being longer than a usual book club pick).

God help me, I'll never finish this book. I'm drowning in uninspired writing.

Ok, I finished it. This was truly one of the most laborious reads I've had in quite a while. Suffice it to say I thought I'd never climb my way out to read another book again in my life. The writing style isn't difficult--it's not that that made it painful to get through. It's just a terribly written book with terribly boring, stock characters who go around doing terribly improbable things that evoke not one ounce of feeling from me because I'm making "blah blah blah" noises. Sweet merciful Jesus.