Pat Conroy: American Author Challenge

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Pat Conroy: American Author Challenge

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1msf59
Editado: Ago 29, 2018, 8:35 pm



Pat Conroy was born on October 26, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia. The first of seven children born into a military family, Pat Conroy was the victim of his father's violence and abuse from a young age. This history helped shape much of his writing, particularly his novel The Great Santini, which describes his father as abusive and dominant. He is best known for his work The Prince of Tides, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 1991.
He is known for his novels and his memoirs. Conroy died at his home in Beaufort, South Carolina, on March 4, 2016, at the age of 70.

**This is part of our American Author Challenge 2018. This author will be read in September. The general discussion thread can be found right here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/279501

2msf59
Editado: Ago 29, 2018, 8:35 pm

3msf59
Editado: Ago 29, 2018, 8:46 pm

My introduction to Conroy was through his films, The Great Santini & The Lords of Discipline. My first of his books, was The Prince of Tides, which I read before the film came out. I loved that book and the film was pretty damn good too. I always think I have read more of his work, but sadly I have not. I did enjoy his book memoir, My Reading Life, (which I highly recommend), but that is it. This time around I think I will go with The Lords of Discipline. I have not seen the film in 25-plus years, so I don't think that will be a factor.

Any Conroy fans out there? He hasn't popped up on LT much over the years.

4laytonwoman3rd
Ago 29, 2018, 10:06 pm

Conroy is one of those authors who I think managed to "write himself out" before he left us. I was so taken with his early novels, but Beach Music seemed a bit tired, and I didn't bother to read South of Broad after hearing him talk about it when it came out. Reviewers suggested he had done that one before, and better. The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, and The Prince of Tides were all variations on a theme, but excellent. I may re-read one of those in September, as it has been years since I did so the first time. I also enjoyed his memoirs, My Reading Life and The Death of Santini.

5Caroline_McElwee
Ago 30, 2018, 4:55 am

I loved My Reading Life, I've got a couple of his others in the pile, I'll take a look and try to join in this month.

I remember enjoying Beach Music Linda, but don't remember the content, and it exited the premises recently.

6thornton37814
Ago 30, 2018, 7:20 am

I've read several books by Conroy. I believe I grabbed The Prince of Tides to check out.

7drneutron
Ago 30, 2018, 9:22 am

Added this thread to the group wiki.

8Familyhistorian
Ago 30, 2018, 11:59 am

I have never read anything by Conroy. I will have to see what is available at the library.

9lindapanzo
Ago 30, 2018, 12:41 pm

I've read a number of Pat Conroy books, besides the fabulous My Reading Life, including The Lords of Discipline, The Great Santini, and his My Losing Season about his senior year on the basketball team at The Citadel.

I've got copies of his A Lowcountry Heart collection as well as South of Broad and hope to get to one or both of those in September.

10benitastrnad
Ago 30, 2018, 1:53 pm

I am going to try to read Water is Wide this title was required for a Teacher Education course many years ago, and I never got around to reading it then. Now seems like a good time.

11klobrien2
Ago 30, 2018, 6:20 pm

I've read only My Reading Life (loved it), so I have a big choice to make. Kind of leaning toward The Water is Wide.

Karen O.

12klobrien2
Ago 30, 2018, 6:27 pm

>11 klobrien2: Nope, going with The Great Santini. I also found a cookbook! The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life!

Karen O.

13cbl_tn
Ago 30, 2018, 6:38 pm

I have downloaded The Water Is Wide from OverDrive to read in September.

14thornton37814
Ago 30, 2018, 9:12 pm

>13 cbl_tn: I actually have that one on my Kindle app so I may consider changing mine to that one to get something off the TBR list.

15banjo123
Set 2, 2018, 2:45 pm

I have both Prince of Tides and Beach Music on my shelves. I loved the movies, but was lukewarm on Conroy's fiction when I read it in my younger years. But I have been meaning to try again, sometimes maturity helps! I will probably start with Prince of Tides; given the discussions here.

16nittnut
Set 2, 2018, 9:12 pm

I have read The Water is Wide and My Reading Life and really liked both. I am going to read My Losing Season this month.

17Berly
Set 3, 2018, 12:17 pm

I have never read The Great Santini--just got the ebook from the library. : )

18karenmarie
Set 4, 2018, 8:24 am

I will try to book horn in My Reading Life this month!

19msf59
Set 5, 2018, 7:59 pm

Glad to see some activity over here. Yah!! I started mine today...

20msf59
Editado: Set 5, 2018, 8:00 pm



^ I started The Lords of Discipline on audio today. I saw the film version many moons ago but, of course I don't remember much of it. It begins well, although some of the dialogue is a bit ripe. I think this is just his style. It has been a couple of decades since I read his fiction.

21karenmarie
Set 8, 2018, 8:37 am

I started My Reading Life yesterday. By page 10 I decided to go back and list every author and book mentioned by name. It's a bit daunting, but an interesting way to read the book.

22msf59
Set 13, 2018, 9:33 am



The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy 4 stars (audio)

“In Charleston, more than elsewhere, you get the feeling that the twentieth century is a vast, unconscionable mistake.”

“Evil would always come to me disguised in systems and dignified by law.”

This is a story about four cadets, in their final year at a military institute called The Citadel. It is 1966, Charleston, S.C. Will McLean is our wise-cracking narrator. He is also a poor boy from Georgia, with an authority problem. This novel is about friendships and loyalty, but there is also debauchery and betrayal, with a bit of misguided romance thrown in. There is also a wicked society, inside The Citadel, that Will begins to investigate.
This is southern melodrama at it's best. The dialogue is broad and turgid, but once you get into the flow of it, it fits the narrative. Conroy based this on his own experiences at the academy and much of the writing is solid, although it could have used some editing.
The use of the “N” word, is wince-inducing but I am sure it lends itself to it's time and place.

23SqueakyChu
Editado: Set 17, 2018, 10:30 am

>1 msf59: Hi Mark, Pat Conroy is my favorite author, and I was devastated when he died. Both my husband and I have enjoyed most of his books over the years. There are only three books that I know of that I haven't read: The Losing Season (which I own but I can't bear to finish all of his books that I have here), The Boo which is out of print, and The Death of Santini which I have not acquired yet.

I think my favorite book now is South of Broad. I totally fell in love with Toad and his friends and was devastated that there will never be a sequel to that book. I felt as if all of Toad's friends were my friends. I can't tell you how many times my husband has reread The Great Santini which is now on offer at my own Little Free Library. Previously my favorite (Oh, how can one pick a favorite Conroy book?!) was The Lords of Discipline. I found that book very shocking at the time I read it.

Wishing everyone here great enjoyment in reading the works of Pat Conroy.

24lindapanzo
Set 17, 2018, 12:44 pm

>23 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the tip about South of Broad, Madeline. I've got a copy of it on my Kindle but have never gotten around to it. I'm having a terrible reading month but still hope to get to it at some point in the near future.

25SqueakyChu
Set 17, 2018, 3:14 pm

>24 lindapanzo: It’s such a good book about friendship. I hope you like it.

26msf59
Editado: Set 17, 2018, 6:58 pm

>23 SqueakyChu: Thanks for your thoughts on Conroy, Madeline. Glad to hear you are such a big fan. I hope to get to The Great Santini one of these days.

You were not a lover of The Prince of Tides? Probably, still my favorite.

27thornton37814
Set 17, 2018, 7:25 pm

I finished The Prince of Tides over the weekend. I enjoyed his My Reading Life when I read it a few years ago (2011). This one was not a hit. I've got one or two others of his on my Kindle. I won't be rushing to read them.

28SqueakyChu
Editado: Nov 27, 2019, 11:14 am

>26 msf59: I did like Prince of Tides very much, but his other books impressed me in different ways. It’s really hard to pick one or two over others. The first book of his I ever read was The Water is Wide. I did also see the movie “Conrack” based on that book. I loved how he was always trying the fight the status quo in his different Books. He was trying to do what for himself felt right. So much of the emotional turmoil he felt in his own life came out in his books. I liked the honesty with which he wrote.

My husband says that The Prince of Tides is his favorite Conroy book. He read it twice and said he could actually smell the ocean while reading this book. We do not live near the ocean! :)

29karenmarie
Set 19, 2018, 8:47 am

I finished My Reading Life yesterday. What a wonderful book! In case anybody's interested, here's the link to the review on my thread: My Reading Life - karenmarie's review

30benitastrnad
Editado: Set 20, 2018, 7:52 pm

I read Beach Music when I first moved to the South and that book has stayed with me. It is one of those broad sweeping historical novels about families in the same vein as Jeffrey Archer books and those can be great fun to read. Beach Music made me aware of the significant Jewish presence in the South, which is something that many Southerner’s have tried to hide over the years. It is hard to think it is true, but Lehman Brothers started out as a Montgomery Alabama grocery store and then morphed into a big cotton wholesaler before moving to New York City in the 1870’s.

What I remember most in Beach Music was the chapters about the sea turtles and the impact on them from the huge nuclear power plants that dot the South Carolina and Georgia coasts.

Pat Conroy is definitely old school South. In real life he attended and graduated from The Citadel. The Citadel is the West Point of the South. Students who graduate from there can be directly commissed as officers in the U.S. military. Just as graduates from VMI. (Virginia Military Institute)

31SqueakyChu
Set 20, 2018, 9:22 pm

>30 benitastrnad: Those sea turtles always stayed with me, too! The excitement of actually seeing baby sea turtles hatching when my family went to the beach in North Carolina so vividly brought me back to the sea turtles of South Carolina in Conroy's book. I still have a love of learning about them. I attribute that to Pat Conroy! :)

32nittnut
Set 27, 2018, 9:03 am

I don't know if I am going to finish Lords of Discipline. I am pretty sure I am avoiding it. I guess I am in the camp of love his memoirs don't love his fiction. *shrug*

33laytonwoman3rd
Set 27, 2018, 9:22 am

I picked up My Losing Season, which is the only Conroy lying around that I hadn't already read, and skimmed several chapters....don't care about the basketball detail as I'm not a fan of the game, and the rest is SO familiar from other works that I am not going to spend any more time on it. His usual gift for the language shines, though.

34Familyhistorian
Set 29, 2018, 2:01 pm

When in doubt about a new-to-me-author, I try to pick up something about their writing life. In the case of Pat Conroy I read My Reading Life. Conroy started early in the writing game and met as well as read many of the works of American authors. Some of those works were used to inform his own writing although he admitted to going overboard at times. He also wrote in some interesting places.

35nittnut
Set 29, 2018, 4:48 pm

>34 Familyhistorian: I really enjoyed that one.

36Familyhistorian
Set 29, 2018, 5:04 pm

>35 nittnut: Most of the readers on LT seem to like that one and, I think, in part that comes from Conroy's honest view of himself which he writes about in the book.

37nittnut
Set 29, 2018, 5:09 pm

>36 Familyhistorian: Probably. I also liked The Water is Wide, have you read that one?

38banjo123
Editado: Set 29, 2018, 6:37 pm

I am going to have to read My Reading Life! For the challenge, I read Prince of Tides. It is a good story, but Conroy does overwrite, in my opinion, and I found myself wanting a red pen in parts. However, by the end, I was into the story and not looking for my red pen anymore. Also, the lack of ethics by Savannah's therapist, in having an affair with Savannah's brother; really bothered me as someone in the mental health profession.

39Familyhistorian
Set 30, 2018, 12:07 am

>37 nittnut: My Reading Life is the only book I have read by Conroy.

40nittnut
Set 30, 2018, 10:16 pm

>39 Familyhistorian: Well, if you wanted to try another one, I can recommend The Water is Wide. I haven't had such great luck with his fiction, but that's me. Lots of people enjoy it.

41Familyhistorian
Out 1, 2018, 1:11 am

>40 nittnut: That sounds like a good place to start. It was his first, wasn't it?

42nittnut
Out 1, 2018, 11:40 am

>41 Familyhistorian: I believe it was his first book. It's a great story about his experience teaching school on a tiny island off the coast of South Carolina. It's a fascinating look at the time period and the challenges of teaching in an isolated place.

43Familyhistorian
Out 1, 2018, 2:39 pm

>42 nittnut: He mentions that experience in the book I just read. It sounded interesting.

44benitastrnad
Out 1, 2018, 4:22 pm

#38
I do think that Prince of Tides is overwritten, and is quite a pot boiler. That said, when it came out it was a big hit! Really big! I remember that people at work were talking about it in the break room. To have a conversation means that lots of people who were eating together had to have read it. Listening to them talk about it was what caused me to go pick it up and read it. And of course, there was the movie. That made it have another bump as a best seller.

45Caroline_McElwee
Out 13, 2018, 11:39 am

Finally turned up my copy of Prince of Tides, so will book-horn that in over the next month or so.

46Clairefullerton
Nov 27, 2019, 10:56 am

I am a Conroy devotee! I have read everything he's ever published! When word was sent out about Pat Conroy's 70th birthday part in Beaufort, South Carolina, and that there would be a literary festival around the event, I flew from California to attend. I had the pleasure of being around my favorite author for 3 days and looking back now, I think it is the smartest move I ever made! I just finished reading Cassandra King Conroy's memoir, Tell Me A Story, My Life with Pat Conroy. It is wonderful.

47Clairefullerton
Nov 27, 2019, 10:58 am

I adored every line in South of Broad. In it, Conroy literally takes the reader to the famed, crowning jewel of the South, Charleston, South Carolina. Great characters, and a memorable story.

48Clairefullerton
Nov 27, 2019, 10:59 am

I think maturity definitely helps. I read Conroy now and am in awe by his use of language. The Prince of Tides floored me!

49Clairefullerton
Nov 27, 2019, 11:03 am

You'll love My Losing Season. I was surprised I liked it as much as I did, as I thought it was about basketball, which I don't follow. But because it is written by Conroy, it is phenomenally engaging! It's a great story based on a phase of Pat's life! I understand he looked up eveyone on his Citadel basketball team in doing research for the book. I hope you read it. I, too, was devastated when he died! Oh, what to do in a Conroyless world?

50laytonwoman3rd
Nov 27, 2019, 2:02 pm

>46 Clairefullerton:, >47 Clairefullerton:, >48 Clairefullerton:, >49 Clairefullerton: Welcome! I hope you'll wander over to our 2019 American Authors Challenge threads (you can find the main discussion thread here, from which you will find links to each of the monthly threads for specific authors). We'll be setting up the 2020 challenge in the next couple weeks, with 12 new authors or themes. I'm a great fan of Southern literature myself, so there will always be at least one solid choice from that grand tradition when I'm hosting.

51Caroline_McElwee
Nov 28, 2019, 7:44 am

I realise I forgot to post my review:

The Prince of Tides (Pat Conroy) (08/09/19) ****1/2



A wowzer of a novel, not least because so much of it is autobiographical. What a family the Wingo's are! Tom Wingo, teacher and sports coach, tells the story of his family to the psychologist who is treating his sister Savannah, in New York.

There are exceedingly violent episodes, but the novel is a page turner, often with beautiful phrasing, and Conroy writes beautifully about the natural world. You can smell and taste it.

I'm going to have to track down the film, but there is no way it can have captured the breadth of the book, but I'll be happy if it catches a little of its soul.

52Caroline_McElwee
Nov 28, 2019, 7:45 am

>46 Clairefullerton: Welcome Claire.

53laytonwoman3rd
Nov 30, 2019, 10:46 pm

>51 Caroline_McElwee: The movie was very good, but that book really amazed me.