Rating: 
Summary: This Southern book rules!
Review: I am in a novel class at my high school, and The Lords of Discipline is one of the best books I have read so far in that class. Pat Conroy gives a vivid, harsh display of life in a military school and how it can change anyone, even in the slightest way. There is trust, brotherhood, love, tragedy, and betrayal, and when you can effectively work with all these things at the same time, you are definitely a fine writer. The main character, Will Mclean, goes from being a boy to an "Institute" man in a very difficult way. While trying to help the first black student to go to the Carolina Military Institute, he comes across a mysterious group known as "The Ten", who set out to rid those not worthy of the Institute. This ultimately leads Will to discover something about his school, his friends, and himself. All in all, Pat Conroy gives a realistic view of military school life with poetical and lyrical passages that are what every writer should try to emulate. From its humble beginning to its shocking ending, The Lords of Discipline is a book you will not want to put down as soon as you begin reading it. Take it from a Southern girl!
Rating:
Summary: The Lords of Discipline
Review: I was required to read this novel for an elective English class. Little did I know that it would become one of my favorite books ever.After finishing the first chapter, I was drawn into the story and imediately a fan of Pat Conroy's. He has a style of writing where he, just as most passionate writers, get caught in the moment and lyrically write from the heart. McLean's experience through military school is something that everyone should read. Even if you are not the least bit interested in the military or it's politics, one can still learn something from this novel morally based on honor, entrapment, betrayal, friendship, and life change. I reccomend this book to both men and women who want to be moved by a page turning, eye watering, and heart opening novel.Thank you,Pat Conroy for giving me the knowledge of how brutal life can be, and thank you for an experience I was able to learn about. You are a brave soul.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting, fascinating, realistic and triumphant
Review: Pat Conroy is a masterful writer, but he really outdid himself on this one.The story is narrated by Will McClean as he shares his experience in the Carolina Military Institute. About two or three pages into the book, you will find yourself immersed in the story. His opening description of Charleston, South Carolina is worth the price of the book -- usually long descriptions bore me, but this one was different -- I felt like I had actually been to Charleston after reading it. This story is brutal in some of its details of living and learning in a military school. I have a sneaky suspicion that they are right on target. The hazing, the competitiveness and control and betrayal practiced by cadets on other cadets is uncomfortably like the control games seen outside of military schools. I am neither male nor a graduate of a military school, but I have a feeling that Conroy's descriptions, given through the character of Will McClean, are accurate. This book has the unmistakable stamp of someone who has "been there and done that." There are many plots and subplots -- a young woman whom Will meets, Will's relationship with "The Bear" (Colonel Bearineau)and Will's duty to watch out for Cadet Pearce, the first Afro-American cadet in the Institute's history. And while there is a lot of grimness and harshness, Will stubbornly tries to keep his mind on the good as well as the bad, and he succeeds. Whether or not the book has a "good" ending will depend on the reader's definition of what a "good" ending is. It is triumphant and Will emerges a better person.
Rating: 
Summary: Lords of Discipline
Review: The Lords of is Discipline is the story of Will McLean as he goes from boyhood to manhood in a brutal military setting. His independence and strong views create an inner conflict with the system that he's supposed to conform to. Everyone will learn something when they take a look through his eyes at his world and read his opinionated views. The novel goes off on tangents and subplots that are a pleasure to read and show will's ideas about universal issues like friendships, romance, maturity, and people. The setting of Charleston, South Carolina presents an aristocratic element of society with a pride that, when mixed with the brutality of the institute, creates a violent underground faction that turns into a serious threat to Will and his friends. A desperate struggle breaks out that not only puts Will's military career in danger, but his life as well. Conroy creates the injustices and the helplessness the boys encounter so realistically that the reader lives through it almost as deeply as they do. The setting of the Southern town is described so well that, after putting the book down, you'll remember it as if you've been there. The characters are so realistic throughout that you'll feel as though you've known them for years. When Will's friend turns on him, you'll feel as if you've been betrayed. When Will falls in love, you will too. The whole story comes alive in this well constructed, fast-paced, and easy to read mix of a thriller and coming of age story. The book shows the power of racism in the late sixties, a unique perspective on Vietnam, the need of an individual to belong, the conflict of discipline and morality, the power of class and society over the individual, and the conflicts of different moral codes. You'll get an inside look at boot camp and the way the military system works. Conroy will tell you everything about the bizarre social and moral code of the old South. Conroy seems to have an insight into dozens of issues and situations. No matter who you are, you'll find something you can relate to as well as something totally new in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Conroy is a master, this proves it
Review: The Lords of Discipline is an excellent book of friendship, love, pride, betrayal, redemption, and honor. It comes at you from all angels. No matter what genre you normally read, this book is for you. So well written and so touching, it will make you laugh at the humor of the situations , cry out of loss, feel pride when triumphs occur, and feel anger along with the cadets. Superbly written by an author who makes everything come alive. The characters seem to be real and so close that you could've known them yourself. The setting is so well established you can actually see what is going on. This is the type of book that draws you in and keeps you on your toes. Just when you think you know what is going to happen next, the plot line makes a sudden change and makes you want to know more. This book will make you want to read it again and again , and you probably will.
If you enjoy any type of literature, The Lords Of Discipline is a must read. You'll never forget the characters, you'll wish you could forget the things they go through. As this is a semi-autobiographical book, you'll read the events of the Plebe year and tell yourself it doesn't happen, but it does. You'll see the world through the eyes of Carolina Institute Cadet Will McLean. You'll see the Viatnam war for what it was and you'll see the injustices of the world as he saw them. You won't regret having read this book
Rating:
Summary: True tales from Military schools
Review: I read this novel for the first time after my year as a "fish" in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. It brought back many memories, thankfully nothing as brutal as that faced by Will McLean. If you'd like to know what it's like on the inside of military schools, this it it. Pat Conroy nailed the emotions and confusion of being a cadet in college. From a literary standpoint this book is superb. The contrast of setting and plot was remarkable. If you're looking for an excellent read with some literary value, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: There's not another one like it
Review: This is my first book review on Amazon. How should I describe this fabulous book? As far as novels go, nothing really compares to it. Conroy writes literature, not cheap Grisham or Patterson-like fodder. There are scenes in this book that are etched in my mind forever. Like another reviewer, I want to tell friends and strangers alike that they should read this book. The experience Conroy describes is brutal and yet Will McLean emerges a true Institute Man. It is the one book that I have read that had me laughing on one page, almost crying on another, and so angry at the end I wanted to kill some of the characters. I've read all of Conroy's books and Lords of Discipline is the very best. You will not regret reading this work of art.
Rating:
Summary: Conroy's Best!
Review: Lord's of Discipline was my first introduction to Pat Conroy's work, and it has turned out to be his best. Compulsively readible, you will want to fly through this story. And even when you've read it once, you'll be able to go back for an enjoyable re-read. With the exception of Prince of Tides, I have enjoyed all of this author's work. This book takes you back to the deep South of the Viet Nam War Era. Conroy's evocative style is thoroughly engaging. This book translated exceptionally well into the movies. Unfortunately, the movie did not do that well at the box office, but I think it might have been hard for the viewing public of the early 80's to connect with the story. If Hollywood will just put Lords of Disipline out on DVD . . .perhaps it will develop the following it really deserves.
Rating:
Summary: The Lords of Discipline
Review: The Lords of Discipline is as story about a young man, Will McLean, who is going to college at the South Carolina military institute, a school made to mold boys into men. The institute is the college Will's father went to and while Will's father was on his deathbed he makes Will promise to go to the institute. The book tells us about the friends and enemies he makes, and the experiences and struggles he faces while attending the school.
Will's freshman year or Plebe year, is extremely difficult. The school sees it as a year to break down the boys in order for them to build them up in to men. They also see it as a way to weed out the weaker boys so that they will not be able to ruin the school's name. It was the upperclassmen's or the cadre's job to break the freshmen then to put them back together, stronger than they were before. Every time they encounter a freshman, they yell at them and make them do pushups and other activities until they become exhausted. Will dislikes how harsh freshmen year is that he vows when he is an upperclassman that he will never be curl to the freshmen. The second night of plebe year is the worst of experience of all. The young men call it hell night. The upperclassmen have a series of sweat-parties. They make all the freshmen stand in rows doing pushups and holding their gun out in front of them, for hours and hours, in the hundred degree South Carolina weather. The sweat parties last all night long, at the end of the night they are told to go to their rooms. All of the freshmen are too weak to even walk the short distance to their rooms, so they are all crawling. As Will is crawling to his room he runs into a boy named Tradd. Tradd is known as one of the weaker boys at the institute. He is called the honey prince. This boy, who is too weak to even crawl, is collapsed on the floor with people crawling over him. Will stops and helps him to his room. Tradd becomes Will's first friend at the institute, and they later become roommates. Will's two other roommates and best friends are Pig and Mark, they are the strongest boys in their class. The four boys have a very tight bond of friendship, and later become blood brothers. They help each other out all the time whether it is with school or beating up enemies or lending money.
Will's friend Tradd is part of a very high-class family in Charleston, the town of the institute, Will goes to Tradd's house often on the weekends for dinner. One evening on leaving Tradd's house Will finds a note on his car from a neighbor telling him not to park there. As he looks around he sees the person that left the note it is a strange girl in a raincoat. Later she tells him her name it is Annie Kate, and that she is wearing the raincoat because she is unmarried and pregnant. Will becomes her only friend and companion because only he and her mother are to know she is pregnant. Will falls in love with her, but after her baby dies she no longer wants to see him, because he reminds her of a time she wants to forget.
While trying to be a good companion for Annie Kate, Will is asked to keep an eye on a freshman Pearce, as favor for colonel Bear. Pearce is the first black man ever to attend the Institute. During all of this, he stumbles upon a group called the Ten. No one knows if the ten really exists or if it is just a rumor, the Ten is supposed to be a group of ten people scare away the boys that they believe are not good enough to be at the Institute. But Will asks around and finds the first group of 'ten' does exist, and they are after Pearce and that it is ran by the head of the school, the General.
Rating:
Summary: My first Pat Conroy and i loved it
Review: Someone lent me this book and I had not even heard of Pat Conroy then and was quite reluctant to read it ...but here is where reviews at amazon.com came to great help.... after reading a good no. of reviews i decided i will give the book a try ... i was then in a marine engineering college and got absolutely attached to the book as there were so many similarities during my stay at the college and the story in the book... the weekend musters ... the hard life of students who are juniors... this book captures the moments and the emotions of the people very well and absolutely accurately .. The story has good no of twist in them as well and i will not want to write more as i might just give some good parts in this book. This book is recommended for any Pat Conroy fan and specially someone who has gone through military traning or are in marine engineering colleges ....its a must read .... you wil know why :)
|
