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A review by writesdave
My Losing Season: A Memoir by Pat Conroy
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Stunningly beautiful sports memoir (four words that don't often appear in succession) by a guy best known for Southern Fiction™, this book is not your average sports memoir in that you'll find few bombshells and a unique devotion to getting it right, manifested in hours of interviews with the principals.
You know Conroy's story—raised in a brutally abusive home, educated at a brutally abusive fake-military academy, emerged as the late 20th century's premier Southern Novelist™. But you probably didn't know he started at point guard for a sorry excuse for a basketball team, coached by a tyrant on a level with his abusive dad. That said, he mined those memories for lessons learned from losing, not least his decision to write for a living, reached on an interminable bus trip from a game and cultivated by a pleasant surprise of a mentor.
The prose is amazing and the memories crystal-clear. Plus, the indelible connection between Conroy's basketball and his writing life emerges early on, giving connoisseurs of the literature-sports interplay a mountaintop experience. I can't explain how enjoyable this book was beyond the word salad I've offered; maybe it just hit right at this point in my life. I can't explain any more clearly than the word salad I've offered here. As an frustrated writer and athlete myself, I offer a nod to Conroy as he sits the bench in the great beyond—he got it right.
You know Conroy's story—raised in a brutally abusive home, educated at a brutally abusive fake-military academy, emerged as the late 20th century's premier Southern Novelist™. But you probably didn't know he started at point guard for a sorry excuse for a basketball team, coached by a tyrant on a level with his abusive dad. That said, he mined those memories for lessons learned from losing, not least his decision to write for a living, reached on an interminable bus trip from a game and cultivated by a pleasant surprise of a mentor.
The prose is amazing and the memories crystal-clear. Plus, the indelible connection between Conroy's basketball and his writing life emerges early on, giving connoisseurs of the literature-sports interplay a mountaintop experience. I can't explain how enjoyable this book was beyond the word salad I've offered; maybe it just hit right at this point in my life. I can't explain any more clearly than the word salad I've offered here. As an frustrated writer and athlete myself, I offer a nod to Conroy as he sits the bench in the great beyond—he got it right.