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This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal. Together, they will brace themselves for the brutal transition to manhood... and one will not survive.
Step into the powerhouse life of Bull Meecham. He's all Marine -- fighter pilot, king of the clouds, and absolute ruler of his family. Lillian is his wife -- beautiful, southern-bred, with a core of velvet steel. Without her cool head, her kids would be in real trouble. Ben is the oldest, a born athlete whose best never satisfies the big man. Ben's got to stand up, even fight back, against a father who doesn't give in -- not to his men, not to his wife, and certainly not to his son.
Against the sumptuous backdrop of Charleston, South Carolina, South of Broad gathers a unique cast of sinners and saints. Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school principal and a well-known Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of 13, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him
Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.
The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence – unless, somehow, they can learn a new life. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher.
Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson - a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake - and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him.
This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal. Together, they will brace themselves for the brutal transition to manhood... and one will not survive.
Step into the powerhouse life of Bull Meecham. He's all Marine -- fighter pilot, king of the clouds, and absolute ruler of his family. Lillian is his wife -- beautiful, southern-bred, with a core of velvet steel. Without her cool head, her kids would be in real trouble. Ben is the oldest, a born athlete whose best never satisfies the big man. Ben's got to stand up, even fight back, against a father who doesn't give in -- not to his men, not to his wife, and certainly not to his son.
Against the sumptuous backdrop of Charleston, South Carolina, South of Broad gathers a unique cast of sinners and saints. Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school principal and a well-known Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of 13, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him
Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.
The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence – unless, somehow, they can learn a new life. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher.
Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson - a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake - and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him.
From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world - and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
It is 1831 when eight-year-old Aurelia Vennaway finds a naked baby girl abandoned in the snow on the grounds of her aristocratic family's magnificent mansion. Her parents are horrified that she has brought a bastard foundling into the house, but Aurelia convinces them to keep the baby, whom she names Amy Snow. Amy is brought up as a second-class citizen, but she and Aurelia are as close as sisters. When Aurelia dies at the age of 23, she leaves Amy 10 pounds. But Aurelia also left her much more.
In a heavily guarded mansion in a posh Virginia suburb, a man and a woman start to make love, trapping a burglar behind a secret wall. Then the passion turns deadly, and the witness is running into the night - because what he has just seen is a brutal slaying involving the president of the United States.
When their last outgoing flight is cancelled, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single-engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley, knowing that she needs to get home just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack, and the plane crashes into one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.
Dane and Mandy, a popular magic act for 40 years, are tragically separated by a car wreck that claims Mandy’s life—or so everyone thinks. Even as Dane mourns and tries to rebuild his life without her, Mandy, supposedly dead, awakes in the present as the19-year-old she was in 1970.
Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed.
Like most gentiles in Nazi-occupied Paris, architect Lucien Bernard has little empathy for the Jews. So when a wealthy industrialist offers him a large sum of money to devise secret hiding places for Jews, Lucien struggles with the choice of risking his life for a cause he doesn't really believe in. Ultimately he can't resist the challenge and begins designing expertly concealed hiding spaces - behind a painting, within a column, or inside a drainpipe - detecting possibilities invisible to the average eye. But when one of his clever hiding spaces fails and the immense suffering of Jews becomes incredibly personal, he can no longer deny reality.
Nadia Hashimi's literary debut is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See. In Kabul, 2007, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age.
America's ultimate storyteller reveals the story of his own boyhood. With poignance and humor Pat Conroy (author of Beach Music) reveals the inspirations behind his unforgettable characters, pinpoints the emotions that shaped his own character as a young boy, and ultimately recaptures his passage from athlete to writer.
Maddy is a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother, host of excellent parties, giver of thoughtful gifts, and bestower of a searingly perceptive piece of advice or two. She is the cornerstone of her family, a true matriarch...until she commits suicide, leaving her husband, Brady, and teenage daughter, Eve, heartbroken and reeling, wondering what happened. How could the exuberant, exacting woman they loved disappear so abruptly, seemingly without reason, from their lives?
A writer visits his retired grandparents in Florida to document their experience during the infamous siege of Leningrad. His grandmother won't talk about it, but his grandfather reluctantly consents. The result is the captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive against desperate odds. Lev Beniov considers himself "built for deprivation." He's small, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for the army, who spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter with friends from his building.
Virtually all Americans above a certain age hold strong opinions about Douglas MacArthur. They either worship him or despise him. Now, in this superb book, one of our most outstanding writers, after a meticulous three-year examination of the record, presents his startling insights about the man. The narrative is gripping, because the general's life was fascinating. It is moving, because he was a man of vision. It ends, finally, in tragedy, because his character, though majestic, was tragically flawed.
I have truly come to love Patrick Conroy's writing. This is only my 2nd book of his and it was fabulous. The story is about two dysfunctional families, however the focus is mainly on the Wingo family. Tom Wingo is the protagonist. He has a mentally unbalanced twin sister Savannah and a "take charge" brother Luke. Conroy brings each character to life. The character development of Tom, Savannah and Luke and well as Lila and Henry, the emotionally and physically abusive parents and the loveable quirky grandparents is astounding. There is a secondary family as well, the family of Susan Lowenstein, Savannah's psychiatrist, whose family has not escaped without major issues either. Tom and Susan meet regularly to discuss Savannah's therapy, and the two of them develop their own personal and professional relationship. We come to know the details of the Wingo family through Tom's discussions with Lowenstein. We learn of a very disturbing secret which Lila has forced her children to keep and live this torturous lie as though nothing every happened. This denial plunges an already disturbed group of people into the further depths of mental catastrophe. Amongst the dysfunction, lies and abuse, these three siblings manage to forge a very strong bond consisting of love and protection for each other. They really have each other's backs throughout the novel. The Prince of Tides is truly a prince amongst novels. Conroy is talented beyond words.
The narrator cannot go without mention. Frank Muller brought this book to life like no other! He deserves a posthumous academy award for this performance!
95 of 95 people found this review helpful
Do not listen to this book unless you are prepared to be entranced by a poetic saga narrated by a master storyteller. The pause button will cease to function as you become mesmerized by this majestic blend of tragedy, humor, and deep insight. You have been warned!
52 of 54 people found this review helpful
Stunned because I did not like this story when I saw the movie and still did not like it much in the novel. Much ado about very little from my point of view. This is a story of a family. A poor family from South Carolina where the father was a pilot and officer in Korea, owns an entire island where 40 acres is a small section, and is financing an 85 foot shrimp boat in S. Carolina. I should have been so poor growing up. The father was a bit mean but not really too bad. This youngster should have met my father. These are the reasons I almost did not download this book. But enough of my fears. This author is a teller of tales and the narration is a work of art. The prose and the way the author uses the English language as a paintbrush makes this book a must get. Just the little childrens book within the book written by the sister was worth the credit. I think this author and narrator could speak to any subject and make it interesting. I would kill or die for that kind of skill. The book is complete and ends when it should but I was sorry to see it go. Now I must try to find another book that compares to this. A very difficult task I think. Bravo!
93 of 98 people found this review helpful
I read this book several years ago, and of course, saw the movie with Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand. I loved them both, but the book was better. The poetical style with which Pat Conroy writes is magical to say the least. It fairly floats off the tongue, so to speak. This time around, I listened to this book read by a true master, Frank Muller. If Conroy writes poetically, Muller reads as if he were born to take it to the epitome of what it could become. Conroy mentions that he himself was amazed at how good his writing sounds when read by this master story teller. The combination of the two makes for an experience that I did not want to have end.
This is not a happy book, although the ending resolves nicely. Although no one is fooled into thinking "they all lived happily ever after," the reader is left with a sense of hope that the protagonist as well as many other characters have grown through their experiences, and have become better people, better able to handle the problems of their lives. That in turn gives me hope for my own life. Perhaps that is the message I take from this book.
It is satisfying, engaging, and very very compelling. I could not wait to get back to it every day. I laughed, I cried, my heart was broken on more than one occasion, and I loved these characters. The character development is masterful, made all the more so by Muller's expert characterizations. I could virtually see their faces!
I will be reading more books by Conroy. I had decided that long ago. But I did a search of books narrated by Muller, who was a trained Shakespearean actor, and to my delight, found that he has narrated many books, a discovery made all the sweeter due to the fact of his untimely demise in 2008 as the result of a motorcycle accident. He seemed to have specialized in authors such as Steven King, John Grisham, and others. Sadly, this is the only Conroy book that he read. But it is a treasure. I recommend it to anyone who loves great prose, fabulous narration, and who has an open and artistic mind.
51 of 54 people found this review helpful
This audio book is a work of art. It is a testimonial to what can be achieved when two consummate artists and professionals fuse their talents to create what can only be described as true masterpiece.
If you want someone to appreciate the audiobook genre, have them listen to this one.
God, I miss Frank Muller.
35 of 37 people found this review helpful
Conroy is an amazing writer, and this is his best novel. It's dense and rich and funny and tragic in places. He's a southern writer in the classic tradition: his novels are peopled by legions of characters, and none of them are cardboard. There are at least a dozen major characters here (!), and all are fully-fleshed-out, complex, human, with unique voice and character traits that make them come alive. The way they interact with one another makes this a relentlessly interesting and satisfying story. So what's it about? Geez. It's about Tom Wingo and his brilliant but psychotic sister Savanah, and good-ole-boy-cum-philosopher Luke. Plus their mom. And their dad. And their grandparents. And... well, read the damn thing. You'll see. It's absolutely engrossing. He's a writer of compassion and wit and laugh-out-loud humor. I personally liked the earlier Wolfram Kandinsky narration best, but Conroy likes this one by Muller best; and Muller, as always, is exceptional, bested by no one in the narration universe except Wolfram Kandinsky.
61 of 67 people found this review helpful
Excellent listen. A fasinating story of a family filled with love toward each other, but broken in how they show it. Tramatic, yet I laughed out loud at times, a book I could hardly put down, I long for another like it. Pat Conroy makes language not only a tool of communication, but a thing of beauty. You won't be disappointed.
23 of 25 people found this review helpful
I don't know how I came to read this book. Like many men, I associated "Prince of Tides" with the chick flick my mom watched some years back. It must have been on an audible sale and that's why I even gave it two shakes. The first chapter was a bit too chaotic and I had trouble knowing or caring what this book was about. I nearly gave up on it, but then it opened into a very captivating novel about a slew of things. Family. The South Vs. North beef. Terror. As someone who has ambulated back and forth between north and south, I found great riches in this book about the terrain and attitudes of both parts of the world. This book is long, but its so riveting that you start crying when you see there are only a few hours left in the book. It reminds me a lot in the feeling, not really the contents, of East of Eden by John Steinbeck with bits of Faulkner shining through. They made it into a chick flick, but I think any man can enjoy this book and I'm surprised someone had the idea to turn it into a chick flick at all. But I guess women can probably enjoy it just as well.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
This was a terrific read years ago when it first came out. After listening to it now, I must say the audio version is even better. The narration is absolutely perfect. I appreciate Pat Conroy's ability to craft a complex story. Excellent use of a credit.
20 of 22 people found this review helpful
From the very first sentence I was captivated by the cadence and rhythm of the narrator's voice. This was performance and poetry far beyond anything I have heard before in my extensive audible library. I do not post reviews as a habit but I dare you not to be moved by some of the passages read in the book.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful