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Is it the author. Sharon Darrow Peekay is the main character in the book, who you follow from childhood to adulthood. Trust me, if you read the book you will remember that name …more Peekay is the main character in the book, who you follow from childhood to adulthood. Trust me, if you read the book you will remember that name forever. This story is one that truly stands the test of time. See all 11 questions about The Power of One…. Lists with This Book. Apr 27, Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing. I fell in love with Peekay even 'before' he was five years old, starting in South Africa, when he shares of being nursed from his lovely black nanny before being sent to boarding school.

The family separation was painful. I can't begin to imagine sending a 5 year old away to a boarding school Wow I can't begin to imagine sending a 5 year old away to a boarding school even in the 'best' of conditions. And the fact that this story is inspired by the authors real life Peekay is bullied and abused almost immediately upon arrival as a 5 year old at his boarding school.

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He's the youngest child in the school. Missing the comfort of his Black nanny Peekay is English and white , who would soothe his hurts It was a hate that had entered the Afrikaner bloodstream and pocked the hearts and minds of the next generation". Given that Peekay, spoke English, he pronounced sentences that killed their grandfathers and grandmothers to the world's first concentration camps.

Little Peekay had no advance warning that he was wicked before coming to the school. One of the other kids - called 'Judge' abused Peekey regularly. Peekay even made a deal with him to do the Judge's homework and make sure he didn't fail-- but he still continues to abuse him. We see how Peekay begins to survive- horrific conditions at such a young tender age: They could make me cry. Even the Judge, with all of the fear he could provoke, could not make me cry. I suspect they even began to admire me a bit. Many as them brothers my age at home, and they knew how easy it is for a five-year-old to cry.

In fact, I had turned six but nobody had told me, so in my head, I was still five". Crying can't be a good camouflage. In truth, my willpower had very little to do with my resolve never to cry. I had learned a special trick and, in the process, had somehow lost the knack of turning on the tap". Peekay is a diamond in the rough He's smart, open minded, and doesn't have an ounce of bitterness or hatred in him. He develops meaningful friendships with teachers and mentors who teach him to read.

He meets a healer, and a boxer. We learn a tremendous amount about boxing. We also learn a lot about the history of South Africa through the eyes of a child. The themes of discrimination were well defined by the author: Violence is graphic - so be warned. It's a cruel and beautiful world we live in!

View all 32 comments. Audio version with introduction by the author himself. He is such a larrikin with a happy voice. Bryce Courtenay's debut, apparently toiled over at the kitchen table with his son's girlfriend stating "This is the best book I've read, you need to publish it" or words to the effect. The rest, they say, is history. Peekay starts out as a tiny tot I have a 6 year old son and therefore horrifie Audio version with introduction by the author himself.

Peekay starts out as a tiny tot I have a 6 year old son and therefore horrified who suffers dreadful abuse at this young age at boarding school, at the hands of horrible older boys, one in particular. Emerging a wonderful, well rounded and amazing human being. Memories of his beloved wet nurse, neurotic mother and beloved music teacher and mentor; this is an epic story centring on the discipline and craft of boxing. South Africa is a sometimes bleak and beautiful place, told from around the time of I stumbled across notes taken during my audio read, so I have some more thoughts.

On Peekay losing one of his most favourite people in the world, due to a zealously religious and neurotic mother: I cannot read my writing, so I hope I am doing Mr Courtenay justice here. To regain the power of one. View all 23 comments. Jul 28, Matt rated it it was amazing Shelves: The dazzling writing style of Bryce Courtenay is captured in this, his debut novel.

Its intricate prose and powerful characters bring a story to life that few readers will be able to resist. In rural South Africa during the late s, Peekay is a young boy who has been sent to boarding school. With English roots, Peekay struggles in this school where the Boer boys ridicule him for his heritage, turning verbal pokes into full-on malicious attacks.

With war building in Europe, Peekay is led to be The dazzling writing style of Bryce Courtenay is captured in this, his debut novel. With war building in Europe, Peekay is led to believe by classmates that Hitler will soon arrive in South Africa to toss the shackles from the Afrikaner people, long subjugated by the English. Eager to leave, Peekay begins the long train ride, soon joined by the conductor, Hoppie Groenewald. This new friend helps Peekay with the ways of the rails, as well as being an amateur boxer in his own right. Peekay is astonished when he sees Hoppie box, as well as the passion that others feel about the sport.

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From there, it is back on the train, where Peekay must survive the rest of the journey without his dear Hoppie. War continues to rage and South African officials choose to detain Doc, citing his German heritage as an issue that cannot be overlooked. While incarcerated, Doc continues to share his passion of music with Peekay and the other prisoners, many of whom are poor blacks. Straddling the middle, Peekay is able to forge strong friendships with the prisoners, who respect him for not treating them as lower class citizens, as well as with the guards, who help hone is boxing skills.

Still young, Peekay must sell his abilities as a boxer to those who will help shape him into the athlete he hopes to become. Highly recommended for those who love complex stories that touch on history and coming of age. How do I feel about the book? Some may find his writing to be both excessive and too much to digest in a single novel, but it is this that makes the books even more enjoyable.

Courtenay uses an interesting formula in his writing, which the attentive reader will discover as they meander throughout his novels, this one being no exception. There are scores of characters who cross the pages, each serving to develop their own backstory and to offer a slice of character revelation for the protagonist, Peekay.

While the reader will notice strong ties between Peekay and one character in the early portion of the book, that individual will soon vanish, though their life lessons and impact are felt throughout the rest of the story. Courtenay inundates the reader with names and characteristics, which may cause some to stumble or require crib notes, but, rest assured, it is well worth the temporary confusion.

The story itself becomes a tale full of twists and turns, such that the path on which the narrative is leading the reader soon changes, leaving what one might have expected to be left in the proverbial dust. This is also something that some may criticise, but I find this serpentine journey to be refreshing and forces the reader to remain engaged, rather than skim through parts of the story. As Courtenay calls this piece his loose attempt at a fictionalised autobiography yes, the dichotomy of the statement is not lost on me , the historic moments and struggles are more than conjured up dramatisations from world events, but actual experiences that Courtenay felt.

One can only imagine the strife in which South Africa found itself in the late s and into the 40s. The Afrikaner population is still smarting as they are being regulated by the English, but they, too, have developed a sense that, perhaps, Hitler can come to save them and return the land to the rightful Boers. Peekay feels this throughout the novel, an English boy tossed amongst the strong-willed Afrikaners who look down upon him. However, there is also the theme of brewing apartheid, which has been loosely permitted for decades already.

While I do not condone this whatsoever, I have always been very interested in the apartheid mentality and how the Afrikaners justified it to the world. Courtenay offers up a front row seat to the reader, hoping they will better understand what went on. True, his books are long and tangential, but, like a well-paced journey, they permit the reader to gather many wonderful nuggets of information from page to page.

As a friend commented to me recently, the story ends somewhat abruptly and has no strong sense of finality. Courtenay, for such a stupendous piece. This book fulfils Topic 3: Island Reading in the Equinox 3 Reading Challenge. An ever-growing collection of others appears at: View all 10 comments. Apr 13, Deanne rated it it was amazing. I just finished reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay which was recommended to me by JK in our little cross country virtual book club. Divided into three parts, this is a story of a boy named Peekay coming of age in 's South Africa.

And then you have this really small boy going through hell at age 5 in a boarding school and learning at this infant stage in life I just finished reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay which was recommended to me by JK in our little cross country virtual book club. And then you have this really small boy going through hell at age 5 in a boarding school and learning at this infant stage in life how to survive.

The Power of One (The Power of One, #1) by Bryce Courtenay

His power grows with each new and colorful mentor that he and we meets along the way. There is little I love more than a good piece of fiction with brilliant and richly described narrative. I just found that a movie was made about the book in I'm definitely interested in checking it out but I don't want to ruin the absoloodle perfection of this story so I may skip it.

View all 11 comments. Mar 19, Dolors rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Of all the books I read in one stands out in the horizon of my memory, a mass market paperback with pages of microscopic print which I devoured in a day and a half. The Power of one gave me the chance to meet a part of myself that I thought I had lost forever. It rekindled a long extinguished flame of hope, it awakened a lost feeling of wonder, it gave me proof that one can make a difference.

Set in South Africa in the s and 40s , The Power of one is the compelling coming-of-age story Of all the books I read in one stands out in the horizon of my memory, a mass market paperback with pages of microscopic print which I devoured in a day and a half. Set in South Africa in the s and 40s , The Power of one is the compelling coming-of-age story of "Peekay", an innocent English boy who very early in his life realizes that there are greater things at stake than the hatred between the Dutch Afrikaners and the English.

The Second World War in Europe, the growing racial tensions and the beginning of Apartheid will influence his world and challenge his spiritual strength. Even though the odds are stacked against small Peekay from the start, he never loses faith in the goodness of people and following the advice of several improvised but memorable mentors who will change his life, he becomes an improbable icon in boxing which will make history. Reading this book felt magical, the story was touching in so many different ways that sometimes I had to stop reading, overwhelmed by the details and the tenderness I felt for this pure little boy who made a turbulent and full of hatred world shine with his goodwill and with his mysticism.

Peekay is one of the most inspiring characters I have ever met. He has become a part of myself, he belongs to me and to all the readers who re-learnt to believe along with him. View all 18 comments. Oct 31, Malia rated it it was amazing Shelves: I hardly know where to begin writing this review. This book had been on my to-read list for a long time.

And now it's over. Twenty hours spent getting to know the wonderful Peekay, and now I'm done? This is one of those books that isn't really over when you finish it. It stays with you and the characters live on inside your head. That's rea I hardly know where to begin writing this review.


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That's really the highest compliment I can pay a book. The story is so hard to describe without making it sound simplistic. It is a coming of age story, a tale of friendship and history and love. It's the kind of book I already know I will find myself recommending to all sorts of people. I can see it appealing to young and old, men and women, which is a rare thing to come across. There is such humanity and thoughtfulness in this story, it's got humor, but a great depth, too. Since it is told by a boy, growing into young adulthood, he sees a lot of the political and social strife of the South African people though the eyes of a child, which adds such a strong emotional element to the story.

I feel a bit at a loss now, and don't quite know what to pick up next. Needless to say, once I have let some time pass for this story to sink in, I will be seeking out Bryce Courtenay's many other books. I only wish I could write to him, and tell him how much I enjoyed his book, sadly he passed on two years ago.

As I understand it, this story was largely autobiographical, which makes it that much more fascinating. Find more reviews and bookish fun at http: View all 16 comments. Mar 06, Matthew rated it it was amazing Shelves: Took me some time to read, but not because it wasn't good, but just because there is so much to this story. A supremely well written book! If you like historical fiction - the type focused on people living in certain historical eras, not necessarily specific historical events - you will enjoy this story. Also, if you like interesting characters and good character development, this is a good story for you, too.

View all 5 comments. Mar 24, Megan rated it liked it. I had high hopes for this book, but in the end was a little disappointed. It seems towards the end of the book he lost track of where he was going with it all and just ended it, although maybe this says more about my lack of getting his point than it does about his writing style. One thing he does have though is energy, and that helped in keeping me interested. I also think the "power of one" is a rather funny concept considering the main character, Peekay, who supposedly possesses or cultivate I had high hopes for this book, but in the end was a little disappointed.

I also think the "power of one" is a rather funny concept considering the main character, Peekay, who supposedly possesses or cultivates this power owes much of it all to the support he has from many friends, mostly adults. People who took the time and energy and love to support him and promote him, mind, body, and spirit.

His power of one is only possible from the love and care of many. And it makes me sad that the story ended with a story of revenge, i think it cheapens the story. So, to conclude all of these random comments, I think that the story had a lot of potential and there were some good things about it, but I think it could have been better executed and I'm not quite sure I agree with the philosophy behind the whole thing.

View all 17 comments. May 10, Carol rated it it was amazing Shelves: What a nice surprise this book was for me. This coming-of-age story set in 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.

May 26, Skip rated it it was amazing Recommended to Skip by: Normally I refrain from writing long reviews, but this wonderful book offers so much to readers, that I must indulge. It is a broad sweeping book about rural South Africa, set in the late s and s prior to apartheid. It imparts a real sense of this exotic country and the friction between its diverse peoples: Dutch Afrikaners, native Boers, a host of black tribes, and the English. The protagonist Peekay is an only child, sent to boarding school at age 5 when his mother is institutionalized. Poor hygiene throughout the camps, combined with meager rations, led to continual outbreaks of contagious diseases that could not be adequately treated due to a lack of medical facilities.


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  • It is estimated that almost 28, Boers, most of them children under the age of sixteen, and nearly 15, blacks died from starvation and disease in the camps. They had ample reason to hate the British and little reason to forgive or forget, even after the Union of South Africa was established in with a primary aim of forging the Boers and the British into a single people.

    It has an almost mythological presence, one of a malign fairy tale, as when the Judge torments Peekay with talk of Hitler coming to march all the English into the sea—a monstrous updating of the Pied Piper of Hamelin legend. Although the war ends a little more than halfway through the story, its impact continues to reverberate until the end of the novel, when the swastika-tattooed Judge returns, an emblem of the past.

    This is only proper; after all, he is writing a novel, not a history book. Nonetheless, a brief overview of the history may provide helpful background for readers. Although South Africa had become a dominion in the British Commonwealth in , and was therefore bound to Great Britain and the other dominions of the former British Empire by strict obligations of mutual defense, it was not a foregone conclusion that South Africa would enter the war on the side of England, or even enter it at all.

    When England declared war on Germany, Hertzog and his allies were more sympathetic toward Germany than toward England, their hated enemy since the Boer Wars. Smuts had to worry about internal enemies as well. Support for the allies was such a close-run thing in parliament and in the general white population that he never dared to introduce conscription, although the army suffered from manpower shortages throughout the war.

    Smuts cracked down harshly, arresting and interning members of the Ossewabrandwag for the duration of the war. It is important to note that these men and women, while extremists, were representative of a powerful and by no means unpopular strain among the South African citizenry, to whom their anti-Semitic and racist views, as well as their embrace of order by totalitarian means, proved highly attractive.

    Among those interned, for example, was John Vorster, a future prime minister of South Africa. Members of the Ossewabrandwag would go on to play leading roles in the Apartheid government of the post-war years. This led to attempts at unionization and political organization by the newly urbanized underclass, which was in turn met by harsh, often brutal, repression on the part of the government.

    After the war, these pressures would add to the backlash that swept the Apartheid government into power. Origins and Early History of Apartheid Throughout The Power of One, readers are witness to a degree of racism against non-whites that is shocking in its casual brutality. Ideas of white superiority and race separation were key components of Afrikaner religious beliefs.

    These laws and others would constitute a framework on which the architects of apartheid would build. A harsh backlash ensued. The black homelands were established and numerous laws enacted that not only wiped out the slight gains made by blacks and coloreds but left them with even fewer rights than they had possessed prior to the war. The homelands system that disenfranchised blacks became known as grand apartheid, while the framework of laws governing racial segregation within white South Africa was known as petty apartheid. This was the political situation as it existed in , when The Power of One concludes.

    The number of vertices of an n -dimensional hypercube is 2 n. The sum of the reciprocals of the powers of two is 1. The smallest natural power of two whose decimal representation begins with 7 is [9].

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