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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I didn't love this one as much as Prince of Tides and Beach Music. I had hard time reading it for a few reasons. One is that I found the characters of Bull and Marianne to be somewhat annoying. They are both just people I would never want to be around. Second, I felt like I was on pins and needles every time the family seemed to be kinda picking at Bull. I felt like he was going to blow at any moment, and I just wanted them to stop. I guess that's the mark of a good storyteller that he could make me feel so involved that I was uncomfortable. It was a good story and well told. I've read that although Pat Conroy's father didn't like being portrayed in this book that Pat really saw it more as a love letter to his father. After finishing the book, it does come across that way.
This is one of my all-time favorites. My mom gave it to me to read when I was about 12, and I have probably read it about 25 times since then. It is a beautifully written story, and never fails to move me to tears and laughter. I envy Pat Conroy his gift of written dialogue... I don't know of a writer who does it better.
I found this book a hard read for a couple of reasons. One was Bull Meecham was a miserable
human being, although he might have been a good Marine pilot he tortured his family. Another reason I it was a "hard" read was I often slowed down and sometimes rereading passages because his imagery was so uncanny. I read about Pat Conroy's life before reading this semi-autobiographical book, and I read about how his relationship with his father changed after the book was published. Collaborating with his father on military details while writing the book brought them closer. But it sounds like his father actually changed for the better after the book. Some parts of the book made me laugh like describing oysters as "eating shelled snot" or when Bull poured urine on his cereal. But mostly the book made me cringe at how crude, selfish, cruel, sexist, controlling, and overbearing Bull was to others and to his poor wife and kids.
human being, although he might have been a good Marine pilot he tortured his family. Another reason I it was a "hard" read was I often slowed down and sometimes rereading passages because his imagery was so uncanny. I read about Pat Conroy's life before reading this semi-autobiographical book, and I read about how his relationship with his father changed after the book was published. Collaborating with his father on military details while writing the book brought them closer. But it sounds like his father actually changed for the better after the book. Some parts of the book made me laugh like describing oysters as "eating shelled snot" or when Bull poured urine on his cereal. But mostly the book made me cringe at how crude, selfish, cruel, sexist, controlling, and overbearing Bull was to others and to his poor wife and kids.
This was such a complex novel! I honestly didn't think I'd like it but I read it for a book club of sorts. Blew my expectations out of the water! A true exploration into family dynamics. I loved it.
This book was a disappointment to me. I put it down several times, and always had to force myself to go back and pick it up (just because I hate to leave a book unfinished.) Unlike other reviewers, I found the prose totally disengaging; the drawn out passages about nature or flying or the Marines did not add any depth to the story that I could see. I felt like each chapter was a fragment of a complete story, and none of the fragments connected. I kept waiting for a chapter to build upon another, for a character to be brought back to add meaning to the next fragment. With very few exceptions, this did not happen. This led to a feeling like the book could use a really good editor. The first 1/5 and the final 1/5 were the best portions, with the middle feeling like an overstuffed sausage of images that didn't add anything to character development or plot. Ironically, the ending felt very rushed, and I finished the final page upset that I had wasted time plowing through the dull middle. Although most of our time is spent with the eldest son, Ben, the character development of him (and everyone else) is really lacking. Two dimensional is most places, which made the addition of a 3rd dimension very noticeable and all the more upsetting. I am a big fan of rereading books I enjoy, but I will not go back and reread this book again.
Read this ages ago - back in the '90s... (Dunno why it wasn't on my list earlier.) Terrific book. Painfully sad...
I don't recall ever "rating" this one and obviously would be astonished at a 3-star rating for Conroy. ?? Someone must have snuck in the middle of the night?
Pat Conroy is one of those writers who can write only one story (John Irving and Amy Tan come to mind, as well). Conroy seems obsessed with the idea of a Southern family trying to navigate the high school experiences of a sensitive son and a smartass daughter. Again there is the angry, abusive father and the rather ineffective mother who is mostly concerned about what the neighbors think. Again there are themes of forgiveness and redemption and racial tension. Again someone gets raped. Again there are pages of descriptions of high school sports.
What's different about this novel is that there are a lot of plot points that are dropped and never picked up again. What happens after the girl is raped? Why should the reader care about the high school basketball tryouts? A thorough editing and pruning would make for a much shorter book, but one that is cleaner and much more fluid. The action is too bogged down by these tangential subplots.
That said, Conroy's descriptions are amazing, as in other books he's written. However, I'd start with The Prince of Tides and not this one.
What's different about this novel is that there are a lot of plot points that are dropped and never picked up again. What happens after the girl is raped? Why should the reader care about the high school basketball tryouts? A thorough editing and pruning would make for a much shorter book, but one that is cleaner and much more fluid. The action is too bogged down by these tangential subplots.
That said, Conroy's descriptions are amazing, as in other books he's written. However, I'd start with The Prince of Tides and not this one.
Overall, enjoyable read. One major issue I had however, was it seemed like Conroy dropped fancy words in just because he knew them. They distracted from the story for me.