This book is pure
magic. This is the story of Peekay, an
english boy in predominantly
boer south africa during and after
World War II.
I have trouble summing up the
book. Any explanation of the
story makes the book sound
mundane. There is so much to the book woven into and under the
plot. It is powerful. Peekay is just an english boy who, after being bullied in
school, wants to become the welter-weight champion of the world. In attempting to do so, he gets an ace
education (in a
prison, no less), becomes a unifying leader of the tribes of
africa who sing songs to him, their "tadpole angel", works in a
diamond mine, becomes a
piano player and an expert on
succulents, and eventually gets his
revenge on childhood bullies.
These things make the book sound
trite, but it isn't. The story is believable enough that I assumed it was, at least in part, an
autobiographical account of the author's childhood (it isn't).