Beach Music: A Novel

Ive had so many copies of this book and give them away all the time. I love, love this book. Its such a great story and has so many amazing characters.

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.

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.

Had seen Prince of Tides ,but never read any of Pat Conroy s works. This summer I stayed on St. Helene s Island. While there took a golf cart tour in Beaufort,SC. Had started this book right before tour. Fell in love with Mr. Conways life. His way with words takes you on a journey you will never forget. If you havent read this give yourself a blessing and do so.

This book is simply amazing. Conroy is inna class bu himself.

From the title, you may think this is a beach book. It is not. Jack McCall has fled his small South Carolina Low Country hometown to live in Rome with his daughter, Leah, after his beloved wifes suicide. He tries to forget the pain and vows to tell Leah all the stories of the South but not let her be enveloped by its hurts and anger. When his mama gets sick, he reluctantly returns home where he will be forced to come to terms not only with his wifes suicide, but also the scars of Vietnam and the 60s that still haunt him and his closest friends. Author Pat Conroy has expertly created several stories in this book, each with its own riveting plot and emotional landmines--until they finally converge at the end. The descriptive text fluctuates between genius and overwrought, the dialogue is not always believable and Leah is just too perfect a child to be real. But those are minor complaints for a book that will grab you and not let go--and make you think hard along the way. (Although we share the same name, Pat Conroy and I are not kin, as they say in South Carolina. Too bad!)

At around page 600 I realized this book was going no where fast but at that point I was too invested NOT to finish the book. My husband kept urging me to just give it up. I slugged through it as if I were running a marathon. I amused him with all of the happenings of this book given in plain narrative speak. The book was an absolute suspension of belief. It came highly recommended by a few of my friends who loved this book. I anticipated loving it. The author certainly has a way with words and is able to paint scenes visually with his beautiful prose, I will give him that! Unfortunately, instead of using this gift of prose when needed, he does it constantly and in painful depth. He never lets up. Every character comes with a larger than life back-story. While he was creating these multiple back-stories he should have been using some of that talent to develop these characters past two dimensions. Every woman in this novel is a Scarlett O Hara wannabe; Beautiful,vocal,strong and damaged. Did we ever figure out what Lucy did that was so harmful to her children, by the way? It was always alluded to but other than being a too young parent who stayed with an alcoholic husband I was not sure what she did to damage her children so much. The brothers and their humor-filled banter was painful. I could have done without them all together. So much happened in this book it would be hard pressed to find a recent event in history that the characters were not intimately involved in. Holocaust, Vietnam, bombs, terrorist, loggerhead turtle releases, alcoholism, suicide, bitter feuds of old friends, bitter feuds with in-laws, murder, Hollywood, the South Carolinas Governors mansion, trophy wives, schizophrenic hallucinations, romance,rape, spousal abuse,arson, protests,cancer, and one overly precocious kid whose charm is apparently lost on me. The book tries to weave this crescendo of drama only to resolve it with a quickness that made no sense. Ex: The feud between Capers and our hero is resolved because Mike tells them to wrap it up because the production crew is ready to be done? The battle with Mr. Fox ends because Mr. Fox tells his story? Why didnt he do that at the beginning? Can you tell how much I disliked this book? I usually read non-fiction and this book did everything it could to drive me back into the arms of a genre where the ridiculous is not held up as art.

At first I was dismayed to see the size of the book, big and long, but quickly was engrossed with the lyrical writing and beautiful storytelling. Its a book easy to put down and pick up again. I recently lost my husband and the storyteller in the book had lost his wife, so there was a lot of cathartic feelings expressed I could relate to. Im not sure how I missed knowing about Pat Conroy and his excellent writing skills and tales of the South, but I now will seek out more of his writings.

There was enough elegant, incredibly evocative writing to keep reading, but this book “doth protest too much,” railing against too many horrors of the times for one book. I worry that Conroy was working too hard with the major issues that from time to time he clings to stereotypes and forced snappy repartee to catch his breath.

This is a very well written sweeping story about a young man growing up in South Carolina and his first deep love of the Jewish girl next door. There are many threads woven into the story including his mother dying of leukemia, his parents’ broken marriage due to,alcohol, his crazy 4 brothers,living in Rome for a time, his wife’s parents’ background of the Holocaust, the Vietnam war and American protests against it, his love of his daughter,and his very close ties to his childhood friends. Excellent!