The Power Of One

I have a lot of feelings about this book. The first hundred pages won me over completely. Courtenay beautifully captures the worldview of a precocious and horrifically mistreated child, sandwiched in the tight space between British, Boer, and black in 1930s-40s South Africa. I became less enamored of the book as Peekay aged, continuing in the role of indefatigable hero but without increasing awareness of the suffering of those around him. Black South Africans remain mystical secondary characters, good-hearted and simple. Every character around Peekay is fascinating but static; with black characters this was particularly uncomfortable for me as a reader because Peekay interprets them through racist (though kind and well-meaning) eyes. And while this book can absolutely be read with Peekay as an unreliable narrator of his own story, acknowledging that possibility does not make this any more comfortable.

I'm still processing the somewhat shocking finale. Peekay finishes his journey to adulthood with an act of crass revenge on the first tormentor of his childhood, although admittedly he acts initially in self-defense. It's a conclusion that beautifully calls into question the entire heroizing narrative. But, like the book's depiction of black Africa, it left me with an uncertain taste in my mouth because of the possibly more straightforward interpretation - defeat and humiliation of one's enemies is the ultimate demonstration of one's manhood.