Beach Music

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing!
Review: I found that I couldn't even finish this book. The author has a beautiful narrative style, but I found nothing to like in any of the characters in this book. Jack was a whiner, his mother was a melodramatic pain in the butt, and the daughter was just TOO TOO precocious. The alcoholic father was a caricature. The draft dodger turned priest was just TOO noble. Everyone in this book was some kind of extreme. Enough already... if I want this kind of story, I'll watch for a movie-of-the-week. There are far better writers out there.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling from the beginning to the end.
Review: This may be one of the most captivating books since Catcher In The Rye. The character development truly personifies southern living with a cast of characters that is fascinating beyond belief. I have given this book to others to read and they are amazed. I am now a Conroy fan.

Rating:
Summary: Pat Conroy is a wonderful story teller!
Review: After living in Charleston, South Carolina for seven years, and having recently moved to the West Coast, Pat Conroy made me relive the scents and visions of South Carolina. I actually felt as if I were there. I also felt as if I were in Rome since he is such a wonderful story teller. The story shows the strong bonds that are formed within a family, no matter how hard one tries to break them.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't get past the lapses to enjoy this book
Review: After the gushing praise from my wife and a couple of friends I moved this one up in my reading list. I guess Conroy and I just don't click; I put down The Great Santini after a fitful start not once but twice. Beach Music never turned musical for me. The plot was interesting but didn't bind me through the plain and thoughtless dialogue or too-bad-to-be-true turns in the plot. Last Conroy for me, I'm afraid.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely engrossing, heartfelt, and memorable.
Review: Amazing life connector. Disfunctional yet bonded. Touching every emotion, attaching you to the characters. Enlightening your thinking about life and people. I felt I had lost my best friends when it was over and I have such lingering fond memories. Pat Conroy is a genious to be able to make these characters for best friends.

Rating:
Summary: Great with holes
Review: Beach Music was a wonderful, and brilliantly tailored book, however there were many times where I thought "where the hell does this come in?". The relationship between the grandmother, Lucy, and Jack's daughter, Leah was very real and maternal-like, seeing as Leah lost her mother to suicide. The main thing is, why do all of these bad things seem to happen to Jack when the remaining characters (Ledare, Mike, etc.) lead seemingly perfect lives. The relationship parts, like I said before, were defenitiely the most relatable and realistic. Anyone can tell that Conroy is in love with the South, his mother and his siblings. I read this book for a school project called the DCE. It was the first Conroy novel I had ever read, but my dad highly recommended him. Since then I have read The Prince of Tides, and The Great Santini. The Great Santini was defenitely my favorite, with Beach Music being at a semi-close second. I recommend this book to anyone who has a lot of time to read a lot of lyrical story-telling.

Rating:
Summary: Deeply Engaging
Review: Conroy's electrifying prose fuels this riveting tale of a man facing his past. He delves deep into the complexities of our being. We are more than the products of experience, we are a composition of history, culture and freakish happenings. The characters are painted in vivid iridescence. While the scents,sounds and sights of Italy, South Carolina and Nazi Germany permeate our inner core. Beach Music is invascive, it touches our soul, leaving an indelible mark of profundity. As our protagonist confronts the mortality of his mother and reunites with friends and family, he is emancipated from the torment of denial. The reader is left to relect upon the key events of modern history and face the innermost conversations with self. One will reflect for years to come. This is true. I read it three years ago!

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous! Could not put it down!
Review: This is a book i will read over and over again. It makes you laugh at the disfuntional. This is a crazy family, i laughed, i cried, i loved every page!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. It brings new meaning to the words forever love. The love shown from father to daughter, father to mother and brother to brother is outstanding and heart felt. I recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a good cry.

Rating:
Summary: Beach Music by Pat Conroy
Review: Beach Music is by far Pat Conroy's best novel. It was powerful. I read the book almost 2 years ago and I can vividly remember all the characters. The history of the Jews and their hardship left me with a feeling of anger and much sadness. Mr. Conroy's research and style of story telling of this unfortunate history was perfect. I have recommended this book to friends and family.