1999

Dysfunctional family-twins Tom and Savannah, older brother Luke. Savannah tries to commit suicide several times because of past events.

Conroy's writing, like in South of Broad, is flowing and descriptive. His characters are real and vibrant. His descriptions of the south are loving.

A great book. ( )

This has long been one of my go-to books for reading & re-reading when I need something well-written & familiar. Pat Conroy has a beautiful way with language & tells a good story & this book is no exception.

The narrator's family & the Carolina Low Country are the stars of the show in this book as Tom Wingo tries to tell the story of their past in an effort to save his sister from her suicidal tendencies. In the end, of course, he saves himself along with her (& maybe that's the point).

I love the stories of the Wingo family & the dignity & humanity that Conroy gives every member. Yes, there is tragedy & darkness, but there is also eccentricity & humor & survival & love. There is nothing simple about these people & nothing simple about their stories. The creeping & awful dread that sits in the middle of the end of these stories is palpable throughout & painful to experience & behold.

I still think Tom Wingo's a wonderful storyteller & an ineffectual chickenshit - that's what makes him tragic, I suppose. I still identify with his sister, Savannah, craziness & all. & I enjoyed this book yet again. It's always good to visit old friends. ( )

Exquisitely told story of a southern family and the individual problems/demons within. It is a virtual painting of a landscape and community filled with flaws, beauty, and quirks. The humor, the suspenseful (& sometimes horrific) events, and family relationships make this historically brief saga a satisfying story. But it’s the southern painting that really captured me. ( )

Tom Wingo is a desperate soul, passing a quiet and emotionally void existence, aching for love but afraid and unable to cultivate it. Born and bred a southern boy, Tom and his siblings, a twin sister and older brother, survived an abusive father and a manipulative, cold, and domineering mother. And there are hints that the three children also suffered through some greater, more traumatic event also. This past breaks in on Tom’s adult life when his twin sister, Savannah, tries to commit suicide, again. Tom, his marriage on the brink of dissolving from inattention, leaves the safe waters of his home bound for New York City. There, he consults with Savannah’s therapist, Dr. Lowenstein, telling her the stories of their childhood, hoping to help the doctor better understand Savannah’s demons. But Tom is unable to fend off the past, and in the retelling of his childhood, he confronts the events which robbed him of his innocence and broke his spirit.

Pat Conroy’s novel [The Prince of Tides] evokes Ray Bradbury or Walt Whitman, basking itself in the warmth of poetic and lyrical prose in every sentence, every page. The prologue to the book is among the best pages of written word that I have ever read, bar none. Conroy fills your senses with words, substituting just the right phrase or sentence for a sight or smell that you’d never know you weren’t experiencing it through your eyes or your nose. And while he is bathing you in the rich textures of the south and its people, he is building, ever building, towards a moment when he will prick your heart with excruciating and vivid emotions. Sometimes the emotion is the anger and desperation of a middle-aged man, living a marginal, unimportant life. Other times, Conroy assaults you with the visceral love and hate that only a parent or sibling can inspire. The combination of such eloquent prose and raw emotion makes for a riveting reading experience.

Early on, this one was bound for a five bone rating and a spot on my list of favorites for the year. What kept it from reaching that mark was a quickly turned ending. So much time is spent sifting through the lives of the Wingo family, setting the scene for the climatic event. None of this is wasted time. I never tired of getting to know the Wingo’s, not even at the height of their dysfunction. I always set down to read, eager to learn more about this unusual family; it was a little like going to a family reunion for someone else’s family. But after the big secret is uncovered, Conroy seems to rush to the end, desperately searching out a conclusion for the book and the characters. It all ended a little abruptly and a little rosy, given the starting point. This is a minor criticism really. Lesser books could get away with the ending because the ending wouldn’t suffer in comparison with the rest of the book. But Conroy’s ending doesn’t live up to the extremely high standards he sets for himself. ( )