The Boo [Hardcover]

Pat Conroy (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Old New York Bookshop; PF edition (2002)
• ASIN: B0015QT428
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,741,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pat Conroy is the author of eight previous books: The Boo, The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, My Losing Season, and The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life. He lives in Fripp Island, South Carolina. Photo copyright: David G. Spielman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A young writer finds his voice..., July 5, 2004

By 

Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boo (Hardcover)

Pat Conroy is my favorite author, and after reading everything else that he has written, I decided to pick up a copy of The Boo. The Boo is Conroy's first book, and the only way he got it published was to publish it himself.

The story started when Conroy was fresh out of The Citadel and still wet behind the ears. He discovered that the beloved Thomas Nugent "The Boo" Courvoisie, Commandant of Cadets at The Citadel, was fired from his job. At The Citadel, the Boo could best be described as a character--calling all of his cadets "lambs" and himself The Good Shepherd. If you were naughty, you were a bum, and if not, you were called Bubba. While meting out discipline and demerits, the Boo proved to be a father figure to most of the cadets and tried to make this military college a little more palatable.

The Boo is actually a collection of short stories, anecdotes, letters, cartoons and photographs. And it's not just about The Boo, but The Citadel and the Corps of Cadets as well. Many of them are hysterical, but not all endings were happy at The Citadel. The Fourth Class System could be brutal (and even fatal) for those who were weak or couldn't survive. This book also includes a glossary to help the reader keep track of those military terms Conroy throws around such as brace, rack, pop-off, shako, plebe, knob, etc. Some of the definitions are a hoot including:

Clemson-a cow pasture in the upper part of the state

VMI-a school burned by the Yankees during the Civil War and unfortunately rebuilt soon afterwards

Why this book is so great for a Conroy fan is that it gives the reader a peak at the writer Conroy would later become. The Citadel was not a nurturing environment for aspiring writers, although Conroy did have a few mentors there. The Boo gave Conroy a voice, and even he admits that this book is "The Lords of Discipline in embryo," which became his first best-selling novel. In the movie version of The Lords of Discipline, the character of Boo (called Bear in the movie) is wonderfully played by Robert Prosky.

Since Conroy became a famous author, The Boo has been re-released, and he even writes a new introduction. So for Conroy diehards, The Boo is an absolute must. While it is not great literature and doesn't quite measure up to his later and more famous work, it does provide us with a picture of where this talented author has come from.

94 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent view of The Citadel, July 11, 2000

By 

HH (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boo (Paperback)

This book is a biographical/autobiographical novel about Pat Conroy's experiences in the Citadel, especially as they relate to The Boo, the Colonel in charge of The Citadel at the time Conroy attended. There are letters, memos, and anecdotes about The Boo's relationship with others in the school.

I found this to be an excellent portrayal of Citadel life. We on the outside think of the cadets as stern and commanding, but this book showed them being human. It also showed the sense of humor that The Boo had when dealing with the "Lambs" and the "Bums".

I found this book to be especially interesting after reading Lords of Discipline because I could see how autobiographical that novel was. Many of the experiences the characters had in Lords of Discipline came from acual experiences the cadets had in the Citadel.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Conroy's work, especially Lords of Discipline. I liked the insights I got into his character.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reality of the Military College, December 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Boo (Hardcover)

Pat Conroy wrote the Lords of Discipline not only out of the desire to write and be published, but to give us an insight as to what went on inside the Citadel walls. I think only a person who knows what actually goes on there could write such a book. Of course, Mr. Conroy is persona non grata at the Citadel. His portrayal of the school is less than favorable, but very realistic. The letters written between Courvoisie and the mother are excerpts of actual letters. Conroy did not make these up. Read to see what this fascinating man had to answer. I found The Boo to be truly revealing about life at The Citadel. This is the only book Conroy wrote in which he did not make a significant effort to mask those involved.