Rating: 
Summary: A great value for the entertainment! A summer read!
Review: Beach Music is the type of book that provides entertainement for various types of readers....romance, love, family, murder, war,
racism, history, death/suicide, amongst a few. The story line captures you
in the beginning and leads you along by the nose. The story resolution could
have perhaps been a little different and perhaps not so hokky
and pretictable, but nonetheless, the cost and the entertainment
for the cost was exceptional. A great summer book!
Rating: 
Summary: Great read with a weak ending, but otherwise enthralling.
Review: Anyone who's tired of the same old tired story line will find this to be an unusually fresh, but sometimes disturbing tale of a classical dysfunctional family brought together by impending tragedy. The main character is less than perfect, but his arrogance and narrow-minded view of life first distracts and then attracts the reader. The major disappointment in this otherwise superlative novel is the slow-developing and all-too-predictable ending. Otherwise, Conroy has fashioned an emotionally-charged and captivating story
Rating: 
Summary: Too Depressing!
Review: Beach Music is one big whine. Bad parents, bad marriage, bad life, except for the daughter. Couldn't finish
it. Not enough good to get over all the depressing life stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Mc Call searchs for answers to his past.
Review: Pat Conroy is a gifted storyteller who charms readers
with his twisting plots, vivid character sketches, and charming settings. Conroy's previous works have been
portraits of people and places in his own life- The
Great Santini was modeled on his father, and Lords of
Discipline reflected his college experience.
In his latest endeavor, Pat Conroy moves beyond the
South Carolina Low Country, the setting of his previous
novels, as his character Jack McCall moves to Europe
to sort through and escape the trials of his past. As
most of us know, pasts have a way of catching up with you, and Jack McCall learns that the painful memories
of his past are not buried and that unresolved issues
of his youth are not forgotten.
Jack McCall and his daughter go to Rome to start a new life after McCall's wife commits suicide. As McCall searches for answers to his wife's suicide, he reflects
on his life in the South. Through Conroy's exploration
of McCall's past, Conroy addresses such issues as the rebellion of youth, the conflicts on American college
campuses in the sixties, and the Holocaust.. McCall recounts his past when his childhood friends come into play as he is enlisted
to help find a friend who disappeared in order to avoid Vietnam.
McCall explores his wife's troubles as her family begs him to bring his
daughter home. Readers will experience McCall's struggle
to understand his wife's family history, his role in finding his long-lost classmate, and the peace he finds as he rebuilds his life.
Conroy weaves many plots into Beach Music, spanning two continents and nearly fifty years. His skillful twists will keep readers interested
until the end. If you are a child of the sixties, an enthusiast of Southern literature, or anyone who enjoys a well-developed psychological novel, you should check out Beach Music. Beach Music is perfect for a day at the beach- feel the heat of the summer sun and hear the roar of the ocean. You'll be transported back to the South in the sixties and the setting of Conroy's novel. A word of warning- dive into Beach Music when you have time on your hands. You won't be able to stop reading!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but could have been three books
Review: For a book that curiously begins with an error in the first sentence (the "Silas Pearlman Bridge in Charleston" is really the Silas Pearman Bridge), this is a fine read. Perhaps the change in spelling is literary license. After 500 pages down and 300 to go, I was ready to drive to Charleston and throw the book over the bridge from which Shyla leapt. However, I'm afraid of heights and, since the book was heavy enough to kill a whale if it hit him on the head, I decided to just finish it. It was a richly rewarding experience. Still, I was left with the feeling that I had read three different books rolled into one. The material relating to the holocaust could have been incorporated into one standalone book, the story of Jack and his friends would have made a great vacation read all by itself, and the story of Jack and his family would have been a wonderful third book. Beach Music is a good thing, but maybe too much of a good thing. Anyway, I loved the story but wished the descriptions of food, marshes, cities, sunsets, sunrises, so forth and so on could have been shorter. At 800 pages, even a masterpiece can be laborious. No doubt though, Conroy should never be speed-read, just as Mozart should never be fast-played.
Rating: 
Summary: Beached Whale
Review: Before I begin the review, let me start with a disclaimer. I am notoriously picky about what I read, watch, and listen to. My taste rarely gels with the mainstream. So while I absolutely didn't like this book, I'm sure most of you will love it. In other words, don't listen to me.
That being said, I just can't understand why anyone actually likes this book. It's 800 pages long and I still can't figure out what the point of it was. I suppose Jack had to come to terms with his wife's death, but then did we really need all that excess stuff--the life history of every person Jack's come into contact with? The parts about the Holocaust are riveting, but in the framework of the story how much did it really contribute to my understanding that the ordeal Shyla's parents went through ended up screwing her up. And the thing with Jordan and Vietnam also didn't seem to add much to Jack's story.
This book reminds me a lot of when I read Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again" in that both had this episodic make-up with some episodes that were engrossing and others that were torturous. Some, like the adventure at sea, made me wonder "What's this have to do with anything?" It just seemed to me after a while that the author must believe that the only way to tell the story was to tell every tiny detail for every character, even peripheral ones like Max Rusoff, The Great Jew.
For me, this book seemed to lack purpose and moved along so incrementally that I wanted to scream. There were a few interesting moments, but in the end, few of them seemed to add to my understanding of Jack or his coming to terms with things. For whatever reason, that doesn't seem to be the opinion voiced by many other people. Maybe they understood things better than I did.
I also have to say that Leah was the most unconvincing child I've ever read in print. She wasn't a real girl so much as Shirley Temple with an adult vocabulary--just too precious for words. By the end I was hoping she'd decide to migrate with the loggerhead turtles, but that didn't happen.
The wedding at the end also seemed forced and hopelessly sentimental. The author never really built the relationship between the two characters, so it didn't make much sense to me that they got together in the end. It was all summed up in one sentence--"we decided while making the movie we couldn't live without each other"--which after 750 pages doesn't make a lot of sense; seems to me there was plenty of time to build the connection between the characters in between all those episodes, but it didn't really happen. In the end it seemed to me that they got married because, well, Jack needed to marry someone for the ending, so it may as well be her.
Like I said, there were parts of the book that were A+, but far more that just seemed to waste my time. On the balance, I just couldn't enjoy this long, rambling yarn as much as other people. But as I said above, don't listen to me.
Rating:
Summary: Want to know about South Carolina
Review: If you are interested in learning what a lot of white middle-class and professional people are like in South Carolina, read this book. I was born and raised there and know my state and its people and am impressed with Conroy's apt and introspective descriptions.
Rating: 
Summary: a sizable read
Review: Shyla McCall jumps of a bridge, instantly fracturing a community; creating a schism between two families.
Beach Music traces the journey of Jack McCall, the widower, and his daugther, Leah, from Rome, where he attempts to hide from his family, to South Carolina, where he must face his greatest fear--his past.
Weaving together episodes from significant events from the past (Vietnam war, WW I and II, etc.), Pat Conroy contrives a delectable tale. The dialogue is lively, and George Fox's monologue was the high point, for me.
Nevertheless, the book suffers from obesity.
Not taking anything away, Beach Music is excellent, especially for those who have spare time.
Rating:
Summary: Darling of the South
Review: I have read a lot about Pat Conroy, and read a lot BY Pat Conroy, and having met him in person, one of nearly thousands who stood in line for a signature to go along with my copy of Beach Music, I must say, I believe he is the Darling of the South. We have embraced him, and hopefully encouraged him to tell his story intertwined with ours. My only disappointments with each book come as I read the last word on the last page; I always want more. Thank you Mr. Conroy, for your fine writing, for your fabulous personality, for your amazing gift of storytelling, but most of all, for your honesty.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favourite reads
Review: I read a lot, and after having read this, I went out and bought all the other Conroy's I could get my hands on. However, although Prince of Tides is hailed as his best, Beach Music has come to be my favourite book. Which, I might add is saying something.
I was deeply touched by the love with which he writes, not only about friendship and family values, but also of his home country.
While some readers might be annoyed by the often exaggerated linguistics, I still believe that this is a must-read. I have passed it on to all my friends, who loved it too, so much, in fact, I have to order a new copy, because mine is fallen apart.
Happy Reading!
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