Bryce Courtenay

The Power of One is a story loosely based on Courtenay’s childhood, many parts of the story similar to his own. Courtenay was born in South Africa in 1933 and was sent to boarding school at the age of five. He was an illegitimate child so much bullying occurred because of this and also the fact that he was a ‘Rooinek’ caused much torture from the Boer Children at the boarding school which Courtenay said was like an orphanage mixed with a reformed school. However, different to the story, Courtenay learnt to box at boarding school so that he could protect himself from the bullies. After boarding school he moved to Barberton, a small town in the North East of South Africa where he met Doc who taught Courtenay about nature as they roamed the hills and mountains of Barberton together. He then received a scholarship to a prestigious boy’s school in Johannesburg and eventually he also received a scholarship to England after having to go into exile because of the weekend school for Africans he set up in the hall of the Johannesburg school, being discovered by police at the beginning of apartheid.  After he studied in London he moved to Australia and married an Australian he met in London and at the age of 55 started writing novels.

The book is a very popular novel with 80% of reviews saying it was an outstanding book. It is not popular with everyone but this is to be expected; each individual has a different style of writing they like to read, a genre that interests them. There are also those who prefer books with simpler vocabulary and in general shorter. For this reason not everyone who reads the book will like it, as with other books, this is understandable and something an author will take into account when writing a book. However in general the book is well loved and read by many and definitely a worthwhile read.

The book is said by some to be written for an Australian audience, however I beg to differ. I feel that this book is a beneficial read for anyone in the world and therefore I feel that Bryce Courtenay did not only have Australians in mind. It is also important to add that Courtenay wrote The Power of One as a practice book, for himself and therefore it could also be seen that the target audience wasn’t really thought of because Courtenay wrote it for himself. No matter who the book is written for, however, it is very inspirational and will help anyone realise that people can rise above a situation, even if it was delivered in a worldly perspective.