RIP Pat Conroy

[Moderator1]

Pancreatic cancer - and it didn't take long

Pat Conroy, 70, dies after short battle with pancreatic cancer

 

[SFIND]

My Losing Season is the best memoir I've read. RIP.

 

[WriteThinking]

My Losing Season is the best memoir I've read. RIP.

I liked "My Losing Season", as well. But, wow, what a rip job that was of his coach.

Conroy was one of my favorite authors when I was younger. "The Lords of Discipline" was my introduction to him, and what a great, searing introduction it was. Probably still ranks as one of the best books I've ever read. "My Losing Season" was probably my second-favorite among his books.

 

[Neutral Corner]

I got onto him when "The Water is Wide" came out. It's been a long, lovely ride. RIP.

 

[cranberry]

My brother and I identified pretty strongly with Bull Meecham's kids in The Great Santini, so there's that. We still call our dad Santini. It was a powerful book. I also enjoyed Prince of Tides quite a bit. After that, I picked up a couple more of his books but they began to sound alike.

 

[Webster]

He wrote the same book every time, but it was a fantastic book.

 

[YankeeFan]

 

[WriteThinking]

I liked "The Water is Wide," didn't like "The Prince of Tides," and have tried a couple of times but could never finish "The Great Santini." I'm not sure why that was. It just didn't appeal, perhaps because I found it very unlike my family and childhood. Maybe I'll try it again, in memoriam.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I've probably read, "My Losing Season" three times, and will read it again. Lots of connections to my alma mater in that book.

 

[John]

My first writing job out of college was in Columbia, S.C. And every day I recalled Conroy's line in Lords of Discipline: "Columbia, what an armpit of a city."

I think I've read everything he's written, some numerous times. For decades my family has vacationed on the South Carolina coast, so every trip there was like a trip into a Conroy novel (minus all the discord and tragedy).

 

[cyclingwriter2]

A buddy of mine took a newspaper job in beaufort with the hopes of meeting conroy. Never did until he was about to leave town. It turns out conroy went to the convenience store my buddy's wife worked at almost every other day. My buddy was in there when conroy walked in afterward told his wife who that was. She had no idea a regular was her husband's idol.

 

[Ace]

Introduced to Conroy via The Great Santini. It was recommended by some guys who loved it and didn't really read books.

Read everything he wrote. Wasn't a huge fan of Prince of Tides but loved everything else.

 

[Double Down]

The Prince of Tides is a wonderful book that has its rep muddled by Streisand's ego-driven decision to think the film should be entirely about Wingo and Lowenstien's relationship, not the Wingo family. Conroy overwrote like no one else, but he was wonderful in huge unapologetic bursts. The football scene in POT where he takes two kicks back against Clemson is one of my favorite sports scenes in any novel.

 

[Neutral Corner]

"Beach Music" was one long love letter to his beloved tidal flats. Man, I miss this guy already.

 

[Riptide]

Loved "The Great Santini" the first time I read it. Alpha dogs rule!

Didn't love it quite as much the second time, when I realized it was a horror story.

I probably couldn't read it again, but it was a hell of a tale.

 

[YankeeFan]

The movie is spectacular.

 

[Webster]

"Beach Music" was one long love letter to his beloved tidal flats. Man, I miss this guy already.

The two flashback sections in Beach Music were fantastic and makes one wonder what he could have done had he set some of his work away from his comfort zones.

 

[Songbird]

 

[Starman]

I always watch "Conrack" when it comes on one of the cheap-movie channels.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Conroy penned a letter to the editor in the Charleston (W.Va) Gazette in 2007 after an area high school banned his books.


http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFil...s-Rationales/Conroy_Pat_LettertotheEditor.pdf