TITLE: The Power of one
AUTOR: Bryce Courtenay
LANGUAGE: English
GENRE(s): Bildungsroman, Historical, Novel
PUBLISHER: William Heinemann
RELEASED: February 1989

REFERENCES

The Power of One is a bildungsroman written by Bryce Courtenay, first published in 1989. Set in 1930s and 1940s South Africa and later on in the story, Northern Rhodesia, it tells the story of an English boy who, through the course of the story, acquires the nickname of P.K. The protagonist's true first name is never revealed. (wikipedia)

This riveting novel tells of the coming-of-age of a six-year-old English boy in South Africa during the darkest days of largely pro-Nazi South Africa. It's an inspirational story with a great sense of time and place, combining strong characters, stunning locales and serious social issues. Based on the author's own experiences as a child. (longitudebooks)

MY REVIEW

I first saw the movie and I loved it. The book came to my hands long years after watching the movie for the first time , and I have to say it was very difficult to read, too painful actually. The way Courtenay descrives things happen to PK, how he is beaten in school even by teacher was to painful form me and I drop it. I just read it last week and I have to say I just loved it. Courtenay is like a skilled painter that depicts a very realistic picture of the world he saw in his former land. It is interesting how he is able to show a wolrd through the eyes of a 5 -6 years old boy, and describe situations not only by facts but mainly by feelings. I love how the characters grow ( not only PK but other too as his friend Morrie Levi ) and the suffer an evolition process. I also the clear language he uses not only the way it changes trhout out the novel but also when he wants to state facts, some times he uses a language when he invloves feelings and sensations in other ocations he just say it , right to the point I quote “...racism is a primary force of evil designed to destroy good men.” . There are also some symbols in the novel that are very interesting to look at … such as the snake. It is there not only as an obvious phallic symbol (in the first part of the novel) and something that embarrasses PK almost to a traumatic point but also later on as the story goes on you can see the serpent not only as a symbol of death but mainly as a psychopomp character. You might take a glance at http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/animals2.htm a site about animal symbolism in different cultures or take a look at The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, and other dictionaries of symbols.

Well I don’t know if I want to tell you more about the book and ruining you all the fun … if you saw the movie and liked it surely you will love the book

Love

Gabriel Taylor