Blog Entry 2

Blog 2

It is important to realise where Bryce Courtenay is coming from. He bases this book loosely on his own life experiences, things such as being bullied when he went to boarding school, learning how to box and the fact that Peekay’s life take place at roughly the same time as Courtenay’s.  When reading this book you have to remember that almost everything in this book Courtenay can relate to. It is a sort of fake autobiography. This is called a bildungsroman. By doing this, making the story based on his own life, it would have been easier for him to write because he had actually had those things happen to him and when he writes it all down, he writes as if he was there; which in fact he sort of was. Everything he writes can be written down with detailed accuracy and with an uncanny and striking depth that seems to penetrate your head. The popularity and the appeal of this novel is very much based on the author. The fact that he is a very distinguished writer will make his work even more noticed. The appeal of the novel itself is great! I honestly found it to be interesting and almost addictively gripping. Although in some parts (mainly the mining part) he seems to drag on with details for a bit too long, I find that this book is really well written. I have also looked on the internet to find some reviews and the responses to this book have been very positive. The most negative part of this book that I find is the offensive language. Most of this is very unnecessary and some of it completely uncalled for. The age that this book is intended for is obviously not for youngsters. First of all it is a rather large book, secondly it goes into detail about a lot of things such as Peekay’s private parts and his puberty and also with some terms and symbols such as the loneliness birds and the boxing terminology. In addition to this there is also a fair bit of abusive language that is used. I find that the intended audience would be from the ages fourteen or fifteen and up. There is also the fact that this book isn’t really aimed at Christians, it is a worldly book and worldly speaking it is a fantastic book, however we must remember that we have to compare what it says to Scripture and this often clashes with the book. This is where we must take a step back and realise that Peekay is not a Christian, and obviously Courtenay isn’t either, or else he wouldn’t have written a book with such offensive language.