Pat Conroy and Frank Muller - Beach Music

Pros: Great characters, moving story, something for everyone in this one.

Cons: Very long indeed.

The Bottom Line: Touching, interlocking stories of a set of siblings, their parents, and the past and future, all intertwined into a tapestry of poetry and tragedy and hope.

Review: I was introduced to this one when Pat Conroy was doing the tour for it, and was talking on NPR's Fresh Air, an talk program that angles towards the arts and literature. Listening to Mr. Conroy discussing this particular book, I was interested...

Pros: The BEST in fiction

Cons: Not a one

The Bottom Line: Instead of a "walk" to remember... a "BOOK" to remember!!!

Review: If you’re a reader who enjoys ‘excellent’ fiction and you have yet to read anything by Pat Conroy, the author of ”Beach Music” [the novel I’m reviewing], The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Water Is Wide and The Lords of Discipline, ...

Pros: Beautiful, wonderfully complete characters in a world as rich with detail as it is tormented.

Cons: Occasionally vulgar.

The Bottom Line: Wonderful book, where it's a sort of delirious mixture of passionate and perfected dreams and the depths of horror, all brought together with clean, precise prose.

Review: Pat Conroy is the kind of author that you wonder about, trying to reconstruct him from his books, which seem to invariably feature ghastly childhoods, with drunken and abusive fathers, moody and irrational mothers, and groups of siblings and childhood ...

Pros: Interesting, detailed, beautifully written

Cons: 800 pages long

The Bottom Line: READ BEACH MUSIC!!! It's a unique, well-written, interesting book touching on experiences everyone faces from time to time in everyday life.

Review: Tragedy, disappointment, love, adventure, secrets, pain, and yearning all in one place. And that’s not enough to touch upon every emotion that is felt in this book. Pat Conroy’s “Beach Music” has it all. Piecing story with story, Conroy’s novel spans...

Pros: Totally enthralling

Cons: No cons--except that it comes to an end

Review: Pat Conroy's BEACH MUSIC is the stuff life is composed of. Set in the American South,as are all of his novels, he sings us a song of love for his family,love of his friends, and mostly, a love, no, a passion, for the South.

The family love...

Pros: This book is for everyone who values family--the good, bad & the ugly--and history.

Cons: no cons for me...

Review: This book reads like a great cut of prime rib tastes: melt in your mouth, with just enough texture to REALLY sink your teeth in...and when you're done, you're not only full but also completely satisfied.

Considering how rich and developed the...

Pros: Great story, colorful writing, excellent character development

Cons: Conroy can get a little wordy sometimes

Review: I read Beach Music at the advice of a friend 4 years ago. I re-read it again 2 years ago, and am now getting to the point where I'm ready to tackle it a third time. Why have I read it twice? Why do I wait 2 years between readings? Because it is such...

Pros: Powerful, profound story, sublime prose.

Cons: The wide scope of the novel at times seems to attenuate Conroy's aesthetic, to the effect that at some points he seems to be straining for lyricism, while at other times the writing is uncharacteristically pedestrian.

Review: "Beach Music" is Pat Conroy's most ambitious novel to date, and while at times it seems the scope of the author's concerns spread his aesthetic a mite thin, the author has succeeded admirably in painting a lyrical portrait of the hopes,...

Pros: Complex characters, great story, excellent author

Cons: Very hard to put down- will want to read again!

Review: This is my all-time favorite book, I have read it 5 times! Pat Conroy tells an amazing story with Beach Music, the first paragraph alone will draw you in immediately. The story is so intriguing that you will have a hard time putting the book down. What...

Pros: Excellent book well written. I have read many books this is one of my favorites.

Cons: Includes, suicide, profanity, sex, violence, and scenes from the holocaust. none are excessive.

Review: I have read this book at least 20 times. Each time I do I feel as though I have gone home. For these characters are like family. Sweet, sad, complicated, and they are the ones you love. This book tells of many things, Italy, Vietnam, The Citadel, ...