Beach Music

Rating:
Summary: very heart-warming!!!!
Review: This was one of the best novels I have ever read. The way Conroy describes South Carolina makes me want to move there. He descriptions of the Holocaust are extremely vivid and down to the tee.You feel you are the fifth brother in the McCall family

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Moving, Historical Fiction--READ THIS BOOK!
Review: This book makes you care about the characters, it takes you on a journey both in time and human growth that leaves you feeling changed. Holocaust references are vivid and bring some meaning home to those if us who weren't there. If you've never read Pat Conroy, read this one first! It's his best, most detailed, inspired, touching work.

Rating:
Summary: A perfect story to appreciate your own family idiosyncrasies
Review: I found this book very hard to put down. It was my first Pat Conroy book, but definately not my last. He caught my heart with his frustrations of family during a very difficult part of his life. Although it is a story of fiction, it relates to how even in real life, families can be very hurtful without even knowing it. I found Jack's initial response of not allowing his daughter the right to know her history very discerning. But then letting her daughter get to know her grandparents a great joy. I found reading about Jack's mother sharing the history and life of sea turtles with her grandaughter to be a beautiful way one's elders share life and the importance of preserving mother nature and her impeccable ways. I would recommend this book to anyone to appreciate how important family is no matter what baggage it carries, but appreciate what you have because you won't have it forever.

Rating:
Summary: I'd give this a 0 if it were offered.
Review: I started with the book, gave it up after Jack's return home to see his dying mother.With all the whining about their broken childhood, there was nothing believable about this gathering of siblings. Beach Music was selected for our Book Group this year, so I thought I'd try to get through the audio tapes. Now I'm trying to remember what I liked about The Prince of Tides. Was I duped by some masterful storytelling? I'm so disappointed with Beach Music, that I can't bear the thought of trying The Lords of Discipline. Enough of overwrought plot, flowery prose, sacrastic and soul-less characterizations. Turn up the Muzak! It will be more stimulating than finishing Beach Music.

Rating:
Summary: A good book. Conroy is a wordsmith of the finest calibre.
Review: Readers say they tire of Conroy's "dysfunctional family" themes. Well, who hasn't got a dysfunctional family? It would be utterly boring to read about countless perfect, tidy unscathed families anyway! The book was good, the grandmother's character invinceable. I really enjoyed all the nature references to saving the turtles and this families love for the land. I'm reading all of Conroy's books now - he has me hooked.

Rating:
Summary: high marks for language and drama
Review: While I am completely taken with Conroys use of language, I am concerned that some readers think this is the best book American literature has to offer. Try some Hemingway and Fitzgerald for comparison. Conroy has a magical gift for metaphors and 'turning a phrase', but characters that seem critical drop out for years (and pages) only to reappear magically a few chapters later. The plot was very complex and dramatic. But the turning points and character motivations were not always clear. The dialog was excellent. The setting of the scene was descriptive and colorful. Overall I think the book is somewhat uneven. Mr. Conroy might consider working with a very strict, but sympathetic, editor

Rating:
Summary: Not one of Conroy's best
Review: I was so excited that a new book by Conroy came out that I bought the hardcover edition-- and after I was finished, took it to a second hand bookstore to salvage what I could from it. Especially after reading "The Lords of Discipline" and "The Prince of Tides" this novel very disappointing. He needed a good editor to rein him in, and try to contain some of the story lines. In a way I think that Conroy was too ambitious-- there were probably two or three good novels contained within this one rambling plot.

Rating:
Summary: An Unexpected Pleasure
Review: Recently I had an accident, broke a leg an have had nothing to do but read. My mom brought over this increadably long book in which I was reluctant to read. I started to read it an was originally unimpressed. Then suddenly, I couldn't put the book down. I found the writing witty and increadably beautiful. This is the type of book you never want to end. I can't wait to read the rest of his books.

Rating:
Summary: Beach Music may be the worst book that I have ever read.
Review: So much of this book was unbelievable, beginning with the characters' names - Ledare, Shyla, Tee, John Harlan, Dallas - what kind of names ARE those? The scene with the four friends lost at sea for two weeks was completely unbelievable, and became laughable when the boys were rescued by holding on to the antler of a swimming deer that led them home. The scene where Jack was in the hospital bathing his mother and shampooing her hair because she had become violently ill;shouldn't he have called a nurse? It's frightening that such a book could become a best seller.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging, I refused to put it down!
Review: While set in the south and in Italy, this is a story of human spirit, searching, and reconciliation. With both humor and sadness, Conroy's characters are believable and utterly human. I've read all his books, and this is by far the best....and it's hard to top Lords of Discipline.