The Power of One - Softcover

The Power of One

Paperback. Zustand: Fair. 518 pages. cover and spine worn, name on inside cover, page edge foxed, text lightly tannedReviews PW wrote of Bryce Courtenay's 1989 adult book, Episodic and bursting with incident, this sprawling memoir of an English boy's lonely childhood in So uth Africa during WWII pays moderate attention to questions of race but concerns itself primarily with epic melodrama. In The Power of One: Young Readers' Conde nsed Version, the author adapts the first half of his semi-autobiographical tale , but keeps all of the action in the boxing ring and the David and Goliath messa ge of victory over adversity. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. Gr 6 Up -The opening chapters of this haunting autobiographical novel, set in small-town South Africa during World War II, are as bleak and violent as anything written for young people. Five-year-old Peekay is the only English-speaking boy in a har sh Afrikaans-language boarding school. He is urinated on by a pack of older boys , and then beaten for it by the matron. Although he endures many losses, he grow s through his experiences. His goal is to become a boxer, and the story shows ho w hard work can lead to success. Peekay forges loving relationships with adults, most notably Doc, a German professor. When Doc is detained as an enemy alien, P eekay's life becomes intertwined with the local prison. It is there that he lear ns to box and becomes a secret ally of the black prisoners. Courtenay's deft and chillingly accurate characterization of the Afrikaner prison warders. The autho r is unsparing in his portrayal of the brutality meted out to prisoners and in h is depiction of racist speech. Courtenay's ear for dialogue is impressive, and h e consistently captures the cadences of South African speech. Peekay's story is written in a direct, almost childlike style, which sometimes seems bland, but re. Artikel-Nr. 1430g

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