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cheries35plus's review against another edition
2.0
This is a story about Tom Wingo and his belated attempts to come to grips with his abusive childhood. His sister has made yet another suicide attempt, and Tom comes to New York to see her and speak to her psychiatrist. They both have never mentally healed from their abusive childhood. Half of this story is flashbacks of their upbringing, which was full of mental and physical abuse.
I loved the first 200 or so pages. After that, it felt like trying to swim in molasses. This one is near 700 pages, but 200 to 300 pages of decriptives could have been cut out with no difference made in the plot. Whole pages could be skipped at a time with no effect, and by the end I skipped a lot of pages. My stubbornness will often not let me DNF a book. This is my first Conroy novel, but I do not feel impressed enough to give him a second try. The descriptiveness is overdone, and I hear he writes of the same subjects repetitively, which is just not for me.
Contains offensive racial slurs, profanity and a descriptive rape scene. Contains many incestuous undertones. A positive note though, this abusive family may make you feel a lot better that maybe your upbringing was not so bad after all.
I loved the first 200 or so pages. After that, it felt like trying to swim in molasses. This one is near 700 pages, but 200 to 300 pages of decriptives could have been cut out with no difference made in the plot. Whole pages could be skipped at a time with no effect, and by the end I skipped a lot of pages. My stubbornness will often not let me DNF a book. This is my first Conroy novel, but I do not feel impressed enough to give him a second try. The descriptiveness is overdone, and I hear he writes of the same subjects repetitively, which is just not for me.
Contains offensive racial slurs, profanity and a descriptive rape scene. Contains many incestuous undertones. A positive note though, this abusive family may make you feel a lot better that maybe your upbringing was not so bad after all.
cami19's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
erin_l's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
oconnor11georgia's review against another edition
5.0
the best book I have ever read. hands down bar none. Pat Conroy’s language is incredible. Both beautiful and haunting I couldn’t put this book down for days. It is heartbreakingly sad and yet hopeful and thought provoking. a love story to South Carolina and a sprawling novel about family trauma and bonds and kinship. I’ll edit this later but wow wow wow wow.
samantha_h's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sarasmith21's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
readjakereed's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emleemay's review against another edition
4.0
“We've pretended too much in our family, Luke, and hidden far too much. I think we're all going to pay a high price for our inability to face the truth.”
I can see now why [b:The Prince of Tides|16735|The Prince of Tides|Pat Conroy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1512744907l/16735._SY75_.jpg|1312477] is so popular. A combination of emotive storytelling, horrific tragedy and witty dialogue makes it almost impossible to put down. Even when the prose veers close to being too purple, too poetic, a sharp funny comment from Tom Wingo pulls it back.
The humour is actually what saves this book from being too much of a lot of things-- maudlin, depressing, gruesome, to name a few. Many awful things happen in these pages as Tom Wingo recounts the events of his childhood in South Carolina. The book begins with his sister's suicide attempt, and the rest of the novel consists of him narrating his upbringing to his sister's therapist, Susan Lowenstein. Tom's way of making flippant remarks in the face of his own pain or discomfort keeps the story relatively upbeat even at the worst times.
The book contains a lot of racism, sexism, n-words and pretty much every 'ism' or 'phobia' you can think of. There is child and spousal abuse and one of the most graphic rape scenes I have ever come across. The whole Callanwolde episode was easily one of the most chilling and disturbing things I have ever read.
[b:The Prince of Tides|16735|The Prince of Tides|Pat Conroy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1512744907l/16735._SY75_.jpg|1312477] is far more than just trauma and humour, however, and it isn't so easy to explain all the things this book does. It covers multiple generations of a family and their ties, for better or worse, to the beloved island where they were raised. It's about complex familial love and loving someone who hurts you. It also offers one perspective on the history of the twentieth century and the ways in which the Second World War, McCarthyism, the Vietnam War and nuclear programs shaped people's lives.
My mother never quite finished the task of creating herself; she was always a work in progress. She rarely told a story about her childhood that was not a lie and she practiced the study of her own history with the reckless, renegade eye of the fabulist. Never daunted by something as inconvenient as truth, she made her lies an essential part of her children's identities.
Mostly, though, the characters really shine. Not always in good ways, but all members of the Wingo family are certainly memorable. Tolitha was hilarious and provided one of the book's great comic moments. Amos was a gentle and kind contrast to the violent monster that was his son, Henry. Lila was an utterly fascinating woman who I couldn't hate even when she deserved it a bit. And I doubt I'll ever forget the Wingo siblings.
It does get super wordy and overlong at times. I feel like we could have lost Bernard and the coaching chapters from the story and been just fine without him. I did learn a new word-- "bivouacked" --which doesn't happen too often at this stage in my reading career. So that's nice, I think.
I recommend this to those who enjoy tragic family dramas with strong characters. I do not recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to read about violence and sexual assault. Extra warning-- while Tom himself condemns sexism, racism, and the n-word, the book is rife with it. I suppose this was true to the time and place, but I wanted potential readers to be aware of it before making a decision.