My Losing Season

By: Pat Conroy

Narrated by: Chuck Montgomery

Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

A deeply affecting coming-of-age memoir about family, love, loss, basketball - and life itself - by the beloved author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini

During one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, Pat Conroy becomes part of a basketball team that is ultimately destined to fail. And yet for a military kid who grew up on the move, the Bulldogs provide a sanctuary from the cold, abrasive father who dominates his life- and a crucible for becoming his own man.

With all the drama and incandescence of his best-selling fiction, Conroy re-creates his pivotal senior year as captain of the Citadel Bulldogs. He chronicles the highs and lows of that fateful 1966-67 season, his tough disciplinarian coach, the joys of winning, and the hard-won lessons of losing. Most of all, he recounts how a group of boys came together as a team, playing a sport that would become a metaphor for a man whose spirit could never be defeated.

©2002 Pat Conroy (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"A superb accomplishment, maybe the finest book Pat Conroy has written." (The Washington Post Book World)

"A wonderfully rich memoir that you don’t have to be a sports fan to love." (Houston Chronicle)

"A memoir with all the Conroy trademarks.... Here’s ample proof that losers always tell the best stories." (Newsweek)

Pat Conroy is Great!

This is the first Conroy book I have experienced, but certainly not the last. His style and creative use of language held me captive for the entire book. It is easy to see that his treatment by his father has left lasting marks on his being, but also helped him to become the writer he is. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to experience the life of a young man growing up. It's not just about basketball.

Good but not Conroy's best

This is non-fiction so it gives a different take on Conroy's material. It's worth a read/listen if you're a Conroy fan.

Loved My Losing Season

I have always loved all of Pat Conroy’s fiction but until recently had avoided My Losing Season thinking it was just a sports book. Boy was I wrong. Conroy’s experience on his college basketball team taught him so much and he shared this with his beautiful writing style. It was also fascinating in how he referenced other books he had written and how his characters were developed from his college and basketball career. Highly recommend.

Learn how to pronounce Beaufort…totally disgraceful

Pat Conroy grew up in and called home for his entire life the town of BEAUFORT, pronounced “Bew-fort”. Like you’d say “New-fort”. “Bo-fort”, which is how this idiot mispronounces the critically important town like 300 times in the book, is how the name of a different town in North Carolina is pronounced. It is absolutely not how anyone in South Carolina, especially Pat Conroy, has ever said it. It is excruciating to listen to an announcer who did so little basic homework on his subject. Grating, awful and unprofessional in every way.

My favorite Pat Conroy book

I never had a losing season because I played with the best athletes in my county. But this book ripped my heart out and made me laugh, cry, and count my blessings for the beautiful game of basketball and my wonderful teammates.

Loved the book and narrator except..

The book is great but the narrator should know how to pronounce “Beaufort” He keeps referring to this historic city as “Bo-fort” It’s a huge error. But otherwise as a South Carolina resident and family history rich in Charleston and Beaufort, the book is great.

I really think you should record the book over. The mispronunciation is scattered throughout the book

Moving, sad, poignant, memorable

Like the Great Santini, a lot of this book is about Conroy’s tyrant of a father. It’s also a lot about what we learn from sports, especially the heartbreaking lessons of losing.

The only thing I have to criticize is the narration. It’s not as awful as many Audiobooks, but there could have been more research put into pronouncing things correctly. For example, a lot of the book takes place in Beaufort, SC which the narrator erroneously pronounced “Boe-fort” instead of the correct “Byoo-furt.”

Well written

The book had me hooked right from the start. The author did a great job of putting his memorable season on paper and covered everything, that keep you coming back for more... I loved it

Great Listen

Pat Conway is just the best, I enjoyed this book imensely and I don't even like basketball much.

Great book! Ok narration...

Others have pointed this out, but Beaufort, SC is not pronounced the same as Beaufort, NC. If you (the listener) don’t know that, then you are lucky. If you DO know that, then it will bother you. Maybe not the first time... or the second time... but it’s a city that is talked about over and over again so eventually it will get to you.