Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Prince of Tides: A Book Review


Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides (1986). I listened to an audio version of the book and later read portions of it that I really liked.

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to get around to reading Pat Conroy. As one who grew up in the salt marshes of coastal North Carolina, I quickly found myself drawn into the setting of this story. I knew kids whose dads were shrimpers and commercial fisherman and most of our dads, mine included, had commercial fishing licenses even if that wasn’t how they made their living. I’ve seen the sun and moon rise over the water and the sun set behind the salt marsh hundreds of times and have never tired of it. I know the rhythm of the tides and of being attuned to a change in the weather. I’ve watched porpoises play in the inland waters and gulls feed from the back of a boat. And, when the protagonist of this book, Tom Wingo, claimed that he was “more fabulist than historian,” I nodded in agreement. (77)

Tom Wingo has nearly lost it all. He’s middle aged and feels he has not lived up to his potential. All his life his mother has instilled in him a desire to rise above his low-country roots, but he resisted. Tom is an ordinary guy, born in a hurricane during the War, while his dad was hiding from the Germans after having been shot from the sky. He looked up to his older brother, Luke, and to his twin sister, Savannah. There was that day when he became a one-game wonder at the University of South Carolina, running for two touchdowns against Clemson. But mostly Wingo’s life was normal. At the beginning of the novel, he’s no longer doing what he enjoys and that for which he’s truly talented: coaching high school football. Unemployed and therefore free to travel, his mother asks him to try again to save his sister, a world renowned poet, who is in a New York City mental hospital. Before he heads north, he learns his wife is having an affair with a local surgeon. His parents have divorced and his father is in jail for drug running and his mother has married the local banker (and the Wingo family enemy). We know Luke has died and the community in which he was raised was gone, but how is a secret. In fact, there are many secrets within this family, which are slowly revealed throughout the book.

In New York, Tom meets with his sister’s psychiatrist, Doctor Susan Lowenstein. The two of them meet and Tom begins to share his story as a way to help Dr. Lowenstein to understand his sister. It is through this retelling of the family’s story that we learn about Tom’s family. In addition to helping Lowenstein understand Savannah, Tom prepares Lowenstein’s son to play high school football and two later they have an affair. Sadly, for Lowestein, this affair gives Tom the confidence to go back home and fight for his wife and his family. It’s not much of a fight as his wife, a physician, discovers that her surgeon lover has many lovers. In the end of the book, the family is somewhat back together and they enjoy a picnic on a shrimp boat moored in the salt marsh, watching the sunset and the moon rises. There, at the end of the book, Tom says to himself a moving prayer:

I am Southern made and Southern broken, Lord, but I beseech you to let me keep what I have. Lord, I am a teacher and a coach. That is all and it is enough. (566)

I won’t go into all the details of the book, for I’d hate to give it all away. Let me point out that I found Luke Wingo’s character a lot like that of Hayduke in Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang and its sequel, Hayduke Lives. I really liked Tom’s eccentric grandfather, a religious fanatic whose Good Friday Cross Walk was well known. When the cross got too heavy for him, he put a wheel on it, which he later saw as his downfall. When he died, Tom said, “The only word for goodness is goodness, and it is not enough.”

I enjoyed the book, although I did find Conroy’s use of adjectives a little over done. Conroy subscribes, I believe, to the school of “why use one adjective when five will do.” But this is good southern storytelling, which done rightly is never straightforward, you have to know about the family and the setting. Conroy touches on many topics in this book: differences of social classes, race relationships, war and peace, environmental issues, rape, sexuality, religion, mental illness, among others. It’s a challenge to deal with so much, but Conroy does a good job and I recommend his book.

18 comments:

  1. I liked it, but not as much as you did. I found the use of adjectives completely overblown and a bit tiresome. The story line was good, though.

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  2. I'm not an adjective person but I adored the book. See the movie! I saw it first as I saw The Great Santani first. Both movies made me read the books

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  3. I really loved this book when I read it when it first came out - I wonder how I would feel now if I re-read it.

    His books generally are a great read. I loved Beach Music, too.

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  4. Sounds like a good read. I would not enjoy the wordiness of excessive adjective usage.

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  5. I just read this myself about six months ago and liked it quite a lot. Great characters and description of the landscapes. I didn't like the ending that much but it worked.

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  6. I feel the movie was one of Nick Nolte's finest achievements. The book sounds quite different. But then, Hollywood often takes great liberties with a story. Your post shed new light on the film, Sage!

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  7. Kenju, I agree that there were good stories in the book--as well as an overall story line that wove the book together.

    Pia, I haven't seen either movie-I'll have to correct that.

    Lynn, I will probably read another of his books and, having grown up on the coast, Beach Music sounds interesting.

    Kontan, try it, you might like it even though the wordiness is excessive

    Charles, his characters and descriptions are first rate

    Michael, from what I've read, it sounds like the movie cuts out a lot of the childhood parts

    Buffalo, I'll have to see the movie.

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  8. Thanks for the review Sage, the book is sitting in my office, on the 'to read' stack ... someday I'll get to it, but I really enjoyed your review.

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  9. I've heard of this, but never got around to reading it. It sounds like the perfect novel for those confronting middle aged disillusionment.

    Cheers.

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  10. Maybe he had my comp teacher. I didn't use enough adjectives for her...

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  11. I read this book about a year or 2 ago but can't remember anything about it until your synopsis. I guess that tells you what I thought of the book. :-)

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  12. Wow...it sounds like a great read, although the overuse of adjectives can be distracting.

    I wonder if one of his reviews mentioned this?

    He and his thesaurus must be *like this*.....

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  13. I haven't read it, but thanks for the review. Sounds like winter reading for me :)

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  14. After my comment the other day re. the wordiness of the book. I think it's more where you find the excess. It's where the storyline requires a staccato delivery you'll find an extra word which blurs what needs to be a hard edge.
    Truly though, this is an issue of editing and you could clean up the text without removing an ounce of the story. And shorten the book by about twenty pages.

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  15. how did i never get around to this one? sounds like one i'd totally enjoy! this is definitely next on the list.

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  16. I have picked up two Pat Conroy books. Will get around reading those soon.

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