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4 Local Warehouse Literature- A to Z

South of Broad

by Pat Conroy

South of Broad Cover

ISBN13: 9780385413053
ISBN10: 038541305x
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Against the sumptuous backdrop of Charleston, South Carolina, South of Broad gathers a unique cast of sinners and saints. Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school principal and a well-known Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of thirteen, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. Eventually, he finds his answer when he becomes part of a tightly knit group of high school seniors that includes friends Sheba and Trevor Poe, glamorous twins with an alcoholic mother and a prison-escapee father; hardscrabble mountain runaways Niles and Starla Whitehead; socialite Molly Huger and her boyfriend, Chadworth Rutledge X; and an ever-widening circle whose liaisons will ripple across two decades-from 1960s counterculture through the dawn of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

The ties among them endure for years, surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, and Charleston's dark legacy of racism and class divisions. But the final test of friendship that brings them to San Francisco is something no one is prepared for. South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest; a long-awaited work from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds.

Review:

"Charleston, S.C., gossip columnist Leopold Bloom King narrates a paean to his hometown and friends in Conroy's first novel in 14 years. In the late '60s and after his brother commits suicide, then 18-year-old Leo befriends a cross-section of the city's inhabitants: scions of Charleston aristocracy; Appalachian orphans; a black football coach's son; and an astonishingly beautiful pair of twins, Sheba and Trevor Poe, who are evading their psychotic father. The story alternates between 1969, the glorious year Leo's coterie stormed Charleston's social, sexual and racial barricades, and 1989, when Sheba, now a movie star, enlists them to find her missing gay brother in AIDS-ravaged San Francisco. Too often the not-so-witty repartee and the narrator's awed voice (he is very fond of superlatives) overwhelm the stories surrounding the group's love affairs and their struggles to protect one another from dangerous pasts. Some characters are tragically lost to the riptides of love and obsession, while others emerge from the frothy waters of sentimentality and nostalgia as exhausted as most readers are likely to be. Fans of Conroy's florid prose and earnest melodramas are in for a treat. Justin Cartwright's doubleheader: a new novel and his love letter to Oxford." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Conroy is an immensely gifted stylist, and there are passages in the novel that are lush and beautiful and precise. No one can describe a tide or a sunset with his lyricism and exactitude." Washington Post

Review:

"[Conroy] reveals truths about love, lust, classism, racism, religion, and what it means to be shaped by a particular place, be it Charleston, South Carolina, or anywhere else in the U.S." Booklist

Review:

"Filled with the lyrical, funny, poignant language that is Conroy's birthright, this is a work Conroy fans will love." Library Journal

Synopsis:

The one and only Pat Conroy returns with a big, sprawling novel that is at once a love letter to Charleston, South Carolina, and to lifelong friendship--a long-awaited work from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds.
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About the Author

Pat Conroy is the bestselling author of The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, The Pat Conroy Cookbook, My Losing Season, and South of Broad. He lives in Fripp Island, South Carolina.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
PQFanatic, February 9, 2011 (view all comments by PQFanatic)
Not my favorite Conroy book but he still has much to say. His sense of humor and his vivid character development stack up. Seems he is writing from a better place now.
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bookishbabe, January 28, 2010 (view all comments by bookishbabe)
This was one of the BEST coming of age stories I've read in years. Race, sexuality and class come together beautifully. South of Broad includes a cast of characters whose conflicts and differences clash like the big bang theory. Yet surprisingly they are intricately bound over the years, up until and beyond the climactic end of one.
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Lissa, January 6, 2010 (view all comments by Lissa)
I'm "reading" this book by listening to it on CD in my car - I find myself making excuses to drive more just to listen to it and I dislike driving and traffic! We already knew that Pat Conroy is a marvelous story teller - this book reminds me of a sophisticated and genteel Garrison Keillor (I grew up in MN). His characters are both true-to-life - within reach of belief, yet are inspirational. I absolutely love this book.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780385413053
Author:
Conroy, Pat
Publisher:
Nan A. Talese
Subject:
Bildungsromans
Subject:
Charleston (S.C.)
Subject:
General
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Family saga
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2009
Publication Date:
20090831
Binding:
HARDCOVER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
528
Dimensions:
9.38x6.60x1.30 in. 1.91 lbs.
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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

South of Broad Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.50 In Stock
Product details 528 pages Nan A. Talese - English 9780385413053 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Charleston, S.C., gossip columnist Leopold Bloom King narrates a paean to his hometown and friends in Conroy's first novel in 14 years. In the late '60s and after his brother commits suicide, then 18-year-old Leo befriends a cross-section of the city's inhabitants: scions of Charleston aristocracy; Appalachian orphans; a black football coach's son; and an astonishingly beautiful pair of twins, Sheba and Trevor Poe, who are evading their psychotic father. The story alternates between 1969, the glorious year Leo's coterie stormed Charleston's social, sexual and racial barricades, and 1989, when Sheba, now a movie star, enlists them to find her missing gay brother in AIDS-ravaged San Francisco. Too often the not-so-witty repartee and the narrator's awed voice (he is very fond of superlatives) overwhelm the stories surrounding the group's love affairs and their struggles to protect one another from dangerous pasts. Some characters are tragically lost to the riptides of love and obsession, while others emerge from the frothy waters of sentimentality and nostalgia as exhausted as most readers are likely to be. Fans of Conroy's florid prose and earnest melodramas are in for a treat. Justin Cartwright's doubleheader: a new novel and his love letter to Oxford." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "Conroy is an immensely gifted stylist, and there are passages in the novel that are lush and beautiful and precise. No one can describe a tide or a sunset with his lyricism and exactitude."
"Review" by , "[Conroy] reveals truths about love, lust, classism, racism, religion, and what it means to be shaped by a particular place, be it Charleston, South Carolina, or anywhere else in the U.S."
"Review" by , "Filled with the lyrical, funny, poignant language that is Conroy's birthright, this is a work Conroy fans will love."
"Synopsis" by , The one and only Pat Conroy returns with a big, sprawling novel that is at once a love letter to Charleston, South Carolina, and to lifelong friendship--a long-awaited work from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds.
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