Nonfiction – Memoir (Released October, 2013)
Bottom Line: Read it…if you’re a Conroy fan.
Link to this book on Amazon

Plot Summary:
Pat Conroy reveals the real story of his family struggles, particularly with his father after the publication of The Great Santini, and his reconciliation with his Dad prior to Don Conroy’s death.

My Thoughts:
As many readers know, Pat Conroy had a heartbreaking childhood and his fiction is generally autobiographical, so his memoir covers a lot of the same themes as his novels (abuse, the military, mental illness, Catholicism, and general family dysfunction).

I was familiar with his upbringing through his fiction, so I loved learning what specific parts of his novels were true stories and which characters were based on his actual family members and friends. Consequently, I do think that readers of Conroy’s fiction will enjoy this book more than those who aren’t familiar with Conroy’s general story.

Conroy obviously focuses heavily on his father (Don), the inspiration for the character of Bull Meacham in The Great Santini. Believe it or not, the real Don seemed far worse than the fictional Bull! And, lo and behold, Conroy confesses that his editor told him to soften up Bull’s character after early drafts because “no one would believe such an unsavory man could exist”. Conroy says, “to make my father human, I had to lie”.

I was alternately fascinated and horrified by the family’s public denials of Don’s abuse following the publication of Santini, and continued to be baffled by how most of Don’s children managed to forgive (although, I’m sure not entirely) him later in life. This despite the fact that he never did acknowledge, much less apologize for, being such a horrible father when they were children. Pat had coffee with his Dad every single morning while he was writing Santini. That just takes a superhuman level of compartmentalization.

I have said before that Conroy could write about paint drying and I would love reading it. I was a little less in love with his writing in The Death of Santini. His phrases and descriptions (particularly of his and his family’s mental angst) seemed a bit warmed over and I felt like I’d heard them before. I also noticed a few places in the book where he used the exact same phrasing to describe something just a paragraph or two apart, which is something I’ve never seen in his other writing.

Though I loved learning more about Conroy’s family, upbringing, and life after “success”, I wouldn’t say this is one of his best pieces of work. I think Conroy fans will enjoy the content, but those new to his writing should probably start with one of his novels.

You May Also Like:
My Losing Season by Pat Conroy
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of my Life by Pat Conroy