Rating: 
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: "Beach Music" was the first book I have read by the author, Pat Conroy. What he does with words cannot be described. I could not put the book down. I read it in 2 days! Through his words I felt every emotion that his characters experienced. I WANT MORE!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: He knows "how to make a story sizzle when it hits the fat"!
Review: When you dive between the pages of this Pat Conroy book, you had better grab yourself an oxygen tank or gorw a set of gills, because this author is rarely going to let you up for air! The man's writing sucks you under like some might ocean riptide, where you are pulled along with speed and power on a ride as exhilarating as it is frightening! From suicide to mental illness, from family dysfunction to friendships gone awry, from the Jewish Holocaust to the Vietnam war, from love longed for and lost to love misunderstood and redefined, Conroy's story keeps you in deep waters and does not release you until the final page! There can only be surrender to the force of words such as these, only a yielding to the current you find yourself caught in. Lest you fear burst lungs and drowning from too much time spent in emotional depths, let me assure you that with respite derived from great humor and sheer descriptive beauty, you WILL bob above the surface often enough to catch some air and breathe! You may even stay afloat long enough to hear for yourself the "beach music," and taste, in your imagination, the flavors from the steamed crab and oyster on the shore... For truly Conroy's narrative serves up language to linger over: sentences to savor, words to roll on the tongue like fine wine, imagery to lap up like thick cream, emotion to taste in all its range from bitter to sweet and back again. The very juice of these words will run down the sides of your mouth... For instance, when Jack McCall speaks of his dead wife, he says, "SHe wanted to set the flags of all her tomorrows at half mast... Her memory sharpened its knives against my heart..." And when Jack tires of his grief-stricken existence, he admits, "I longed for... a little more Mardi Gras than Lent in my life..." Conroy paints a world where incense is "prayer put to the torch"; where wind chimes tinkle "like ice shaken in silver cups"; where the city of Venice "is a peacock tail unfurled on the Adriatic." If I were the evangelizing, proselytizing type, I would be standing on street corners and pressing this book into your hands. Or I would be in airports, where you would find me jumping up and down on bare feet and jingling tiny bells, inviting you to join me for a free feast, where I would feed you on this man's sentences. But fortunately for one and all, those tactics are NOT my style. I can only attempt to lure you to Conroy's words with the toss of some written bait, the spray of some word-besotted scent, the offer of some minuscule verbal appetizer. May you taste with your own palate the FULL pleasure on Conroy's gourmet literary fare, and see for yourself that this "Southern boy" author, in the words of his main character, knows "how to make a story sizzle when it hits the fat."
Rating:
Summary: Completing absorbing.
Review: I don't often get an opportunity to read and finish a book within one or two months. I felt that this particular story had a slow beginning. But once the story unfolded and moved from one memory and back to the present and back out again, I was hooked. I laughed at the visuals he created in my mind of his interactions with his family. I cried when the story was told about the concentration camps. I put myself in the story pretending to be on the sidelines watching. Usually after I complete a book that is as compelling as this, it will take a few months until I can pick up another because I will think about the story and the characters and I don't want to let go just yet. I wish the story could go on to see how his daughters' life unfolded too. (HINT, HINT) Wouldn't this make a great movie? I also tend to start casting and I believe that Robin Williams would make a terrific "Jack"
Rating:
Summary: MY FAVORITE BOOK EVER!
Review: This book is incredible, I have read it twice in the past year! As a southerner living in Italy the book really takes me home to my roots in the south as well as accurately describing life in Italy. Conroy's descriptions of Rome and Venice are so accurate and vivid. I always look at the Gritti Palace in Venice and smile!
Rating:
Summary: Pat Conroy is a wonderful author who delivers.
Review: As with his other books (read them all!), Conroy delivers in Beach Music intense characters, riveting stories within the story, and absolute artistry in his descriptions. His main character mirrors his other protagonists, in previous works, in an absolutely rewarding way; Conroy draws you and makes you never want to leave!
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!
Review: I loved every word of this book. Mr. Conroy has a truly exceptional gift when telling a story. I felt like I was part of the McCall family -- every laugh, each tear and every moment of tragedy and triumph I shared with them while reading this extraordinary novel. I felt sad & dissapointed after turning the last page - I didn't want it to end
Rating:
Summary: Soon becomes an addiction!!!
Review: Having read all of Pat Conroys books and never having been disappointed, when I picked up Beach Music and read the synopsis, I feared the worst. That perhaps old "Conrack" had gone over the edge into the abyss of the trite and melancholy. From the opening paragraphs, however, I was captivated. Pat Conroys' books have always had that effect upon me, but this was something totally breathtaking. Conroys' patent gift for language, mixed with his incredible imagination and rare wit combine to bring forth a story so unique as to baffle the readers mind. It left me feeling insignificant. I don't hold any pretenses to being one of these "men of the 90s'", tapping into my feminine side and all that arm-chair psychobabble, but any reader would be hard-pressed not to be moved by Conroys' intricate story weaving and the emotion that he evokes so effectively. A must for anyone with a passion for the richness of the English language and a desire to look deeply at emotions below the base level we are too often subjected to in these times
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely one of my favore all-time books
Review: Not only is this book filled with humor, friendship and dysfunctional families, it brings out the love the father has for his daughter and all he does to protect from his past history. I am reading it for the third time this summer and will probably read it again. I never thought I could enjoy one of Conroys books more than Prince of Tides, which I only read twice, but this is a book I just never wanted to end. I hope he writes another one soon. A great summer read. I shed both tears of joy and laughter more than once
Rating:
Summary: Good story, breathtaking writing!
Review: Though probably not his greatest story, Conroy's lyrical prose literally sings from beginning to end. With characters that are both pathetic and thoroughly lovable, Beach Music takes each reader on an epic journey back to the roots of his childhood. You'll laugh, cry and hate it for ending. A "must read."
Rating: 
Summary: Is Pat Conroy just writing the same book again and again?
Review: I'm a real fan of Mr. Conroy, but even I'm beginning to wonder if we're getting the same basic plot with every new Conroy book. You know, emotionally wrought man deals with history of his dysfunctional family.
It even took two characters, McCall and Elliott, to cover the Conroy autobiographical character in "Beach Music".
The mock trial was really contrived and unbelievable. Let's vent and all be buddies again.
Come on, Pat, get over that rotten childhood and give us something new and refreshing.
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