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Loading... The Prince of Tidesby Pat Conroy
![]() Southern Fiction (12) » 36 more Favourite Books (359) Family Drama (2) Best family sagas (42) Unread books (170) Best First Lines (34) 1980s (81) Books with Twins (10) Comfort Reads (98) Books tagged favorites (156) Books Tagged Abuse (19) Books Read in 2007 (119) Five star books (1,290) The American Experience (116) Book Club 2018 (6) No current Talk conversations about this book. ![]() ![]() My 15 year old had to read this for freshman English. He dislikes reading so when he recommended it to me, I was somewhat in a state of shock, but figured I'd best read it. So happy that I did. It is a story of three children . . .Tom, Luke, and Savannah . . .growing up in the South on an island with a physically abusive father. Savannah has attempted suicide, and the story alternates between contemporary scenes in New York City where Tom attempts to aid Savannah's psychiatrist and scenes from Tom and Savannah's childhood. The beauty of this book has a great deal to do with Conroy's incredible talent for pacing. He builds suspense slowly, inexorably, until you really feel like you cannot put the book aside even for a few moments. And then, he uses great storytelling to reveal his characters slowly - - truly a master of the adage to "show the reader, don't tell them". Finally, the icing on the cake is his beautiful descriptive prose . . .which, for me, was woven into his tale in such a way as not to be too distracting, but just to add to the pleasure of reading it. I will say this is a dark novel . . .so be prepared. It's not for the faint of heart. Chapter 22 was disturbing to say the least. I'm a little surprised it was assigned to ninth graders. "If Henry Wingo had not been a violent man, I think he would have made a splendid father" (p 5). That sums up The Prince of Tides in a nutshell. Well, sort of. No. Not really. I want to say it is about loving someone so fiercely you love well beyond any pain they could bring you. The writing of Pat Conroy is so beautiful it is hard to believe the subject matter of Prince of Tides could be so dark. The damaged Wingo family will stay with you long after you have closed the massive 600-plus page book. Most affected is Savannah Wingo, the sister-twin of Tom, who speaks to the hidden ones, hallucinates angels hanging from lamposts and self-mutilates herself to stave off the voice of her father urging her to kill herself. In reality, the bad times roll in as constant as the South Carolina tide for all of the Wingos. The entire family experiences enough unimaginable terrors to last a lifetime. To name a few: a father badly wounded surviving the horrors of World War II with a little help from a priest; Grandpa's black widow spiders used as a defense from a stalker intent on raping Lila, the Wingo mother; four stillborn children one right after the other, each kept in the freezer like porkchops until it was time to bury them in the backyard; a tiger trained to rip someone's face off...Probably the worst offense is not Henry Wingo, a father who beats his wife and children. The inexplicable nightmare is Lila Wingo, a woman so hellbent on keeping a prestine and proud reputation she denies every horror. Is this southern living or a perpetual seventh circle of hell? Savannah is only partially able to escape her violent past by moving to New York City. After her latest suicide attempt is very close to successful, Savannah's therapist calls Tom, her twin brother, for insight into the Wingo family. In order to help Savannah Dr. Lowenstein needs to dig deeper into the entire family's tumultuous history. What emerges is Tom's own tragic story of coming of age as a souther male in an abusive household. In the beginning of Prince of Tides, the character of Tom Wingo was only slightly annoying with his "American Male" posturing. But by page 300 you realize after all that he and his family have gone through he is allowed to tell jokes when it hurts. He has survived by humor his entire life. Conroy's Prince of Tides is a strange love letter to the Southern way of life. It is a story of tenacity and tenderness. I could almost smell the salt air of the coast reading this masterpiece. I will never forget Tom Wingo or his family's story. Pat Conroy can take you to the coast like no one else. This book was packed full of family dysfunction. Tom takes off to New York after the news that his sister has attempted suicide. As he tells the family history to his sister's therapist we learn about this family's troubled past. Maybe in telling the story, Tom can finally find some peace of his own.
In ''The Prince of Tides,'' the smart man and serious writer in Pat Conroy have been temporarily waylaid by the bullying monster of heavy-handed, inflated plot and the siren voice of Mother South at her treacherous worst - embroidered, sentimental, inexact, telling it over and over again as it never was. Has the adaptationHas as a teacher's guideDistinctionsNotable Lists
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HTML:New York Times bestseller: A "powerful" Southern drama about the destructive repercussions of keeping an unspeakable family secret (The Atlanta Journal). Tom Wingo has lost his job, and is on the verge of losing his marriage, when he learns that his twin sister, Savannah, has attempted suicide again. At the behest of Savannah's psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lowenstein, Tom reluctantly leaves his home in South Carolina to travel to New York City and aid in his sister's therapy. As Tom's relationship with Susan deepens, he reveals to her the turbulent history of the Wingo family, and exposes the truth behind the fateful day that changed their lives forever. Drawing richly from the author's own troubled upbringing, The Prince of Tides is a sweeping, powerful novel of unlocking the past to overcome the darkest of personal demonsâ??it's Pat Conroy at his very be No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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