Tuesday Talk: The Power of One

The Power of One is my all-time favorite book.  I have read it multiple times and listened to it on audio.  It is fantastic.  I chose to talk about it today is celebration of Black History Month.  Now the main character is not actually black, but the book takes place in apartheid South Africa.  Also, some of the people Peekay loves the most and are the most influential in his life are black.  He lives in both worlds, which causes him lots of grief in his childhood.  This book is just fabulous.  It is a great example of how one person, no matter his size, can change the world.  he doesn't let fear and hatred get him down.  He makes friends in the most unlikely of places and dares to dream of things bigger than what appears to be in his reach.  My copy of this book has multiple passages underlined.  There are just so many wonderful, deep, perhaps even life-changing excerpts I love to revisit.  I'm glad I first came across this book when I was in college and in the underlining and margin writing state of mind.  I don't think I could bring myself to "defile" a book like that today.  Of course, if I hadn't done it, it would take forever to find my favorite passages.  Here are a few:

 "...in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out.  That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed." (p.20)

"Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth.  Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a change remark." (p.60)

"First with the head and then with the heart."--this is the theme Peekay revisits as he attempts to become the welterweight champion of the world.

"The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself..." (p.423)

There are a lot more memorable lines I could quote, but I think everyone should read this book and find their own favorites!!  This book did take me a few tries to get into.  I read the first chapter or two multiple times before I ever made it further.  I'm saying this not because it is a difficult book to read, but because it took a few more chapters to hook me in than other books have.  That said, please don't give up on this book until you have given it a fair shot.  I promise you won't regret it.  It is an amazing story that everyone should read.  It may even change your life.  Happy reading!