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Summary: A BOOK THAT LIVES FOREVER....DEEP.........TOUCHING
Review: This book is set in South Carolina and Rome.
This is one of the first books I've read by Pat Conroy and it is one of the deepest I've read in my life. I found it quite educational as it introduced me to South Carolina, a state I had never visited and felt a great urge to do so afterwards. It was also educational in inviting readers to see the holocaust from the point of view of suicide victim Shyla.The main character Jack McCall has left his homeland of South Carolina with his young daughter Leah to flee the mental anguish he is suffering as a a result of the suicidal death of his beautiful wife Shyla. Shyla had thrown herself to her own death when life became too much for her. Jack and Leah take to Rome where he spends his days in isolation writing cook books and trying to forget. However, after some time in Rome, it isn't long before his telephone is ringing and he is being begged to return to the USA. His mother Lucy has learnt that she has cancer, one of his brothers is giving trouble; all sorts of things are surfacing in the South, ready to
interrupt Jack's hibernation. His dysfuntional family needs him back there to straighten things out.....they cannot function without him. With a great deal of relutance, Jack and his daughter Leah return home and the haunting horrors which he has tried so hard to black out, flood back into his memory; inviting sometimes short-lived humour, deep sadness, unfinished business and quite a lot of 'what ifs?' The characters in this book are bright sparks and will stay with you forever, especially Jack's mother Lucy, his brothers, his father and his special school friend Jordan whose character you're bound to be facinated with along with so many others.
This novel is quite long but as the author unravels the cause of Shyla's suicide, you'll find yourself savouring the details which adds very much depth to the storyline. Another one of those books that I'll definitely be rereading. I only hope that Mr. Contoy has another spectacular one in the works for us soon, but in the meanwhile, you can dance to Beach Music which I highly recommend. Buy from Amazon today!! Nutface
September 24th 2001
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Summary: THE MOST INCREDIBLE BOOK ON THE PLANET
Review: This was the most fascinating book I have ever read in my 40 years. I have listened to the audio once a year for the last
5 years. It's over 20 cassettes and is wonderful, the reader has all the voices down to a science, you feel like you can reach out and touch the characters. I want to see the movie! Please make a movie out of this!!! Read this book, you won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Beach Music
Review: I listened to this book when it was released in 1995 on audiotape. I found myself not getting out of the car when I arrived home from working all day because of the spell that I was in. This is probably one of the best books that I have ever encountered. Pat Conroy has such a way to make you feel that you are there taking part of the characters world. We loved one of the characters so much that we chose the name if we had had a daughter, instead we had a son. This is a book that my husband and I will still make comments about during different times in our life. It does not happen very often that a book can last in your mind for so many years. I would and have to everyone that I know.
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Summary: LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT
Review: I've read "Prince of Tides", and assumed that Pat Conroy could not write a better book than that. I was wrong. "Beach Music" is a wonderful book. I laughed out loud at the dialogue between Jack and his brothers and was touched with his relationship with his daughter, Leah. I didn't want the book to end.
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Summary: Conroy's most ambitious
Review: Pat Conroy has given us an admirably ambitious work in Beach Music. At 800 pages it is a bit daunting, but readers will not be disappointed if they persevere until the novel's end. Conroy has crafted an epic, multi-generational saga that focuses on the narrator, Jack McCall, and his attempts to come to terms with his past. As the novel opens, Jack, a travel writer and cookbook author, has fled to Rome to raise his daughter Leah after a torturous custody battle with his mother and father-in-law. His wife Shyla has committed suicide, and the excruciating vagueness of her motivation has driven Jack's in-laws to blame him for her death and seek custody of their grandchild. Unwillingly, Jack is drawn back to his Waterford, South Carolina birthplace to spend time with Lucy, his leukemia-stricken mother, in her last months and to confront and make peace with his demons. The number of characters in this book is staggering, but Conroy does a good job in making all of them essential to the story. Although Jack and his story serve as the main thread of the book, the novel actually plays out as a series of novellas which go deeply into the history of the main characters. The book moves around from Rome to South Carolina to the Nazi Holocaust. Many of the stories are a bit superfluous to the main tale, but they are all interesting and poignant. Conroy's hallmarks are all here: domineering and abusive men, regal women who maintain their dignity despite them, the focus on the relationships between mothers and sons and fathers and sons, and of course, Conroy's almost worshipful treament of South Carolina (which is always as much a character in his work as the actual people). In fact, it is the "beach music" of South Carolina's low country that binds all of the characters and calls them inexorably together. This is nicely symbolized by Lucy's calling of caring for the nests of the loggerhead turtles. Every year the adults are instinctively drawn back to the South Carolina beach to lay their eggs. Just as surely as they leave and seek the ocean when they are born, they must return to their place of origin. All of the characters in the book experience this pull. It is difficult in a concise review to cover the details of this book. That is why I termed it "epic". It covers an amazing amount of territory, and it meanders. This may put some readers off, but if you are willing to follow Conroy the story he presents is well worth reading.
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Summary: WEIGHTY!
Review: Once, when a teenager, a friend, 300lbs +, and I were wrestling. At one point he fell full weight on top of me. It was fun and exciting, but I was almost crushed and overcome by his mass. But, we wrestled again another day anyway becuase it was fun and the type of things teen boys do. This is what reading a Pat Conroy book is like. There is so much of it, you are almost overcome by its mass, yet you enjoy it. I am not always sure why everything is there, but I am always glad it is there. Growing up in South Carolina, it seems that we have the same background music of life. Yet, my family was good and loving and somewhat normal. But, as a human being we all experiance suffering, heartbreak, joy, love and death. Pat Conroy piles it all on us the readers and we cannot resist coming back for more. His prose are often like poetry. His stories within the story are akways done in a big way. Nothing is subtle, yet, somehow he most often remains very sensitive. Cry and laugh and enjoy. Pat Conroy's books are irresitable.
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Summary: Transformed by the Music
Review: As I sat reading this book I found myself completely absorbed in the lives of the people I was discovering. This is the first Pat Conroy book I have read, and it left me longing for more. At first I was not sure if I liked Jack McCall. He was very sarcastic and seemed to be suffering from self-pity syndrome. However, as his life was completely altered and he was forced to face his past, I realized that my opinion of him was altered as well. I was able to watch this man transform with each page that I turned, and I longed to know what type of person he would become in the end. I could not put the book down. The only reason I would not give it 5 stars is because I felt as though it jumped from one past experience to the next quite frequently and left me feeling overwhelmed by all of the new information I was gathering. What I enjoyed the most about this novel is that not only the main character reached a point of self-discovery, but nearly every character discovered some hidden truths about him/herself and it only emphasized the fact that no one is perfect. It may take an entire lifetime to figure out who we are and what we stand for, but really that is what living is all about. By the time I finished reading Beach Music, I found that I had thought a little more about my past and what I wanted for the future. It is a complex and emotional story that helps identify the truly important things in life. Don't try to rush through this novel, but savor every detail and learn from it. It is definitely worth it!
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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Beach Music begins as the story of Jack McCall, a culinary and travel writer who fled his homeland of South Carolina for Rome, cutting all ties with his family and old life, after his wife's suicide. He takes his daughter Leah and stays in Rome until people from his past find their way back to him. Somehow, he must face the past before he can go forward. This is a rebirth, a journey to Rome, back home, and into the past for new life and new hope. This novel is a discovery and an experience. Conroy throws a great deal of action and humor into this poetic novel about friends, family, love, and life in South Carolina. Jack's family - complete with four brothers, one of whom is literally certifiable - is dysfunctional and hilarious. Conroy has mastered dialogue with this one. While Prince of Tides had a few zingers, this one is chock full of wit, humor, and heart-wrenching moments. I savored every page, every line, and every moment in this book.
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Summary: Exquisite Style
Review: Conroy blends lots of characters with an exquisite style that pulled me into the world of Beach Music. Beach Music and Prince of Tides were what Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil could have been, but wasn't. His Southern characters and settings are magical.There are some complaints about the plot, but his writing is so exquisite, who cares? Pat Conroy turns emotional turbulence into a mystery plot. I can't wait to find out why his characters are so screwed up. The payoff isn't always as great as the anticipation, but the journey is delicious.
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Summary: Listen to the Audiobook
Review: I decided to listen to the audiobook primarily because Pat Conroy is such a lyrical writer. I've always thought that Conroy was best read out loud, so when I saw the audiobook, I decided to put that theory to the test. Please don't let the mixed reviews about Beach Music stop you from LISTENING to the book. I recommend it specifically for the superb effort done by Peter MacNicol. As usual, Conroy has a LOT of characters in this book. MacNicol handles this with ease. Not only does he take on the southern accents with finesse, he has the ability to make the brothers of the story sound as if they grew up in the same family, but with enough distinction between them that you know who is talking without explanation. It was no surprise to learn that MacNicol had a stage acting background. He was fantastic. You will read in other places that the book had flaws in the plot. For myself, I didn't like it as much as Prince of Tides. But listening to Peter MacNicol narrate with such skill bridged any of those gaps for me, and made the experience a delight.
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