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| The Power of One: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Bryce Courtenay
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $2.19
You Save: $12.76 (85%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $2.19
Avg. Customer Rating:  (367 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2640
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Mti
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 034541005X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823
EAN: 9780345410054
ASIN: 034541005X
Publication Date: September 29, 1996
Release Date: September 29, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
?The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.?
?The New York Times
?Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence??the power of one??can prevail.?
?Cleveland Plain Dealer
In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams?which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one.
?Totally engrossing . . . [presents] the metamorphosis of a most remarkable young man and the almost spiritual influence he has on others . . . Peekay has both humor and a refreshingly earthy touch, and his adventures, at times, are hair-raising in their suspense.?
?Los Angeles Times Book Review
?Marvelous . . . It is the people of the sun-baked plains of Africa who tug at the heartstrings in this book. . . . [Bryce] Courtenay draws them all with a fierce and violent love.?
?The Washington Post Book World
?Impressive.?
?Newsday
?A compelling tale.?
?The Christian Science Monitor
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| Customer Reviews: Read 362 more reviews...
 Inspiring July 31, 2008
I just happened upon this book at the bookstore, one of the employees highly recommended it to me. It was magical; the writing was to me reminiscient of the works of Mark Twain. I am a history buff so the fact that it it takes place in South Africa during World War II was a plus to me. The only (slight) criticism I have is that it is a very long book (500+ pages) and I have a bit of ADD. This does not stop me from giving this book five stars.
I Usually Don't Write Reviews ... May 6, 2008
However, this book is WELL worth every minute it may take you read it. I've had the book for several months and finally opened it last week.
After reading "The Power of One", if you don't laugh, cry, tremble, smile, hit something, or hug something, you are inhuman. This is by far one of the most heartwarming and heartwrenchingly beautiful books I have ever read.
By the way, if you are thinking about getting the movie after reading this book, this is what the movie description says:
"The Power of One is an intriguing story of a young English boy named P.K. and his passion for changing the world. Growing up he suffered as the only English boy in an Afrikaans school. Soon orphaned, he was placed in the care of a German national named Professor von Vollensteen (a.k.a. "Doc"), a friend of his grandfather. Doc develops P.K.'s piano talent and P.K. becomes "assistant gardener" in Doc's cactus garden. It is not long after WWII begins that Doc is placed in prison for failure to register with the English government as a foreigner. P.K. makes frequent visits and meets Geel Piet, an inmate, who teaches him to box. Geel Piet spreads the myth of the Rainmaker, the one who brings peace to all of the tribes. P.K. is cast in the light of this myth. After the war P.K. attends an English private school where he continues to box. He meets a young girl, Maria, with whom he falls in love. Her father, Professor Daniel Marais, is a leader of the Nationalist Party of South Africa. The two fight to teach the natives English as P.K.'s popularity grows via the myth. Maria is killed. P.K. looses focus until he sees the success of his language school among the tribes. He and Guideon Duma continue the work in hopes of building a better future for Africa."
WHAT?!? P.K? Orphaned? The Rainmaker? Where is the Judge? Or Grandpa Chook? Where is the Crystal Cave? Where is Morrie? Where are the mines? Where is the dream of "Welterweight Champion of the World", not to mention Hoppie?
I suppose you can't blame Hollywood for making such a botchery of a book like this. There is no possible way it could EVER be felt on screen the way it is with words. However, it is unforgivable that PEEKAY (Not P.K.) was not known as the Tadpole Angel.
I suppose that if you've never read the book, the movie would be standard Hollywood fluff, with all the political, cutsie, hero-that-changes-the-world, love story type stuff that people seem to go for.
Which is also the reason I prefer to read and this is one book I will read again and again and again.
A MAZE ING April 8, 2008
this book is amazien i can't spell to well because im reading the book right now. BUy it DO IT KNOW
Unexpectedly amazing April 5, 2008
I picked up The Power of One in the Johannesburg Airport on the suggestion of a friend. With its odd, self-help book title, I would have never chosen on my own. I finished it on the long flight home and have read it repeatedly since. It's that book I pick up when I want to remember that there is goodness in human nature. Peekay's coming of age is an experience completely different from mine, yet it evoked such strong emotion. It echoes To Kill a Mockingbird in how it shows you, through the eyes of child, just how unfair and ill-founded bigotry is, but it keeps from drowning in righteousness by preserving the love and humor of Peekay's youth as well. I cannot recommend this book enough.
The Power of One empowering each new Generation March 30, 2008
The Power of One came to me at an important time of my life and empowered me in the face of hardship to continue on. I recommend this book to all of my students.
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