I don't usually review a book unless there is something about it that grips me more than usual. This one had a lot going for it, in spite of the information that repeated two or three times, which should never have got past the editor and likely would not have these days.

The ending nearly spoiled the entire story for me. The story and the boy, had one major goal that he was determined to reach for the entire novel, one that was repeated throughout no matter what happened to him. I would make a great deal of sense to me if, once a character changed and grew into something more than he had been in the beginning, that goal would finally change into something perhaps more worthwhile. That did not happen here. Not only was the goal never reached in the book, but the author turned the ending to one of merely revenge and violence--a horrible beating of the character (now an adult) who had bullied our protagonist when he was a child. That is where the so-called Power of One is supposed to triumph? This was the most disappointing ending I have ever read.

I know I read this as a child and adored it. I didn’t remember anything about it. Gave it another try and forced myself to make it to page 50. The racism was tough. The simplistic writing pushed me too far.


n  n

As the book begins the reader meets Peekay, a precocious 5 year old in South Africa. Two important men in his life, one white, the other black, help him overcome incredible persecution and obstacles as he grows to manhood. This a beautifully written coming-of-age novel about apartheid which is a must-read for young and old. It is heart touching, motivating, and thought provoking.

I was immediately hooked by this story as it followed a young boy, Peekay, to boarding school where he excelled academically, but was subjected to pretty miserable treatment by his older/bigger peers. Set in South Africa during the time of WWII, it showed a nation beset by cultural divisions; white/black, English/Afrikaner, Christian/Jew, Germany/everyone else. Within this stew, Peekay tries to find safe ground, developing a tendency for human camouflage. The first part of this epic saga focuses on his efforts to understand the world around him and to survive it. Despite some pretty despicable events, there is much humor in the telling, which softened events that made me want to claw some characters from the pages.

As the story proceeds, Peekay leaves boarding school and reintegrates into his family and surrounding town. As we follow Peekay through this coming-of-age journey, we meet a number of memorable and instrumental characters; instrumental for leaving a mark on an impressionable boy, for influencing his view of the world, himself, and his choices.

As the story progressed, and became more focused on boxing, my interest did wane somewhat. But the characters, choices and outcomes kept me reading. The cultural background Peekay existed in was ever-present, and was interesting and informative and apropos of the times. Occasionally, almost too much information was given which seemed to bog things down, but also provided some vivid understanding of his surroundings and activities (mining, boxing, living within a prison setting).

I confess that as I neared the end of the story, I wondered where this was going to end...where were we headed in his journey. When the end came, I thought...."Oh, of course." And although it seemed abrupt, it left me with as much satisfaction as Peekay must have felt.

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.

http://mariesbookgarden.blogspot.com/...

I'm struggling with giving this book a rating--it would have been 3 or maybe even 4 stars while I was in the middle...

Although originally published in 1989 (in the height of apartheid), I'd never heard of The Power of One until my sister read it for her book group. The plot sounded appealing to me, so I put it on hold at the library. Some actually call this "a classic novel of South Africa," although I think that title should belong to the work of Nadine Gordimer and Doris Lessing instead (whose books I read years ago).

I think my opinion of this novel will shift some as I sit with the ending for a few days...but I wanted to write this review while it was still fresh in my mind. It feels like I've been reading this novel for a long time...although it stuck in my mind when I was not reading it, I was also really ready to be done with it. Not a great sign...

English boy Peekay is sent to boarding school at the age of 5 (!) because he has no father and his mother has had a mental breakdown. He is horribly, mercilessly bullied by his South-African schoolmates, who all see him as the enemy because of the Boer War. Right away, I felt dubious because I kept thinking about my own 5-year-old son and realizing that Peekay seemed more like 10 than 5. His only friend is his pet chicken, Grandpa Chook, who understands Peekay thoroughly and can do magic tricks. (Seriously.) In spite of the bullying, Peekay survives and finds a way to rise above it all. (His extreme genius assisting him in this endeavor.)

The story begins to get more interesting when the school year ends and he's sent on a 2-1/2-day train journey to join his family in their new home. (Yes, a 5-year-old, sent alone on a 2-1/2-day train journey...) Along the way he makes some true friends, among them a train guard named Hoppie, who teaches him all about boxing and inspires him to become a boxing champion one day. (In spite of this great friendship, Hoppie goes off to war and is never mentioned again...which seems odd to me.)

When he arrives in his new home in Barberton (where he is to live with his grandpa and his born-again-crazy mother), he makes more true friends in Doc (a German professor of music) and Mrs. Boxall (the town librarian). When Doc is interned in a nearby prison because of his German ancestry, Peekay develops friendships in the prison and begins taking boxing lessons there. Biracial prisoner Geel Piet becomes his dedicated boxing coach and teaches him everything he knows.

Years later Peekay goes off to another boarding school, where he becomes friends with a Jewish boy, Morrie Levy. In the final book of the novel, Peekay spends a year working in the mines in Rhodesia. This is a very MALE book...about the world of boxing, boarding schools, prisons, and mines. Few women live in this world, and the black ones do not even have real names.

First, what I liked about the novel:

•Learning more about the history of English-Boer hostility during World War II
•Reading about life in South Africa during that period--especially as a former coworker was visiting South Africa while I was reading the book and blogging about her adventures and perspectives on the country's crime and racism
•Peekay's unlikely friendship and adventures with Doc
•Some of the earlier stories during the train journey, and the colorful characters such as Hoppie and Big Hettie
•Peekay's efforts to transcend his difficult beginnings and become his own person
•The imagery of the African singing and the music Doc wrote as a tribute to the African tribes (in fact, I really enjoyed all the musical bits, especially the prison concert)

Well. My biggest beef with this novel is that Peekay is too damn perfect. For example (spoilers below!):

•He is several classes ahead of all his peers, wherever he goes, because of his sheer genius.
•He knows several African languages, in addition to Latin.
•Everywhere he goes (after the initial boarding school disaster), people come to worship him.
•He develops a highly successful scheme to smuggle in tobacco and other goodies into the prison, and smuggle letters to prisoners' families out. All while he is a child.
•He NEVER loses a boxing bout. Never, ever.
•He becomes a cactus expert under Doc's tutelage.
•Peekay and Morrie become chosen for the most select group of students to be tutored by the headmaster. Of course.
•Peekay and Morrie make a mint in boarding school through various schemes dreamed up by Morrie, all of them rip-roaring successes.
•He exceeds in every single task he takes on (academics, languages, boxing, rugby, mining), with the one exception of the piano, at which his talent is merely passable.
•He becomes a virtual god for the African people--referred to as the "tadpole angel."
•Even the Black Mamba he faces does not bite him.
•He displays superhuman strength and will as a 17-year-old miner and survives an accident that would have killed anyone else.
•He gets the opportunity to take revenge on his most bitter enemy.
The book was far too long...it could have lost 100 to 150 pages and been much stronger. Courtenay often resorts to getting preachy and "tells" far more than he shows. The bad people are REALLY bad, and they all get their due in the end...every one of them. Several people lose their lives because of Peekay, and he doesn't seem to have any sort of self-reflection or guilt that he caused their deaths through his arrogance. He takes all his privileges and success for granted.

I believe that Courtenay, who grew up in South Africa but now lives in Australia, had great intentions to write a book that examined the origins of apartheid and criticized the cruel way that blacks were treated. But instead, it's just another book about a white savior--a perfect white boy who triumphs over the odds. The black tribes all come to worship Peekay because he begins smuggling in tobacco to the prison and starts a letter-writing initiative so they can contact their relatives...and they've seen his expertise in the boxing ring. In fact, he becomes legendary across South Africa so that when he moves to his new school in another part of the country, they all know about the "Tadpole Angel."

I thought it would be more about the origins of apartheid and race relations in South Africa, but really, it wasn't. It was about this perfect boy and his life .

I'm not sure I understand the meaning of "The Power of One," especially because of all the friends and supporters Peekay developed throughout his life. They all lifted him up and helped him accomplish what he did. Yet when Morrie tries to help him by lending him the money to go to Oxford, he refuses his aid. This didn't make much sense to me, especially as Morrie wouldn't have had such success over the years without Peekay...and he allowed others to help him before. Instead, he puts aside his academic career to choose a rough, dangerous life in the mines.

And the ending...horrific, unredeeming, and sickening. Any fondness I had for Peekay as a character dissolved in the last few pages. In spite of all the love and support he received, Doc's wise guidance, and all the superhuman success he'd achieved, when he meets his nemesis, he must take revenge in a truly merciless manner? Maybe the message of "The Power of One," in the end, is that each person is alone and must fight to the death to survive? Closing the book, I felt sick to my stomach.

Aside from my childhood favorites, I can't think of a story I've carried deeper or longer than this one. I think of Peekay, and the loneliness birds, and the black citizens of South Africa - in their hope for a Rainmaker - at least once a week, and this has been true for well over twenty years. From start to finish, this is a story perfectly told.

I enjoyed this book, in fact more than I thought I would. I learned much about the struggle and the racism in South Africa. I listened to the audio of this and also read some. The narrator is excellent! Peekay was a wonderful character and great storyteller. Many of the secondary characters were wonderful as well. Do I recommend this read? Absolutel!!!

"Pride is holding your head up high when everyone around you has theirs bowed down. Courage is what makes you do it."

Enjoyed this book so much. Character development is outstanding.

It definitely deserves a 5 star rating! Absoloodle!!

PS: the audio book narrated by Humphrey Bower is JUST FANTASTIC.

What a nice surprise this book was for me. This coming-of-age story set in 1939 South Africa has a focus on the sport of boxing throughout, which I am generally not a fan of, but certainly loved every minute of it in this story. Peekay endures awful humiliation and abandonment at such a young age yet he struggles along through adversity and heartbreaking losses.

Numerous comments by readers mention they did not care for the ending, but I, for one, loved it! I kept wondering when the 'judge' would reappear hoping he would get his comeuppance and was so glad Peekay gave it to him good. When early in the book the 'judge' abused Peekay, even after he did all his homework and promised otherwise, made him eat human sh*t, tortured and killed Granpa Chook, Peekay's beloved and clever rooster and only friend, the ending made me feel pretty darn satisfied. As for becoming the World's Welterweight Champion, you knew he would do just that.

A touching and up-lifting story I plan to read again. Absoloodle! (you'll have to read the novel to appreciate that one) Highly recommend!

I thoroughly enjoyed many elements of this book, and I learned a tremendous amount about boxing and the history of South Africa, through a child's eye view. However, my opinion took a downward plunge toward the end of the book -- specifically the final 5 pages of the book. I don't want to include any spoilers, but what on earth was the author thinking?!? I interpreted the book's message so differently from what is depicted in the final scene. Perhaps I owe the author a second reading. STRANGE!!!

Update:
Just downgraded my review from 3 to 2 stars. The more I think about the story and try to derive meaning from it, the madder I get!

Super amazing book. It is hard to describe this book, but I'll give it a try. I would say that it is not a coming-of-age story, even though Peekay grows from the age of 5 to the age of 20 during the story. It is also not a story about WWII, even though the setting is in the late 1930s to mid 1940s, and includes Nazies and racism. It is not a book only about boxing, even though it does include quite a lot of boxing. It is the story of Peekay, wonderful, perfect Peekay. Peekay is so perfect that you will fall in love with him and find yourself admiring him. Peekay is so perfect, that he is even not too perfect.
It is a story about love and mentorship. Peekay connects easily with adults and learns lessons for life, he learns that small can beat big, he learns that you need to work First with the head, then with the heart, he learns about pride and sense of self (Pride is holding your head up high when everyone around you has theirs bowed. Courage is what makes you do it.).
Peekay is an open minded lovely boy with not a drop of hate or racism, who develops beautiful deep friendships: with the train conductor Hoppie, with the German Professor Doc, with the colored prisoner Geel Piet, with his best friend who is Jewish. All of this in spite the racism that surrounds him. (I laughed heartily when he said "I wanted to grow up and become a jew"). Peekay is brilliant, and is learning quickly. And he is learning something from everyone. He is an inspiring character, as also some of the rest of the characters.
The author was brilliant to show the connection between boxing and music, and those two and science. It is amazing how many opportunities are around us, and how many Davids can beat Goliathes if they just looked more closely and used their heads (and then their hearts).

It is brilliant and rich narrative. Some great laugh-out-loud moments are promised. This is Courtenay's first book that he wrote at the age of 55, which is by itself amazing and inspiring.

Read the book, and you might (highly likely) find yourself chanting "Onoshobishobi Ingelosi! Onoshobishobi Ingelosi!" because the Tadpole is an Angel and the book is absoloodle amazing.