Beach Music: A Novel

Loved everything about it

This is an amazing journey through the past and what makes us all who we are and why our flaws exist. The history of the Holocaust is humbling as Jack learns about his father-in-law. The personal family histories are hard and glorious as the characters emerge and flower into flawed and beautiful creatures. This book is deep. It’s stories varied and connected to all of the characters living within the pages.

This book took a while to finish, but it was worth it! This story is one story with several stories within it. So many life lessons learned through the pages.

Its a loooong read, but moves along with its multi-faceted plot and unforgettable characters. Conroys writing style is unlike any other modern writer; maybe because hes Southern. Long descriptive passages, metaphors only a Southerner would understand, and improbable but believable plot twists. I loved it!

I bought this book because of my love of beach music - the Catalinas, the Embers, The Band of Oz and so many others - but I had never read anything by Pat Conroy. I had the book for a long time because I didnt want to make the time commitment to read it (800 pages). But as I was reading it, I wished it would go on forever. My only complaint was Conroys penchant for dragging things out. Lucy was dying the whole book, but she kept rallying back to life to deliver yet another soliloquy to Jack or whomever would listen. I loved the descriptions of Charleston and the low country in general, and the food - oh my goodness it made me drool! I loved the characters, even John Hardin who, even in his craziest, darkest moments, provided an amazing insight into the world of a schizophrenic. The event on the bridge was described so vividly I laughed and blushed at the same time. All in all, Beach Music was many hours well spent. Ken Follett is my favorite author, but Pat Conroy is giving him a run for his money!

I read this book in my 20s and loved it so much I wanted to read it again. Now in my 60s, it touched me in a much deeper way. Pat Conroy is a great storyteller and I highly recommend this book. But be ready; it will touch you deeply.

My brother hooked me on Conroy. I found that I either loved his novels or liked them. Loves: Lords Of Discipline, The Great Santini, The Water Is Wide Likes: Prince Of Tides, Beach Music I’m about done with Beach Music and will be happy when complete. I agree with others that complain about so many subplots. The halocaust stories were too much and I found myself wanting to skip the chapters (I didn’t). This is a long book with near 700 pages. He should have somehow made two novels. This one is long and frankly depressing. Not a Christmastime reader! If you want a great Conroy novel, read The Lords Of Discipline.

I love Pat Conroys writing style, and he told a beautiful story. However, I felt like Id already read this book once before since Id read The Prince of Tides; not to say the story was identical but the plot of the story was similar enough that I was in no rush to finish this novel like Id done with The Prince of Tides (which I read, non-stop, in three days because I was so wrapped up in the characters, the plot and the writing itself.) **Might have some spoilers** The items that were different didnt feel as if they were executed successfully. I am not sure the multiple story lines that were involved in this novel were integrated smoothly, and as a result, the reading was choppy and not altogether interesting all of the time. Sometimes, his characters were one dimensional, and thus they were boring. I kept hoping he would flesh out the father character as much as he did the mother character, and I kept waiting for his protagonist to grow up a bit. The protagonist did a bit in the end but it was so abrupt that it felt false and flawed. But Pat Conroy has a gift with words and his prose is wonderful. The mother-son arc of the story was touching and beautiful. I would recommend it as a good read but I doubt I would ever read this book again - and I keep re-reading The Prince of Tides.

I totally enjoyed this book. The story was very different and complex. It was hard to put down. Although it jumped back in time, it was easy to keep up with the story The author did seem to use a lot of big words that are rarely used which made me feel that he paid way more attention in college English than I did.

I love the depth of character analysis Conroy always provides. We see their dark side and then we are helped to understand where that dark side originated and how it transfers down to their children to figure out and overcome, and how some do overcome to be caring, healthy human beings, and how some are taken down by it. However, in this book Conroy seems to simply lose control in some of his descriptions of horror and despair. At one point, I had had enough and just skipped over a number of pages. This book was also a bit more difficult for me to hold together over time.