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Tandia By Bryce Courtenay ( Penguin Books Australia )
Release Date: 1998-08-31
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $16.50
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I want more!
To be honest I did NOT like the ending. I LOVE PEEKAY he is quite possibly my favorite fictional character. His tragic death at the end really tore me up. I sent a letter to the author telling him I want a sequel. Of course he would not do it just for me but just like with voting I am hoping many others request a sequel from him. The ending was ambiguous enough that a plot device could be used to keep him alive for a sequel without making any continuity errors or being too unrealistic. And if he is not kept alive as I hope then the continued adventures of his friends AND his son since he impregnated Tandia would be a good way to do a sequel.
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 It feels bad when its over..great writer.
This is an author I hate to start reading. He is no lover of happy endings. He is so great an author it feels bad when its over. It feels as though your mother just left you at the nursery school door and you are five years old. So forlorn.
Mama come back I am forlorn because this book has ended. Yes he is a glorious writer.
Bryce Courtenay writes books that make such an impression. When I have simply told others about small parts of his books they were quiet and just wanted to hear more. Sometimes the ..entire book... [[Tommo and Hawk, The Potato Factory]]
His books are an emotional investment. Once you start it, it will grip you and sieze your emotions and change you and make you think and reflect. Wow.
Of all his books, which are exceptional, each of them, of these exceptional books, I liked Tandia the least of a great series. She was not a very likeable character as far as charisma. Many of his main characters thruout his books were downright reprehensible as people. Rotten as to be the bottom of the barrel, and worked hard at it to be that way but had charisma.
I didnt find that element charisma in how Tandia's character was written. I felt adrift at the end of the book. I was not happy with how some loose ends were left unaddressed...
Now I have a bone to pick about those loose ends. I finished Tandia a few weeks ago and this still bothers me.
What about Hymie? What makes Peekay think that his devoted friends won't come after him. I am finishing "The Power of One" now and his devoted following was entrenched and dedicated to him as a kid. It is even more inconceivable a search party or tracker will not go and hunt down ..the former Welterweight Champion of the World? the Missing Tadpole Angel?
I am finishing the "Power of One" and he gave Doc an oath never to let anyone else know about or violate the santity of the Crystal Cave? He promised Doc never to reveal its presence to anyone. Now all kinds of people are going to find it when they go looking for Heldenheiss, and Peekay. When they follow the same blood trail Heldenheiss did.
Thus my conclusion is, with all the unlikely accomplishments Peekay made in his lifetime, his next was to leave the Crystal Cave in the sequel that was never published or I never found.
I recommend all his books I have read: The Potato Factory, Tommo and Hawk, The Power of One.
I listened to the audiobook and that had an additional element that added to the book because the narrator for Mr. Courtenay's books is truly one of the most gifted ever. That guy deserves fan letters himself.
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Not as good as The Power of One, but still exceptional. ( makhtari )
Tandia is the sequel to The Power of One and in many ways it is similar and in many more ways different. It is a much darker book. Peekay no longer deals with problems that a child might face, he now faces a whole system of hatred and racism, also known as apartheid. Therefore, Tandia is much more realistic than its predecessor, because reality is harsh, but in the process it's not as heart-warming and as much a joy to read. The 900 pages are worth reading nevertheless because this is an exceptional novel in its own standing and continues the story of PK and his struggles as an adult. I really do recommend this book to anyone who has read the Power of One, but I also advise you to keep an open mind because this book is very different and has its own personality. The ending is great but not as magnificent as the first one and also many of the plot points are slow to develop. For example, PK does not come in to the storyline up to I think page 250 or 300. Tandia is a great read nevertheless by this great South African author.
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 Possible subtitle: The Power of Schlock ( buttersmom )
It is hard to believe that this book was written by the author of The Power of One. What I'd hoped would be a fitting sequel was, as another reviewer aptly described it, "Harold Robbins"-ish. Contrived and cliche-ridden, none of the warmth and beauty of its predecessor - not quite a disaster, but not worth the agony of reading tortured descriptions such as "socks as white as driven snow" while trying to ignore the inexplicable plot devices and coincidences that moved the turgid prose to its inevitable conclusion. This book needed a judicious editor. The only reason I gave it two stars was that the historical references encouraged me to read more about apartheid and its impact on the country and its people.
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Tandia
I found the book engrossing but slow to start just as the power of one but I never realy connected with tandia and I was to say the least dissapointed with PK. Even though i know the gaol was most likely to humanize him in this book. I felt his ideals and basic charecter remained the same but, for some reason the thought of him as a main stream adult didn't apeal to me as much as him as an adolescent child or even a mine worker. The ending is good but i wasn't sure it was done as well as it could have been but then agian my name isn't Bryce Courtney, i wonder if there is a sequal.
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