Customer Reviews

The Boo

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I had searched for this book everywhre and finally got it through this site. It was well worth all the hunting! My Conroy collection is complete, and I strongly recommend this book to all Conroy fans! The other novels make so much more sense after reading this first book!

The book was not great but was good enough for Conroy's first book. It was a glimpse of what was yet to come, his five other books being excellent.

Pat Conroy is one of Americas greatest writers. This is not one of his best book, it is his first book. It provides readers of Conroy a better understanding of how he grew into that position. In its own way it is the most interesting of his works.All young men should read his works from beginning to end.

Pat Conroy has become a giant in the world of writing. He has sustained a long career and written some incredible novels. "The Boo" is his first attempt at writing and was written shortly after he graduated from The Citadel and about ten years before writing "The Lords of Discipline".

Not a novel and not a collection of short stories, it's more a grouping of anecdotes about cadet life at The Citadel during the 1960s. The Boo is Lt. Colonel Nugent Courvoisie, who had served as Assistant Commandant of Cadets during that time period. He was a father figure to many of the cadets and did his best to maintain discipline and provide firm guidance to impressionable (and sometimes very immature) young men. Very much a character, the feelings Pat Conroy holds toward this bear of a man are apparent in every page. Sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, and sometimes confusing since I have no military background, these pages are a wonderful glimpse into the writer that would become so impressive in his later years.There is a new introduction written by Mr. Conroy in this re-release and it really helps frame the content of the book and helps the reader understand how this helped launch his career.

It's almost impossible to review and rate this book without putting in the context of his overall career. As a stand-alone piece of writing, I would give it 3-stars. As a glimpse into the future brilliance of Mr. Conroy, I end up thinking it deserves 4-stars. It's rough in places and, at times, repetitive so it doesn't have the genius of his novels but it lays such an incredible foundation plus it allows the reader a glimpse into an unknown world that it is definitely a must-read for his fans.

Mr. Conroy's idolization of the Colonel is obvious, but the book is slow moving, hard to follow and definitely hid his literary genius to be shared with us in his later writings.

Since I've read every other thing he's written, I wanted to read this "first" attempt at writing he made. He actually apologizes for it in the forward, but it's fairly well written, though clearly not of the caliber of Pat's work that followed. Still, it's interesting from an historical perspective, since it's directly about his real life, and the life of one of his favorite people that positively affected him. In this case, the "Boo" had a positive impact on apparently countless undergrads at the Citadel in S.C. where Pat took his college studies. This unique environment provided much fodder for Conroy's future writings, but his most immediate reaction was to speak of the injustice that the Citadel imposed upon a stalwart and important member of their management staff. So, the tome doesn't read like a full blown novel per se, but rather is like a listing of reasons and justifications why the "Boo" was so valuable a person to the cadets, and why his treatment by the institution so wronged a man of strong character with the ability to season his authority with affection and respect for the cadets themselves.

The Boo will live forever in the hearts and minds of those Cadets lucky, or unlucky, enough to have met,lived with and lived under this great man's tutalidge.
This was Pat Conroys first book, it shows. He has a hard time writing his story and the reader is bounced around without a road to follow. His recollections are moving and his literary geneous is apparent even in its embryonic stage. The Boo is an enjoyable reading to all but it is a must reading for any Cadet who lived in the Hole during this time. Having know Conroy and The Boo during my time in the Hole, I have a great effection and respect for both. Buy and read the book; and then read his other books, in order, and you will see the developement of a true poet laureate of his age.
jdog
The Citadel