A review by floatsomejetsome
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

One of the rare books where the movie was better.  The movie plays up the interesting (to me) bits and displays the awful bits. The back cover says it’s a book “about a man you should hate but that you will love.” Negative on that, sportsfans.

The movie version adds some flying (and gets it mostly right as I recall, which the book does not), focuses on the camaraderie of the marines, and best of all, really cuts down on the gratuitous child and spouse abuse. This is primarily a book about a father who beats the crap out of his family constantly and does his best to turn his boys into terrible men. The movie makes this a subplot.
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