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The Power of One & Tandia
The Power of One is Bryce Courtenay's best known book. It has been translated into 18 languages, has sold more than 8 million copies and has been made into a Hollywood film. It is the wonderful story of a boy growing up South Africa. Tandia is the sequel to The Power of One and continues the story of the main character, Peekay. This gem of story is beloved by millions around the world!
1092 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
7 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Bryce Courtenay
58 books2,308 followersArthur Bryce Courtenay, AM was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book The Power of One.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 5, 2014
This is without a doubt my favourite book of all time. Never has a book developed such memorable characters. This book is about relationships across the years. Its about the deepest friendships and enemies twisted my hate and racial divide. The story is told across the years of apartheid. The best thing i can say however it is one of the few books that has had be reread paragraphs in wonder again and again as i was so awestruck my its wonderful language. If i found myself on a desert island this book would be my best friend.
September 9, 2012
I literally sobbed reading these books. I mean SOBBED in public. Counternay is well worth the effort. Heavy subjects matter and scenes that will stay with you for a life time. Beautifully written and extremely well thought out story lines.
August 8, 2018
READ IT
March 5, 2019
This is one of my all time favorite books. A fantastic book and the book that got me started reading Courtenay book’s which I have loved.
February 11, 2020
The power of one was better than tandia, I could have stopped with power of one
February 4, 2022
Such a great story teller. I love every book I've ever read by Bruce Courtney
October 7, 2012
ce Courtenay, The Power of One
As with André Brink and other South African writers, the political situation in his native land makes it expedient for Bryce Courtenay to live in and write out of Australia. The Power of One is a first person narrative of a seven year old boy, dubbed Peekay, who endures the tortures and humiliations of being born an outsider, in this case a white boy of British descent among Boers (or Afrikaners), who themselves are outsiders in that they are settlers in a Kaffir country and numerically overwhelmed by blacks. Racial hatred and the exploitation of the less powerful are thus endemic to the story, which is about how one boy manages to survive and prosper in the most horrific circumstances.
With his Rooinek ( or English) background Peekay is the natural target at school for taunts, bullying and all kinds of physical and mental torture. These he stoically endures with the help of Hoppie Groenewald, a boxing champion, adopting Hoppie’s mantra: First with your head and then with your heart, a boxing metaphor meaning be clever before you hit out. So Peekay watches and waits, never complaining, while listening to advice and studying hard. Being mocked and persecuted simply makes him stronger, so that in the end Peekay masters not only English but all the different tribal tongues, and, believe it or not, ultimately wins a place at Oxford and comes close to achieving his ambition of becoming the world welter-weight boxing champion.
The novel thus has something of a Boy’s Own fantasy feel-good factor built into it. In spite of the authentic recreation of scenes in the bush, the small villages and ultimately the diamond mines in South Africa, this is far from being a realistic novel. The characters, like those in a comic book, are good or bad, larger than life, sweeter than honey or nauseatingly harsh and bitter. Peekay’s triumphs are essentially those of authorial wish-fulfilment.
I found the book’s 629 pages more than a little indigestible, and probably demanding at least another sequel, or even a series. Some readers might well appreciate this, but for me one heavy-going volume was more than enough. Of course, even the best novel may contain moments of tedium, surplus detail and narrative redundancy, but Bruce Courtenay, or if you like, Peekay, loves to linger over the boxing routines – for instance, there are interminable sequences about gloving up, intended presumably to build up tension before the blow-by-blow description of a fight in which Peekay (a David who relishes taking on Goliaths) will inevitably triumph, and they have precisely the reverse effect.
The book’s prose style is, possibly intentionally, unremarkable. Peekay writes like an enthusiastic adolescent and has a remarkable aptitude for drifting into cliché and banality: ‘hurt like hell,’ ‘missed by miles,’ ‘smooth as a baby’s bottom,’ ‘the best thing since sliced bread.’ I’m not sure how all this will go down at Oxford University, when he gets there, as I’m sure he eventually will.
A more grievous fault - and for this we must blame not the narrator but the author – occurs when the good German, known as Doc and under house arrest, is asked to play for the assembled prisoners. The good doctor opts for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, suitably heroic of course and essentially the noblest specimen of European culture. The problem is that Doc plays not the Fifth Symphony, but the Fifth Piano Concerto (known as the Emperor Concerto). The natives wouldn’t have known the difference, but author and reader ought to.
As with André Brink and other South African writers, the political situation in his native land makes it expedient for Bryce Courtenay to live in and write out of Australia. The Power of One is a first person narrative of a seven year old boy, dubbed Peekay, who endures the tortures and humiliations of being born an outsider, in this case a white boy of British descent among Boers (or Afrikaners), who themselves are outsiders in that they are settlers in a Kaffir country and numerically overwhelmed by blacks. Racial hatred and the exploitation of the less powerful are thus endemic to the story, which is about how one boy manages to survive and prosper in the most horrific circumstances.
With his Rooinek ( or English) background Peekay is the natural target at school for taunts, bullying and all kinds of physical and mental torture. These he stoically endures with the help of Hoppie Groenewald, a boxing champion, adopting Hoppie’s mantra: First with your head and then with your heart, a boxing metaphor meaning be clever before you hit out. So Peekay watches and waits, never complaining, while listening to advice and studying hard. Being mocked and persecuted simply makes him stronger, so that in the end Peekay masters not only English but all the different tribal tongues, and, believe it or not, ultimately wins a place at Oxford and comes close to achieving his ambition of becoming the world welter-weight boxing champion.
The novel thus has something of a Boy’s Own fantasy feel-good factor built into it. In spite of the authentic recreation of scenes in the bush, the small villages and ultimately the diamond mines in South Africa, this is far from being a realistic novel. The characters, like those in a comic book, are good or bad, larger than life, sweeter than honey or nauseatingly harsh and bitter. Peekay’s triumphs are essentially those of authorial wish-fulfilment.
I found the book’s 629 pages more than a little indigestible, and probably demanding at least another sequel, or even a series. Some readers might well appreciate this, but for me one heavy-going volume was more than enough. Of course, even the best novel may contain moments of tedium, surplus detail and narrative redundancy, but Bruce Courtenay, or if you like, Peekay, loves to linger over the boxing routines – for instance, there are interminable sequences about gloving up, intended presumably to build up tension before the blow-by-blow description of a fight in which Peekay (a David who relishes taking on Goliaths) will inevitably triumph, and they have precisely the reverse effect.
The book’s prose style is, possibly intentionally, unremarkable. Peekay writes like an enthusiastic adolescent and has a remarkable aptitude for drifting into cliché and banality: ‘hurt like hell,’ ‘missed by miles,’ ‘smooth as a baby’s bottom,’ ‘the best thing since sliced bread.’ I’m not sure how all this will go down at Oxford University, when he gets there, as I’m sure he eventually will.
A more grievous fault - and for this we must blame not the narrator but the author – occurs when the good German, known as Doc and under house arrest, is asked to play for the assembled prisoners. The good doctor opts for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, suitably heroic of course and essentially the noblest specimen of European culture. The problem is that Doc plays not the Fifth Symphony, but the Fifth Piano Concerto (known as the Emperor Concerto). The natives wouldn’t have known the difference, but author and reader ought to.
September 17, 2014
This has remained my favorite book since I was fifteen. The language is beautiful and worth reading out loud. The characters develop in such a way that you feel like you're growing up with them and they're written so honestly that you feel the struggle. It's completely overwhelming in parts. This book also gives you a very human and humbling view of apartheid. It makes you angry, helpless and defiant all at once. It may gut you emotionally but once it's over you will feel like something major just shifted in your life, or I did at least. I recommend this book to everyone.
September 8, 2016
Powerful, inspiring, memorable. The reputation of the book preceeds it (as well as the movie), so I was prepared to be disappointed -- but in fact it was better than I had heard! I'm glad I didn't read these at the time they were written, because they seem like a seamless book to me. I would have been frustrated if the Power of One had finished where it does!
July 28, 2013
Really enjoyed this book about South Africa. Always interesting how other countries develop socially.
August 1, 2013
My discovery of Bryce Courtney. What can I say? Since then I have sought to read all his books.
September 12, 2013
Was so glad I discovered this author. Have read 6 books by him and am now rereading a book my book club is discussing. Can't wait to get and read all his books.
July 17, 2014
I was living in Swaziland at the time I read these.....might be why I enjoyed them so much.
September 18, 2014
It was a long book but I couldn't put it down and it still took me a month. I loved it and think that everyone should read it but expect it to take some time.
August 2, 2016
Didn't enjoy the Power of One as much as Tandia. This is probably an uncommon opinion. Just didn't feel as much for Peekay (?spelling) as Tandia.
April 23, 2012
Fantastic.
I am not sure why I have not heard about this in the book buzz
I recommend it.
I am not sure why I have not heard about this in the book buzz
I recommend it.
May 27, 2013
As with all of Bryce Courtenay's books this one is beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews