Rating: 
Summary: overwrought
Review: Egocentric, sophomoric, and really irritating
Rating: 
Summary: Enormously Uplifting and Inspiring
Review: All I can say is wow. I was assigned to read this book as an outside reading selection for my English class. My first impression was, "What a waste of time." However, that all changed when I had worked my way through the first two pages. This book can be enjoyed by anyone. The quest of young Peekay to find his place in the world (and to become the next welterweight champion of South Africa) calls upon a gracefullness and beauty that can only be conjured by Bryce Courtenay. Highly recommended for anyone who likes to read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Active Book
Review: The Power of One is an active book about a boy who faces many challenges in his life. The timeline of this book is only until the main character, Peekay, reaches the age when he is ready for college. The setting of The Power of One is in South Africa. Living in South Africa automatically creates challenges for Peekay because he is a white boy while World War II is also taking place. Peekay is a very active boy who always has something to do. Whether it is learning about plants to gambling to boxing. Boxing is introduced to Peekay at a very young age when he coincidentally meets a famous Welter Weight boxer on a train. This man then becomes his idle and he trains from the age of seven to become the Welter Weight Champion. While boxing is a main part of the story, you never find out if he fulfils his dream of being the Champion, which is disappointing to me. Although I felt that the book touches lots of aspects of a teenagers life. The Power of One also connects with the lower class of Africa, which is a good learning experience for the reader and the character. Peekay learns to box in a prison and in known as a good person because of things he does. Word of this travels trough parts of Africa, which makes Peekays life harder and easier in ways. This is one of the few books that I couldn't put down, I was itching to see what happened next, and I'm sure you will too!
Rating: 
Summary: Good light read, but full of flaws
Review: I could not put Bruce Courtenay's "The Power of One" down either - the writing style is easy and the plot intriguing...up to a point. At some point the cliches with which Mr. Courtenay portrays South Africa and its inhabitants, as well as the unknowing self-centeredness of his main character, started to irritate me. Apartheid did not have its roots in Nazism, as Mr. Courtenay seems to suggest, and what little support there was among Afrikaners for Germany during World War II had more to do with resistance to the idea of fighting on the side of their own (former)oppressors, the British, than with any real sympathy for the Nazis. The terror and tragedy that was apartheid had its own set of complex causes: definitely the racism of Afrikaners (and other white South Africans), yes; but also the already existing structures of racial oppression set up by colonialism; as well as the capitalist interests of powerful elites (often English elites). We cannot learn from the past if we continue to think of it in terms of cliches - and Mr. Courtenay's implied analysis of the rise of apartheid is unfortunately riddled with such misleading and one-sided cliches. (I realize he did not set out to analyze apartheid in detail, but what little analysis he does do, is misleading, especially to readers who are not familiar with South African history.) What is worse, is that Mr. Courtenay does not seem able to transcend the logic of English imperialism himself: not only does he constantly portray the Afrikaners as racist, boorish, big and dumb, but he furthermore, quite arrogantly, imagines a white boy as the great chief who will unite the black tribes. So not only does he portray white Afrikaners in constantly negative terms, but he also portrays black South Africans as gullible and ready to embrace the "salvation" of the white man. Worse still is the self-centeredness of this too-good-to-be-true white boy, who never really questions his right to the sacrifices others make for him - not only do several other characters in the book devote almost their entire lives to him, but no less than three characters literally die for him (Lettie, Geel Piet and Rasputin). Although, in the beginning, the little boy Peekay is a very compelling little very figure, he eventually grows up to be the classic hero of Western patriarchal culture - the self-absorbed white male child worshipped and served by everyone else around him. One could argue that he never asks for all these sacrifices, but I never really saw him questioning it - that is, Courtenay never really questions the right of one single human being to so much devotion, sacrifice and adulation - especially of a white boy in Africa. And that was precisely the problem with both colonialism and apartheid - white people, especially white men, never questioned their right to the devotion, sacrifice and adulation of the Other, whether white or black women or black men. Peekay does not transcend racism - he embodies it.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful book that everyone should read
Review: I believe this book is on it's way to becoming a classis. it's a tale that is uplifting and has a positive, if unconventional message. It deals with subjects like rejection, racism, and growing up in a refreshing way, with out going into cliches. This book is original in it's approach and it will stay on my bookshelf for a long time yet.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: The Power of One is my all-time favorite book, and it probably always will be. It's a powerful story about a young man struggling to survive in a world that is constantly trying to crush him, and to find himself in the process. He makes friends and enemies, deals with death of people close to him, finds his niche in boxing, all the while, in essensce, alone. I think everyone can learn a little something about themselves from this book. I know I do everytime I read it. I love this book so much that I think all of my friends have, at one point, recieved a copy from me as a gift. It's a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful!!
Review: As an avid reader, I have read books from many authors and many different genres! This book was absolutely amazing - and so gripping! Bryce Courtenay is one on the most moving writers I ahve ever been exposed to! This book has definately moved to the top of my list!
Rating:
Summary: the power of one
Review: this book is the best book i have ever read. it deals with many emotions and dramas through Peekay( the main character ), who is subject to love and hate. (...)
subject: the power of one
if you haven't already read the sequal to this book "Tandia" i strong DON'T recommend it. this is because at the time bryce courtenay wrote this book his son had recently died and the whole book is full of hatred and is badly written and the ending is very poor because you never find out what happens to Peekay. i think that courtenay was a "one book man" where the power of one is the best.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST book EVER
Review: It's hard to judge a book, becuase some people like certain genres etc. while other people hate them. To tell the truth, I was forced to read thi book by my father. I started of hating it, I ended up loving it. It captures the raw emotion of a small boy; the stupidity of racial discrimination ... everything. It exemplifies the fact that different races and different people can live in one world together ... kaffirs, boers, jerrys, rooineks, everyone. But beware : If you don't like books that will make you cry, this one isn't for you. This book is also a violent one, and is very explicit. However, it is also a breath taking story of the fight of one little boy for the life he wants. There is also alot of death. All in all, this book is a facinating book, and I think I;ve read it now ... what, 8 times ? You can't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: The Power of One
Review: Keeper here... This book is the first book I have ever gotten to keep a copy at home. There is never a moment where you can not relate on a very real, deep and emotional level. I enjoy that everything goes full circle and not one situation or person goes unaccounted for in the end.
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