Tandia

By: Bryce Courtenay

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Tandia is a child of all Africa: half Indian, half African, beautiful and intelligent, she is only 16 when she is first brutalized by the police. Her fear of the White man leads her to join the Black resistance movement. With her in the fight for justice is the one White man Tandia can trust, the welterweight champion of the world, Peekay. Now he must fight their common enemy in order to save both their lives.

©2013 Christine Courtenay (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Humphrey Bower is brilliant....[Tandia] will resonate in the hearts and minds of listeners long after the final chapter." (AudioFile Magazine)

awesome book!

Tandia and the Power of One are perhaps that best books/novels that I have read /listened to so far. At the end of these two books, I feel a deep love for Africa itself and feel as if the lead character PeeKay is someone I really know. The author has a wonderful way of describing about the native customs/beliefs of Africa with respect and without trivialising them. This is rare as most westerner academics/authors who study non-western customs rarely understand them and frequently trivialize them using their limited knowledge. Obviously, the author, Bryce Courtenay, is a real son of Africa, just like how PeeKay is potrayed.

The narrator deserves a special mention. I dont think I would have enjoyed this book as well as I did if I read it off a book. The different voices and tones and accent that Humphrey Bower uses throughout the two books is really entertaining.

I for sure will listen to more books from this Author-Narrator combo both for content and entertainment.

Tandia

excellent book and expertly narrated...if you're looking for a thriller with much suspense, excitement, and substance, this is it..it is a good look at south africa at the time of apartheid...although over 20hrs., did not want it to end...

only con was the ending which I would have preferred different

Outstanding narrator, some flaws in story

Overall, the story is engaging and powerful. I read The Power of One quite a few years ago and remember that I thought it was an excellent book, so I decided to listen to this sequel. Not only am I not a boxing fan, I think it is evil. I tolerated it in The Power of One, feeling that there were clear psychological reasons that the main protagonist became a boxer. I did not enjoy the boxing descriptions there. But this time I would have hoped for greater maturity, a recognition that your manhood or ability or worth is not proven in the ring. I think quite late in the book Peekay says one line to that affect. The boxing scenes were awful to me, violence for violence’s sake. The gladiators in the 20th century. I also found the rape scenes and other sexually suggestive scenes too lurid, voyeuristic, as if there were some readers (or listeners) who might find them titillating, and that kind of nauseated me. In general, there was too much emphasis on beauty - how many times do I need to hear how beautiful Tandia is? It is as if the author needs to convince himself that Black can be Beautiful. Mandoma is also described as beautiful. It’s over the top. Similarly, I found the descriptions of the prostitutes and their dress and lives overdone - I’m not sure why it was necessary. There is an overuse of certain phrases: they were “dressed to the nines”. Peekay “tilted at windmills”. Cliches used too many times. All that said, I found the narrator to be amazing, with great accents, distinguishable characters, and with great emotional expression. Also, putting aside the flaws, the book is quite a powerful depiction of bigotry, hatred, and the destruction it brings to people. Sadly, though apartheid has ended, South Africa is far from where it needs to go, and the level of corruption is discouraging. I’d wonder what Tandia would think of South Africa today and what Peekay sacrificed himself for.

Incredible story

Another great Courtenay book Totally hooked on this guy Surprisingly wonderful ending Rich in culture Loved it

I didn’t want it to end

I have listened to this whole series but believe this is my favorite. One of the great things with my audiobooks is that I can go back and start listening from the veritable book and enjoy them again.

Wonderful story; beautiful performance.

Would you consider the audio edition of Tandia to be better than the print version?

I enjoyed the book enormously, many years ago. I enjoyed this performance of the book just as well - which is high praise indeed.

Have you listened to any of Humphrey Bower’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The Power of One. Also magnificent!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

An African story; a human story; a great story.

Yet another beautiful story by Courtenay

I loved The Potato Factory and The Power of One. The narrator has a captivating voice and the story will definitely grab hold of your heart.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

An incredibly well thought out and written story of undying love and benign hate. I doubt I have enjoyed a story more than The Power of One and Tandia. I can not recommended it enough.
There are some parts that are not for the faint of heart and even some sensual paragraphs. Got me, who would ordinarily find sexual content distasteful, I was well impressed with how Mr. Bryce presented these scenes with the utmost care and eloquence removing any sense of the profane.
Well Done.
The Narrator did as good a job as I can imagine is possible, and quite likely made this an even better story for me than had I read the pages myself.

One of the best novels I've ever read

Authors of historical novels must usually trade off between the broad, sweeping historical picture at hand -- or believable characters that you fall in love with (or hate, whichever is required). Tandia manages to give it all to you. You care about the characters so much that you don't want the book to end, and the backdrop of South Africa's travails 1950 through 1985 is informative and stirring. Tandia has risen to the top of the heap of books I recommend to anyone who'll listen.

The best!

I loved every moment of "Tandia's" experience.
2 thumbs up for the plot and narration.