5 comments about The Lords of Discipline: Library Edition.

1. Gorgeously crafted, eloquent, beautiful, gripping, powerful. Simply an amazing book. All of Pat Conroy's books have common ties to his childhood, and this one is perhaps the best of them all.



2. The mark of a successful coming of age story is that you, the reader, can see yourself reflected in the protagonist. For me, this book worked very well. Will McLean, the main character and first-person narrator, a second generation Irish boy, son of a Marine, a mongrel outsider in the pedigreed Carolina Military Institute searches for himself, the man within the boy who is being molded by a system of discipline and honor that doesn't match his internal morality. He's an English major in a college of warriors. He's a basketball player, a finesse guard, in a school of brute force. He's fighting against systems he doesn't understand within a life choiceless in it's inequality.
   
   Pat Conroy, himself a graduate of the model for the fictional Institute, The Citadel, weaves a compelling tension-filled story while eloquent in his setting, Charleston, South Carolina. Employing gracious proper Southern dialect filled with flowers, antiques, and tradition, he describes brutality, racism, sexism, and betrayal. The language works well because it provides within its description the biting irony of the scenes. Will McLean fights through every taboo the South has to offer in the 1960's: a black cadet in the all-white tradition of the military college, an unwed pregnant girl shunned by society for her shame while the father of her baby remains blameless, the brutal plebe system that crushes individuality while remaking young men as soulless military automatons, the classed society of high south old money and it's cruelty to those not born within the circle, and the fact that military honor doesn't equate to individual morality.
   
   Fighting through this maze of pitfalls, McLean has only his closest and dearest friends to rely on, roommates Dante "Pig" Pignetti and Mark Santoro, two brawny, Northern boys of Italian descent and Tradd St. Croix, an "old Charlestonian" (from a very rich and respected family). His moral guide through the story is the epitomy of hard military men, Colonel "Bear" Berrineau, a vulgar battle-scarred man whose character is unimpeachable and whose idea of duty includes awful repercussions.
   
   I loved this story and I couldn't put it down. If I had one criticism to give, it's that Conroy tried to put too much into the novel - too many problems and taboos and tried to fix hundreds of years worth of problems in one book. But, that's not really a criticism because he did it and did it well. Bravo.
   
   CV Rick



3. This is a great military/coming of age novel by Pat Conroy that I would put slightly behind The Great Santini (one of my favorite books of all time) in his catalogue. In this story, Conroy follows a young cadet at the fictional Carolina Military Institute (modeled partly on Conroy's time at The Citadel) as he endures his plebe year and then comes to grip with the fact that the school fosters a great deal of hate, racism and cruelty to accomplish its mission of developing the Complete Man. Conroy's writing always moves quickly with engaging dialogue, humor and entertaining story lines and this book is no exception. It is certainly deeper than your standard pop fiction book, but it reads just as easily and quickly. I would highly recommend it to Conroy fans, people who enjoy good fiction (even my mother likes this book) or people who have interest in military schools or the South in the 50's. A very good book.



4. About half way thru this book and had to set it aside. I'll return to it later as it is a little too intense and the language is shocking.
   
   I thought his books Beach Music and The Prince of Tides were much better. I could not put Beach Music down.



5. I received this book as a gift and was reluctant to read it as the subject matter was not of interest. I started to read it just to see what it might be like and was captured by the outstanding writing. It was just a joy to read and the characters will stay with me forever.

1 comments about My Losing Season: The Point Guard's Way to Knowledge.

1. Although I'm not a basketball player or even a sports fan, I couldn't put this book down. The book is really about the coming of age of a young man, as seen through the experience of an intense basketball season at a military academy. The writing is full of wonderful metaphors, and smooth and easy to read. The emotional journey--like other Conroy books--is intense. The difference here is that the experience is so real. He's describing real people, and the narrator is Conroy himself. The depiction of what goes on at The Citadel may shock you with its brutality. Its amazing that Conroy can recreate his senior year in college so clearly thirty years later. Thoroughly enjoyable.

5 comments about Recipes From My Life: Unabridged Stories from the Pat Conroy Cookbook.

1. This has now moved into my all time favorite Pat Conroy book, and I'm a big Conroy fan. It's not so much a book of recipes, though that is definitely a part of it, as short vignettes of life in Mr Conroy's world. And since our world overlaps, and we know some of the same individuals, it was even more delightful. Mr czuk took one look at the picture on the front and said "You'd read a book about food by a man who looks like that?" Well, yes. And better him than some anorexic yuppy chic in a glam kitchen. Bring on the hush puppies, baby!



2. All of Pat Conroy's books reside proudly on my bookshelf. I started collecting with "The Water is Wide" and "The Boo". I have followed his career with joy for his well deserved success in literature. In "The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life" he treats us to a witty and emotional memoir interspersed with his culinary expertise garnered in France, Italy, The South, including Atlanta, New Orleans, Mobile and the low country of South Carolina. It's another "can't put it down" Conroy book, only there are many wonderful recipes to please the discerning palate -don't miss this one!



3. This author can do no wrong. I have everything he has produced and while this is called a "cookbook" it is so very much more...It resides proudly
   in the midst of my complete and comprehensive collection!...Bravo, Mr. Conroy!



4. If you like Conroy you'll love this book. As with any cookbook you aren't going to like everything and I think this cookbook fell just short of average with the number of recipes that have caught my eye. It's also not a cookbook for the kitchen novice.
   
   As a book of short stories I loved it! It's part background (and I would guess a healthy dose of fiction) on recipes and people who have made Conroy the cook and author he is today. This book provides a culinary backdrop to the life of Conroy and help explain what he was eating when he wrote about the food and characters in his books.
   
   This isn't the book I'd recommend as your first, or even your second Pat Conroy experience, but I do feel that your Conroy experience isn't complete until you've read this book.



5. I am entranced by Mr. Conroy. This is possibly because many parts of his life sound so familiar to me. In this memoir/cookbook he once again is enchanting. He fills me with joy/sadness as I recall similar memories. My favorite author. I wanted to make all of the recipes immediately and did so on a number of them. Some were excellent and some not so excellent; however the stories behind the recipes kept the disappointment at bay. I continue to try the recipes. Next is the pickled shrimp.

No comments about The WaveDancer Benefit.