Customer Reviews

Beach Music, Limited Edition

5 star:		(210)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

To read a book by Pat Conroy is to come to the realization that so much of everything else I read, and think is good, is truly just an appetizer getting me ready for the main course -- which is what Conroy is. Every sentence you read lures you into the web of Conroy's storytelling. This is a book that will take you from the piazzas in Rome to the low country of South Carolina. You will fall so deeply in love with each setting that you couldn't possibly decide which place you would prefer to live.

Every character is a tortured soul who has a tale to tell -- one more heartbreaking than the other. The main story follows Jack McCall, who flees to Rome with his young daughter Leah after his beloved wife Shyla has committed suicide. He leaves behind a bevy of colorful family and friends in an effort to escape his torment and begin a new life in a new land. As a travel writer by trade, Jack is able to pick up and live wherever he chooses. It is a telegram from a family member that will finally bring Jack back to South Carolina to face his demons and learn the stories of all those he loves.

Conroy has the ability of dropping crumbs along the way leading you to each character's hidden story. He touches on times in history involving the Holocaust and the Vietnam War -- each decade so real that I don't even want to think about the horrors. But it is these horrors that have come to shape the characters whose cards have been dealt and whose hands must be played. They are all part of a finely interwoven story with South Carolina as the stage for the grand finale.

In reading the book, I can only wonder if the author can write the last twenty pages and not cry himself. I don't usually cry when reading a book but I must admit that this one did me in. Conroy so neatly ties up all the loose ends so that the reader feels no need for a sequel as they are confident that the lives of the characters they have come to love will go on.

While this is a book about tortured souls, it is also a book that holds great promise filled with love and hope and devotion and yes...redemption. We always talk about the books that will stay with us forever. This is one for me...music to my ears...Beach Music that is.

Pat Conroy is my favorite author--I just wish he produced a new book every three months like John Grishom. There is absolutely nobody else who has the power of "description" and "Imagery" that he has.

I love Conroy's writing because it is always so contradictory. He makes you love and hate his characters at the same time. I started out by being completely annoyed with John Hardin in this novel, and then he ended up being my favorite character--he was so funny and outrageous. I felt the same about his mother--loved and hated her at the time time. I remember this was also true of his characters when I read "Prince of Tides." He has such an ability to play with the reader's emotions.

Beach Music was harder than his other novels because of so many subplots & characters, but instead of wishing it hadn't been so long and gone into so much, I found myself wishing it was longer, and he had developed the characters & subplots even more.

There is always a feeling of "letdown" when you finish one of Pat Conroy's novels because you don't want it to end. Nobody writes about "dysfunction" with his sense of humor.

I'm usually a reviewer who argues for strong editing, saying books are too long and in need of brutal slashing and burning.
But this book of Pat Conroy's doesn't fall in that category; I loved and cherished every word of it. It's rich, lush, full of atmospheric detail.
Pat Conroy at his best, and it makes me want to go to Italy and the South.

This has become one of my favorite books of all time. Conroy's imagery and use of detail to enhance his storyline is exemplary. He expresses ideas and emotions very well. My favorite quote from the book expressess this idea. "I could feel the tears within me, undiscovered and untouched in their inland sea. Those tears haad been with me always." His explanation why couldn't cry for his wife's death was touching. I have also read Prince of Tides by Conroy, and though the plot have many similarities, I like Beach Music better of the two because it touches on so many more people and their stories. It bothered me aa little at first that there were so many similarites in plot and in characters, but then I became more intrigued because I felt as if I was reading about Conroy's own life, that he had drawn from his personal experiences. Whether this is true or not I don't know. The characters are extremely well developed, each with their own destictive personality, which is amazing considering the number of characters involved. I really liked the plot of the book bacause he delt with so many issues and tied them together so well. He reaches out and pulls amazing stories from his characters, and does it without seeming fake.

I wouldn't say this book is for everyone. I wouldn't recommend Beach Musi to people who like extremely fast paced books and don't have the patience for character development. I also would not recommend it to people who would have a hard time dealing with the issues he brings up like suicide, rape, mental instability and the Holocaust. However, I think Conroy's book has great value.

I love a book that you can really sink your teeth into. I love a great story that offers a story within a story, espescially when it eventually completes a puzzle. I love a satisfying ending, even if it isn't necessarily a happy one.

Beach Music was frustratingly close to all of these things, but it never quite got there. I'm not sure why the author chose to no go the entire mile in many parts of this book. Don't get me wrong: I didn't HATE it. I just think it missed the mark on a lot of points.

The main characters interactions with his family were not quite believable. The conversations and actions seemed forced by the author. I mean, do people really talk this way to each other? I loved the Mother character and thought Conroy did a great job explaining a portion of her background. I kept looking for the rest of it, however, and it never materialized. Same thing with the main characters former in-laws. Explanations never came to be. What exactly happened between him and his mother? In the present tense, they seemed to get along fine but the main character kept deferring to his terrible childhood. There was not even one sentence explaining what was so terrible in the book.

It was ok. I was just kept looking for more. I'm not real excited about reading another Conroy novel. He seems a little lazy to me.

What a disappointment. Apparently Pat Conroy made so
much money on the movie rights to "The Prince of Tides" he
decided a collection of melodramatic scenes would suffice
for a novel this time around. Too bad. I've always thought Conroy
a fine story-teller and competent writer, but he fills neither
role in "Beach Music". I can hardly believe it, but he actually
takes the angst and passion of some of modern history's most
compelling events - the Viet Nam war and the Holocaust - and puts
them into a script-masquerading-as-a-story that is ultimately
silly. Silly - what a terrible word to have to apply to this...

I enjoyed reading this book because it was both an intriguing story and because it gave me much insight into the culture of South Carolina.

South Carolinians are the only other people besides Texans who display such a huge level of pride and affection for their home state. Being a Texan, I was always curious to know what their version of state pride looked like. By telling the story of the lives of four boys and two girls, with whom I could see myself being friends if they had all grown up in Texas, Conroy vividly explains SC's particular version.

Conroy's theme is that life does not progress linearly but in a circular fashion. While overtly criticizing the archaism and backwardness of the South's obsession with family ties; Conroy covertly and subtlely gives credence to it, as each character's life story is heavily influenced by his past, his parents' past, and his grandparents' past. He uses flawed characters to show how actions today bear consequences tomorrow; thus, it is crucial that each man confront his own personal demons (lest they be allowed to fester and to hurt others, especially those he loves) and to seek reconciliation with those he has wronged in his past. The optimistic ending teaches us that it's never too late to make amends.

Conroy's story-telling ability is superb and I really enjoyed reading this book.

Pat Conroy is, more or less, the best modern American writer. Word truly seem to flow from his "pen"; his characters are captivating and well-developed; his descriptions, whether he's describing a person, place or thing, are unbelievable; and his plots are such dramas, filled with scenes that will make you laugh, make you shrink back in horror, and make you cry.

Beach Music is probably the best, and longest, of Conroy's books. The melodrama begins when Jack McCall, an Southerner who moved to Italy to raise his young daughter after his wife committed suicide, is called back to his home town--Waterford, SC--because his mother is dying. The book describes Jack and his four younger brothers (including wonderfully written scenes with his youngest, and craziest brother John Hardin--who happens to be my favorite character) as they struggle with their family's past, their mother's dying, and the pitiful-excuse-of-a-human-being that is their father.

Secondly, this book describes Jack's attempt to understand why his wife killed herself, and his attempt to reconcile with her family. This part of the book, Jack's in-laws' stories, are probably the hardest emotionally to read. Both of his in-laws were survivors of concentration camps, and their stories are truly heart-wrenching.

Thirdly, this book tells the tale of Jack reuniting with his best guy and girl friends from his teenage years. This part tells how Jack fell in love, how he met his best friend, and what happened to each of their lives. For whatever reason, this section of the book reminded me of the Big Chill (probably because of the reuniting of old friends), but I found this part very enjoyable.

Overall, this book is about a man having to look back--not necessarily reminisce, but to re-examine--on his past to try to solve problems he has with himself, his family, and with raising his daughter without including any family help. This book is very good, very powerful, and, personally, is a book I would take if I were stranded on a desert island.

First let me say this book took me forever to finish. This book is like a fine meal; meant to be savored. Pat Conroy's use of the English language is achingly beautiful and unlike many of the pulp novels that blight the shelves of our Wholesale clubs, this book is worth taking the time to digest. While I can't say it's better than Mr. Conroy's other novels (The Lords of Discipline was amazing); I can say that it's worth every minute one invests in reading it. Highly recommended!

I am about half way thru this book. It cannot be read rapidly....I have to put it down periodically and catch my breath. Wonderful story and Pat Conroy is an excellent writer.

Highly recommended reading.