An American expatriate in Rome unearths his family legacy in this sweeping novel by the acclaimed author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini A Southerner living abroad, Jack McCall is scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his … family’s past that can heal his anguished heart. Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory. It is a novel of lyric intensity and searing truth, another masterpiece among Pat Conroy’s legendary and beloved novels.
Praise for Beach Music
“Astonishing . . . stunning . . . The range of passions and subjects that bring life to every page is almost endless.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Magnificent . . . clearly Conroy’s best.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Blockbuster writing at its best.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Pat Conroy’s writing contains a virtue now rare in most contemporary fiction: passion.”—The Denver Post
“A powerful, heartfelt tale.”—Houston Chronicle
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This is my absolute favorite book of any author. But Pat Conroy is an all time favorite.
Not hard to follow but it tracks a family who has been disfunctionalized by the fathers drinking and beating of the members, and a mother who has no place to turn if she leaves. The kids suffer even as they mature. Pat’s great writing shows up on every page along with his depressing life. Good but sorrowful.
Love, love, love this book!
Loving tribute to family scars. Heart breaking, but the language Conroy uses in describing his south make you sure to fall in love with it.
A wonderful story that started me reading other books by Pat Conroy
I wanted to like this book. The scenes/conversations between the family members are so hateful and cruel that I thought they had to be joking. Sometimes they were? but usually not. It was confusing and laborious. I enjoyed the location and scenery descriptions and the stories told about the past lives. The heartbreak and tragedies were breathtaking.
I could not put this book down! What a story!
Best book I’ve ever read. I love Pat Conroy and this is best Conroy book. It has something for everyone, history, romance, adventure and the best characters that you will recognize if you have southern roots. I can’t say enough good things about this book, just start reading it and Conroys words will leave you with a loss of words to describe this novel. I hope you will enjoy it half as much as I did.
Well written and very good, but my least favorite Conroy book.
Who doesn’t love pat conroy
One of the best books I have ever read!
Some what unrealistic. There should have been time for the friends to have reconciled their difference much sooner than where it was placed in the book . The total toxic relationship between Jordan & his father throughout approximately 40 years of their lives is miraculously turned around because Jordan turns himself to police for a Federal crime he committed in which he unknowingly killed 2 Marines.The father was a child abuser & a wife beater throughout his marriage & the reader is to believe that this is solved by one meeting of all the principal characters sitting on a stage to tell their side of the story with the meeting presided over by a retired judge who is the town drunk & also the father of one of the participants.. Not very realistic.The section about the Holocaust & survivors is so absolutely horrifying that I had to skip over parts. It was too terrible to read. I am an absolute believer in the holocaust but I started to wonder was the author embellishing for pure shock value. I have read many novels & history books about the Holocaust that horrified me but never had to stop reading in the middle because of the emotional trauma it was causing
The saving grace of the book is the hilarious repartee that is sprinkled throughout. The most difficult part of the story is juxtaposition of the believable and unbelievable.
One of his besy
Conroy strikes again. He may be the best contemporary novelist America has. Each page contains literary treasures.
Love everything by Pat Conroy.
one of the BEST authors !
This lengthy novel touches on various themes–an American expat raising a daughter in Rome, Italy, coming of age in the 1960’s in the American South, the cruelties of the Holocaust, and the mother-son bond. Author Pat Conroy ties them all together neatly at the end to give the reader a satisfying conclusion. The writing itself is excellent. The vocabulary is extensive, the dialogue is lively, and each character’s life story is well-developed. Beach Music is my favorite novel from this author.
My favorite book of all time. I reread it about every two years and always find something new. Conroy is the absolute master of the use of the English language.
Pat Conroy is such a good writer, he is always a delight to read. He writes about the intersection of the best and the worst of humanity, and he does it beautifully.
The story. Pat Conroy has a way of writing that makes you feel you are there, in the book.