Book Review

Oh Pat Conroy...I am so in love with you. I just don't think I will ever get over it. I don't think I even want to.

Let me start with this. If the only connection you have with Conroy is that you watched the movie "The Prince of Tides", then I want you to get up right now, get yourself to a library and find the C section. Get Beach Music, The Lords of Discipline or The Great Santini. It makes no difference what you get. Just get something. Then ignore your kids, your spouse, your job and your dog and just read it. The negative aspect of this experience is that you will live the rest of your life in bitter regret of all the years you wasted without Pat Conroy's prose dancing in your brain. Honestly, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Conroy is not a "Southern Writer". I cannot explain to you how fully I hate that phrase. Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, Eudora Welty. These are all great writers. They also, like Conroy, happen to be from and write about the South. John Steinbeck wrote about California. Nobody calls him a "Western Writer". In fact, there are no other novelists from any region that are categorized this way. Now obviously I realize that the South is special. For instance, we are not ashamed of crazy people. We actually enjoy them. Also, we really, really like to eat. So food makes repeated and often sensual appearances in "Southern Literature". I hate that phrase too, by the way. Fiddle-dee-dee.


If you haven't ever read Conroy, please don't start with this book. At some point, you should read it but not first. See Pat Conroy hasn't published a book in 14 years. Apparently every idea he had during that time ended up in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it but it's not for the uninitiated. The basic premise of the book is how one day can (and often does) change your life completely. For the main character, Leo Bloom, that day comes during the summer before his senior year. He meets the people who will form his core group of friends for the rest of his life. He also finds out that his mother used to be a nun. See, this is the kind of thing that makes Conroy a genius. He will create a side story based on a secondary character that really could be a stand alone novel. And, honestly, have you ever heard of a nun who leaves the convent to marry, have children and become a high school principal? Well you have now. See how this guy has enriched your pitiful life already?

This is far from a perfect novel. But it's pretty dang entertaining if you are willing to surrender yourself to the experience...which I always am. What else do I have to do?