The Power of One

“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 chance remark. Hoppie Greenwald was to prove to be a passing mentor who would set the next seventeen years of my life on an irrevocable course. He would do so in little more than a day and a night.”

- Bryce Courtenay – The Power of One

I tend to think, no matter how long they’ve been patiently sitting on your shelves, that books have a way of finding you when they know its their turn, their moment to shine, to befriend, to finally be read.

The Power of One and I have a bit of a history, dating all the way back to my senior year of high school when my World Cultures class watched the film version. Years later I happened upon the book at a library sale. I remembered almost none of the plot of movie, only that I’d adored the film.

I often make it my mission to match people and books. I’m not always successful, but my batting average isn’t terrible. I like the sport of it; recognizing a persons interests and personality enough to suggest a few clever recommendations. At the time I stumbled across The Power of One, I was dating someone who I was sure would fall for the novel, despite having never read it myself. So I made the purchase as a gift, fully intending to read the book myself as well. Of course, because things seem to unfold this way, we broke up before I’d read it. As we went our separate ways he took custody of the novel, adoring it just as much as I’d imagined he would.

Almost two years ago, my mother and I wandered into a great used book store in her town. I left that store about $50 poorer but with more books than I could carry – including, finally, all for my very own, The Power of One. Still, I didn’t read it immediately. I suppose it just wasn't time yet.

A few weeks ago, ready to pick my next read, I stood in my living room head cocked to the right reading spine after spine. I ran my fingers across a few, pulling a book out here or there, debating. Then, on the second shelf, I hovered. Something in my gut told me it was finally time to crack it open, this classic novel of South Africa. And oh! what an epic tale, what a story. I think Courtenay’s novel stole a piece of my heart as I made my way through its 500+ pages but I don’t mind.

For I often judge books by a moment. When a great tale comes to an end, if I am forced to catch my breath or clutch the book close to my heart, it is a success. If in my hectic life I find time to pause or sit for a moment or two and just think, letting the story settle into my memory the book has given me a great gift - leaving me better than before. These moments are brief and uncommon and when they happen I hold them in high accord. As I tucked The Power of One away last night, I felt forced to say goodbye to a dear friend, one I hope you will enjoy and love as much as I did.

"If we're lucky, writer and reader alike, we'll finish the last line or two of a short story and then just sit for a minute, quietly. Ideally, we'll ponder what we've just written or read; maybe our hearts or our intellects will have been moved off the peg just a little from where they were before. Our body temperature will have gone up, or down, by a degree. Then, breathing evenly and steadily once more, we'll collect ourselves, writers and readers alike, get up, "created of warm blood and nerves," as a Chekhov character puts it, and go onto the next thing: Life, Always life."

-Raymond Carver -