Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Book Review - The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

The Power of One was the debut - and best-known - novel of this prolific author who died just a few months ago.

2013-01-25

VANCOUVER, BC, January 25, 2013 (Press-News.org) The Power of One was the debut - and best-known - novel of this prolific author who died just a few months ago. Bryce Courtenay was born in South Africa and the novel is 'semi-autobiographical' - it is left to the reader to decide just which parts are true and how much is a product of the writer's imagination. Certainly there are many similarities between the childhood of the author and that of the novel's protagonist, the self-styled Peekay.

Peekay is an exceptional child of English descent who encounters horrific bullying when sent to a boarding school at the tender age of five. Surrounded by Afrikaaners who have no love for the English, Peekay learns to survive - initially by blending in and refusing to cry. Nevertheless, his experiences at the hands of his nemesis 'the judge' affect his entire youth, eventually culminating in a violent conclusion that effectively brings the novel full circle. A chance encounter on the train ride home introduces the young boy to boxing - a sport that fascinates him and for which, thanks to the help and advice of two mentors, he develops an incredible ability. As a young amateur he never loses a fight, gaining self-confidence and learning many invaluable life lessons along the way.

However, the book is not just a story of boxing - in fact there are so many different elements in this novel that it is difficult to attribute it to any particular genre. It is a coming-of-age novel, a novel of South African life and racism in the 30s, 40s and 50s; it is mystical, an adventure novel and much more. The Power of One deals with gritty subjects such as bullying, torture by brutal prison wardens, the horrors of apartheid and the unbelievably harsh life of the Rhodesian copper mines. At the same time, it is a fascinating and compelling story of adventure, love, friendship, nature and triumph over adversity.

Peekay is a young man of extraordinary ability in many spheres who is mentored by Doc, an elderly German professor, who educates him in nature and music and profoundly influences his entire youth. Peekay later earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school where he befriends Morrie - a wealthy Jewish boy. Together the boys run many successful scams - even operating a bank for fellow students. His friendship with Morrie is set to be lifelong and gives Peekay yet another perspective on discrimination.

The Power of One paints a vivid picture of a childhood in South Africa during World War II and at the beginning of apartheid. As the centre of the story, Peekay is an engaging character who enjoys the reader's emotional support and empathy throughout. This is a book you will find difficult to put down.

About Prompt Proofing

Prompt Proofing is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and was officially launched in 2010 by a team of editing and writing professionals who have over 40 years of experience in the education, news media, public relations and recruitment fields. Prompt Proofing prides itself on affordable services delivered with fast turnaround times, without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

Offering content writing, editing and proofreading services, Prompt Proofing takes care of your individual or business content needs. We have customers throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and Australia.

Visit our website for more information at http://www.PromptProofing.com.

We offer coupons, news and more through our social media sites:
Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/promptproofing
Like us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/promptproofing

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Breathtaking 3-Lake Cycling Tour of the Alps Expanded for 2013

2013-01-25

Today, Cyclomundo announced that it has expanded its popular visually intensive 3-Lake Cycling trip for 2013 with two options offering different trip itineraries. This world-class route, which lasts 5 nights and 6 days, links three major lakes in the region, namely, Lake Geneva, Lac du Bourget and Lake Annecy. One major element that makes Cyclomundo's offerings unique is that the company's tours are now perfect for both leisure cyclists with less experience, as well as very serious riders who are interested in more challenging climbs. As a result, groups can enjoy cycling ...

iOrgsoft Released New Software to Edit MP4/AVI/FLV/MPG Videos on Mac OS (Mountain Lion Included)

2013-01-25

iOrgsoft has released a new product-iMedia Maker for Mac. Based on the Video Editor for Mac, this iMedia Maker for Mac has changed quite a lot, and some the functions it can provide are what the old version cannot compare to. The new program can easily add text, audio, image, transition effects, special effects and video to video. For those who love customizing movies, this app is really a good helper. Support lots of video formats For Mac users, among the tools to edit videos, the first app they think of is definitely the Final Cut Pro. But to edit videos, FCP may ...

Magma in Earth's mantle forms deeper than once thought

2013-01-24

Magma forms far deeper than geologists previously thought, according to new research results. A team led by geologist Rajdeep Dasgupta of Rice University put very small samples of peridotite, rock derived from Earth's mantle, under high pressures in a laboratory. The scientists found that the rock can and does liquify, at least in small amounts, at pressures equivalent to those found as deep as 250 kilometers down in the mantle beneath the ocean floor. Dasgupta said that this answers several questions about Earth's inner workings. He is the lead author of a paper ...

Immigrants: Highly educated, underpaid

2013-01-24

This press release is available in French. Montreal, January 22, 2013 – The cab driver who was an engineer in his home country, the gas station attendant who used to teach physics, the cashier who trained as a pediatrician. Time and again, new immigrants find themselves in jobs for which their level of education outstrips the requirements, meaning a major loss for the economy. In a paper recently published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal ISRN Economics, Mesbah Sharaf, an assistant professor in Concordia's Department of Economics, found that two-thirds of recent ...

Pavlov's rats? Rodents trained to link rewards to visual cues

2013-01-24

In experiments on rats outfitted with tiny goggles, scientists say they have learned that the brain's initial vision processing center not only relays visual stimuli, but also can "learn" time intervals and create specifically timed expectations of future rewards. The research, by a team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sheds new light on learning and memory-making, the investigators say, and could help explain why people with Alzheimer's disease have trouble remembering recent events. Results of the study, ...

Smokers who quit before age 40 have lifespan almost as long as people who never smoked

2013-01-24

TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2013—Smokers who quit when they are young adults can live almost as long as people who never smoked, groundbreaking new research has found. Smoking cuts at least 10 years off a person's lifespan. But a comprehensive analysis of health and death records in the United States found that people who quit smoking before they turn 40 regain almost all of those lost years. "Quitting smoking before age 40, and preferably well before 40, gives back almost all of the decade of lost life from continued smoking," said Dr. Prabhat Jha, head of the Centre for Global ...

Estrogen fights urinary infection in mouse study

2013-01-24

Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found new evidence in mice that the two phenomena are connected by more than just timing. If further research confirms these links, boosting estrogen levels may get a second look as an approach for reducing urinary infections in menopausal women. "Scientists tested estrogen as a treatment for post-menopausal women with urinary tract infections in the 1990s, but the results ...

Right target, but missing the bulls-eye for Alzheimer's

2013-01-24

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of late-life dementia. The disorder is thought to be caused by a protein known as amyloid-beta, or Abeta, which clumps together in the brain, forming plaques that are thought to destroy neurons. This destruction starts early, too, and can presage clinical signs of the disease by up to 20 years. For decades now, researchers have been trying, with limited success, to develop drugs that prevent this clumping. Such drugs require a "target" — a structure they can bind to, thereby preventing the toxic actions of Abeta. Now, ...

Discovery of new class of damage-prone DNA regions could lead to better cancer treatments

2013-01-24

Cancer is thought to arise from DNA damage at fragile sites in the genome. A study published by Cell Press on January 24th in the journal Cell reveals a new class of fragile sites that contributes to DNA alterations in a type of blood cancer called B cell lymphoma The findings could lead to the development of more effective treatments for B cell lymphoma and potentially other cancers. "This study describes an underlying mechanism of genome instability in B cell lymphoma that could not be previously explained," says senior study author André Nussenzweig of the National ...

Dung beetles follow the Milky Way

2013-01-24

You might expect dung beetles to keep their "noses to the ground," but they are actually incredibly attuned to the sky. A report published online on January 24 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that even on the darkest of nights, African ball-rolling insects are guided by the soft glow of the Milky Way. While birds and humans are known to navigate by the stars, the discovery is the first convincing evidence for such abilities in insects, the researchers say. It is also the first known example of any animal getting around by the Milky Way as opposed to ...

Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Book Review - The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: