The Prince of Tides

By: Pat Conroy

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

Pat Controy has created a huge, brash thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning 40 years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary family into which they were born.

Filled with the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina low country as well as the dusty glitter of New York City, The Prince of Tides is Pat Conroy at his very best.

©2002 Pat Conroy (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Conroy has achieved a penetrating vision of the Southern psyche in this enormous novel of power and emotion." ( Library Journal)

A "Prince" amongst novels

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

Magnificant!

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

Just Stunned

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

Love this book!

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

pi?ce de r?sistance

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

A wonderful and true book

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

Great listen

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

A whopper of a book

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

Even better the second time around.

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

Poetry

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