My Losing Season

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Summary: A literary answer to one of life's imponderable questions.
Review: I was deeply moved and grateful at the way Pat Conroy writes. This was the first book of his that I have read and instantly recommended it to all of my book club friends. As a former athlete, I felt a closeness with Pat and easily related to the pains and successes the team went through. I am very appreciative that a story could be finally portrayed about what it feels like to have high expectations placed upon you only to disappoint in the end. For me, the question: "Why do bad things happen to good people," was answered by Pat in the beginning when he stated: "Life is a fiercer more uncompromising teacher cold-hearted but clear-eyed in it's understanding that life is more dilemma than game and more trial than free pass." Finally I understand what fate was teaching me through athletics...sometimes you lose.

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Summary: A 'Losing' Inspiration
Review: I'm not a sports fan (okay, I like some hockey but that hardly counts). I never have been a sports fan and, at this point in my life, I think I might have run out of time to make myself into a sports fan. However, while I was reading this book and ever since, I think I finally get the amazing complexity of truly loving a sport. I think I just might have missed out on something by never learning to adore basketball.

But I didn't have to miss out on this book. Having a knowledge of basketball might have enhansed my appreciation of this book but I don't see how anything could have enhansed my enjoyment. This is a story about passion in it's purest form. Not passionate romantic love but a passion just as valid, just as beautiful and, often, just as heart-breaking. And it's written as only Pat Conroy can write: honest and without needless window dressing. It's a story that could have been so mediocre in the hands of anyone else. But Pat Conroy, who lived and loved and hurt this season, delivers a novel that is so compelling anyone can love it.

I'm still not a sports fan but, I have to admit, lately, when one of the men in my life flips the channel to a basketball game, I'm more inclined to pat him on the head and cluck lovingly than beat him with the remote control.

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Summary: A Loss For A Win
Review: In life many times, people learn more from losing and making mistakes than they do from winning and succeeding.
This lesson is captured in the compelling novel My Losing Season by Pat Conroy. The novel focuses on Pat in his senior year at The Citadel College where he is trying to pursue his writing career while also coping with the pressure of being a college basketball player in a military college. It takes place in the 1960s, and describes Pat's childhood living in an abusive environment and moving almost every year because of his father's military career. His father's abuse haunted Pat for his entire life. After moving several times during his high school years, Pat entered Citadel College. One of his most horrific memories at the Citadel was when he had to go through plebe week during which half of the entering freshman class left the school after being attacked psychologically and physically. The main reason Pat did not leave during plebe week was because his family would not take him back into their home and he had no where else to go. While at the Citadel, Pat improved his basketball skills during his freshman, sophomore, and junior years. In the 1966-1967 season, Pat was a senior at the Citadel. He was entering his last year of college basketball and was coached by his most memorable coach, Mel Thompson. Pat describes Mel Thompson as the most disciplined coach he ever had. No one ever pushed him farther than Mel. Unfortunately, that season turned out to be a disaster for Pat and his team when they lost more games than they won. At the start of the season, Tee Hooper took over Pat's position as point guard on the first team, or Blue Team. After a few games, Pat was put back into his position on the Blue Team with no reason given as to why Tee Hooper had been replaced. This ruined the rest of Tee Hooper's year but was the catalyst for Pat Conroy's unforgettable season.
To fully express his true feelings and emotions during the times that the events occurred throughout the novel, Pat Conroy writes as if everything that had happened in history was reoccurring and he was experiencing the same feelings and emotions as he had when it had actually happened. Throughout the novel, I was surprised to have to remind myself that the events that Pat was describing had occurred over twenty years ago. The emotions that he expressed were so true and fresh that I often forgot that I wasn't standing next to him experiencing the same event and viewing it through his perspective. An example of this is when Pat Conroy describes his last game as a college basketball player. "With two seconds left, a jump ball was called. Mohr tried to tap it to Bridges but hit too high, and the ball went rolling out of bounds as the last buzzer sounded. We had lost the game 100-98 in overtime." (339). Through his compelling writing I was able to watch the two seconds wind down on the clock, see the horror on Bridges face as the ball went rolling out of bounds, and hear the last, ominous buzzer ring to end a season that was lost from the start.
The major conflict that arises throughout the book is Pat's constant mental and physical fight with his father. His childhood was a living nightmare as his father abused him and his other brothers and sisters along with his mother. Since there was no where that he could escape, Pat tried to build himself up mentally in order to deal with his father. Unfortunately, at this point in his life Pat was not yet strong enough to defy his father's strong grasp over his life. As he got older, the abuse continued and the only way he was able to escape was through a strong hatred for his father. When he entered college, Pat was introduced to an environment that was not filled with abuse. Although his freshman year was not the best example of the end to this environment, as he moved up in the Citadel there was more acceptance and less abuse. Although his father still verbally abused Pat whenever they encountered each other, he was only able to affect Pat psychologically, not physically. After college, Pat published a series of novels about his father that described the abusive behavior he had been forced to live with as a child. His father read the books, realized his mistakes as a parent and as an overall person and was able to reinvent himself and apologize for all of the sins that he had committed as a young father. Pat was able to release his childhood horrors through his writing and this helped him to resolve the conflict he had with his father.
I enjoyed this novel because it brought up the important lesson that one learns more from losing than from winning. After going through the pain of being on a losing basketball team, Pat and his teammates were never truly able to forget the painful memories that haunted them from that season. The season impacted their lives more than anything else. If they had been a winning team, they would have learned nothing about comradeship and courage. Although that season scarred Pat's team deeply, they were also able to bond through this same season when they met thirty years after the seasons end. They found it easier to lick their wounds together as a team than to cower in fear from them alone. Pat was able to describe his life with just enough passion that he was not undermining his feelings at the time while also not overflowing with remorse of the past. My Losing Season by Pat Conroy is a compelling must-read for all, it will change your views on the words "winner" and "loser."


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Summary: From a Lifelong Pat Conroy Fan
Review: Like millions of Americans, Pat Conroy is my favorite writer. Like all of these Conroy fans, I have read all of his books and always anxiously await his next. "My Losing Season" is in my opinion by far the best Conroy book ever. This book brings all of Pat's remarkable life together in a most unique way through a basketball season. Chapter 30 is the best chapter I have ever read in any book and I am 51 years old. Don't miss this one.

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Summary: Nice job Pat
Review: More than a great sports book, which it is, My Losing Season is a story about resiliency and one boy's lifelong, ongoing journey through the trauma of child abuse and domestic violence. Pat Conroy shows how his deep love for basketball and writing, detailed in a memoir of his senior basketball season at the Citadel, helps him to transcend, if not escape, a shattered childhood. Conroy's reconstruction of his final season, on and off the court, includes detailed descriptions of game to game action and analysis of the social and psychological landscape that he and his teammates endured.

Conroy brings the games of his final year to life in a way that the reader cares about the outcome of each one described and is often left on the edge of his or her seat awaiting the final outcome. He also brings the situational surround to life in a way that the reader cares about Pat and his teammates, again awaiting the final outcome of the bigger game that awaits them, beyond their losing season.

Although there is a hopeful message that Conroy conveys in what can be gained from the hardship and hurt of a losing season, what I am left with most powerfully is that no matter what he accomplishes in his life the lens of a scarred childhood is always his looking glass, distorting all that illuminates his gifts, talents, and hard fought accomplishments. His life evokes in me a desire to drape my arm around his shoulder and, although I am a younger man that he, to say to him, "Nice job son." And so if you're reading this Pat, nice job, really nice job. And if anyone else is reading this, I highly recommend My Losing Season.

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Summary: A Rivetting, Intriguing Memoir
Review: Mr. Conroy is arguably one of the best writers living. This memoir focuses on his senior year at The Citadel, The Military College of SC-recently in the headlines for the losing battle to remain all-male. It offers keen insights into his life through writing of the highest level.

Conroy's tale follows his senior year but also delves into his life as it centers around his basketball and academic careers. At the forefront of the scenes from his life is the maniacal behavior of his father, an abusive, sadistic marine who was a tortuous figure throughout Conroy's youth.

I found the story of Conroy's development as a lover of books and as a writer extremely interesting. One could even surmise that all the events of his life served as ingredients to making him a great novelist.

One cannot help but to ride on the emotional rollercoaster that this book creates as it follows Conroy's ups and downs on and off the basketball court. As he writes about specific games he played, it reads like the play-by-play to the NCAA championship game, which every game was to Conroy.

The book offers great details about his relationships to other players and people in his life, including teachers, who made a lasting mark on him.

As a Citadel graduate and athlete, I found the memoir to paint accurate illustrations of life as a Citadel athlete, trying to excel in a sport when everything seems to be against you-the school, the coach, the students-everything.

I don't think any reader will be disappointed in this book. I highly recommend it.

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Summary: HIS BEST...
Review: Mr.Conroy is simply one of the finest writers today. Although I think all his books are wonderful, to me, My Losing Season is his best ( o.k., Morrie is a very close second). No question the story in each of his books is excellent, yet perhaps even better is his ability to get across character detail with such clarity, possession, deatil, and reader association. If you have not read it, do - you won't be sorry.

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Summary: One to Remember...
Review: My Losing Season is a true story of how a college basketball player trying to get the approval of his father. Yet, getting that approval is hard due to his father's expectations. Conroy tells a wonderful story that may leave some teary-eyed. Though it is a basketball story this one is for everyone. He shows that even in the tough times good things can come of them. With Conroy telling his about college playing days the reader feels as though he is playing in the game. This is a great read and one that you will remember for a long time.

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Summary: I'm cheering for Pat!
Review: My Losing Season is the beautifully-told story of one boy's final college basketball season. More than that, it's about the triumph of the human spirit. Conroy may consider himself a second-rate athlete, but he's a first-rate man. This book has appeal for athletes and non-athletes.

I have a personal story about Pat Conroy. I'm a freelance writer with a small (very small) business which I call The Word Doctor. A few years ago, I took on some work as a fact-checker for a large magazine. The magazine paired me up with Pat Conroy to fact-check a story he wrote (gorgeous, by the way). When we finally chatted, we had a conversation I'll never forget. He teased me a little about being The Word Doctor and put me right at ease. Remember that he's famous, and I'm not, but he treated me like I was the most important person in his life. I'm trying to make the point that the real Pat Conroy is every bit as wonderful as the author.

My Losing Season makes you want to rush out and succeed at something. I give it five stars and highly recomment this book.

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Summary: Gaining From Conroy's Losing Season
Review: Opulent vocabulary and colorful story telling makes Conroy's boyhood tale an addictive read. Conroy paints a vivid picture from his mind's eye of what occurred in his home growing up, and smoothly transitions the horrific events to his college basketball career spent at the Citadel.

With a similar background, I easily empathized with Conroy's challenges of growing up with a domineering, militant father. Conroy's hardships with battling against our world's naysayers, discounters and bullies is a topic that concerns all of us, and would interest anyone entertaining the thought of providing a quality life to a loved one or one's self by offering something as simple as a gentle word or a gesture of kindness.

Conroy uses his final Citadel basketball season as a metaphor on how he met adversity with grace. His coach, a man portrayed much like Conroy's father, toiled at instilling fear in -- and rescinding self-confidence from the team. We learn how Conroy counters this tyrannical style by proffering his teammates with a soothing nurturance, and we learn just how we may overcome our antagonists by practicing Christian virtues.

If you are looking for a story containing a strong, benevolent message without a smidgen of sermon, My Losing Season is the perfect book. Enjoy!