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Title: My Losing Season by Pat Conroy ISBN: 0-385-48912-9 Publisher: Nan A. Talese Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (87 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: My Losing Season
Comment: Pat Conroy is arguably the best writer of our times. His character development, attention to detail, and turns-of-the-phrase are to be praised and esteemed. I am also arguably the most devoted Conroy fan, having read, loved, and memorized every one of his novels. However, this book was an extreme disappointment.
First, there is the structure. For the most part, Conroy describes every single game the Citadel Bulldogs played his senior year on the basketball team. Additionally, at the beginning and the end of the novel--fittingly as this is in flash-back form--Conroy talks about the current status of his old team-mates and coach. Yet, there are parts of the book that do not seem to fit.
Conroy spends a good many pages describing his elementary, middle and high school basketball careers; while this would be fitting if the book were an autobiography or even if it were solely about Conroy's love of basketball, it seems pointless as the novel claims to center around a single season. He also talks about his multiple marriages, frequent mental breakdowns, previous novels (at one point even talking to characters from his novels) and other aspects of his life that, while interesting, again break away from the main idea of the single season. Also, like in all Conroy books, there are the "I hate my father and the military" statements, which--I hate to say--grow a bit old after a while (though, admittedly, he says he later grew to love his father and reconciled with his alma mater).
Second, there is the language of the text. While Conroy is known for his mastery of the English language, it seemed that he was "trying too hard" in this book; the sentences were longer and more dramatic than they had to be, and at some points I was laughing at Conroy's word selections.
I suppose my main problem with this novel was that I didn't understand his purpose in writing it until the last ten pages. He wrote the novel to show that everyone has "losing seasons" and to show that while winning is great, it is our mistakes that teach us our greatest lessons. While this is certainly an admirable, and sound argument, it was not apparent until the last ten pages, forcing one to wonder many times "What's the point?!"
In conclusion, this was an "OK" read. If you are a true Conroy fan, I don't even know why you're skimming these reviews, because you know you're going to read the book anyway. If you are merely interested in reading Pat Conroy's work, that's wonderful, but don't let this mediocre novel be your first exposure to a truly exceptional author who can and has written better (read Beach Music or The Prince of Tides instead).
Rating: 5
Summary: A Slam Dunk!
Comment: When I began reading "My Losing Season", I glanced at the endpaper photograph. Reprinted from the '1967 Sphinx', the class yearbook of The Citadel, it depicts twelve young basketball players posing for their official team photograph. Author Pat Conroy is the small guy at the front and center of the old black and white photo, kneeling alongside the basketball, a spot typically reserved for the team captain.
But we can't be sure he is the team captain, or for that matter, we can't be sure anyone is the captain. No one actually holds the ball.
Over the course of 400 pages, I found myself looking back to this photo repeatedly, as Conroy adds deep dimension into each player's background and character. Conroy unveils the story behind his team, the 1966-67 Citadel Bulldogs who lost more games than they won, but as he brings forth, learned enough for a lifetime. "My Losing Season" tells the story of a young man's journey through a very difficult boyhood, his escape into sport, his endurance at a southern military school, his central participation on a team of moderately talented basketball players, and his discovery of language and writing through wonderful professors at the Citadel.
Conroy's greatest strength, his strong and unabashed character portrayals, resonates through this book. Readers of The Great Santini (or viewers of the Robert Duvall movie) will become reacquainted in great detail with the real-life Santini, Conroy's abusive father. "In My Losing Season", we also meet basketball coach Mel Thompson, who inflicts psychological terror on his charges, constantly tearing apart his young players and destroying any chance at winning this team might ever have had. Conroy adorns his professors and deans at the Citadel with laurels for giving him the keys to his future as a writer.
But Conroy shines the light most brilliantly on his teammates. He effuses his fellow cadets with the color that is missing from the front photograph, intimately introducing the reader to his court colleagues. We learn about strengths, weaknesses, skills, fears, and limitations of each of the twelve. Four years of coach Mel Thompson, cadet hazings, severely repressed social lives and a total absence of support make for an over-extended "Survivor" episode. Conroy saves the best for last: a reunion tour in which he reconnects with each of the individuals on the team and their families independently, thirty years after hanging up his Converse high-tops. Emotions spill over.
Nearly a dozen basketball games are described, in a kind of sepia-toned movie reel, as Conroy relives the play-by-play from his vantage at point guard. He overuses the flowery adjectives at times ("the beautiful boy" and such) but balances it with good locker room banter and the practical jokes of young men. The games themselves come alive again, and I found myself rooting for second half comebacks and last second heroics. You can feel the ball coming up the court, and like his teammates, you wonder where the pumpkin's going to go. Conroy emotes a strong love for his game, and basketball fans will appreciate the occasional name-dropping of great players and coaches he once bumped into.
If you don't have courtside seats to this year's ACC or SEC tournament finals, this book will be a suitable replacement. Nothin' but net, baby!
Rating: 2
Summary: MY CAPS LOCKS BUTTON ISN'T WORKING...
Comment: WE SHOULD ALL HAVE A LOSING SEASON LIKE PAT CONROY. HE WON THE SPORTSMANSHIP TROPHY AND MVP TROPHY FOR HIS BASKETBALL SEASON. HE WON A SCHOLARSHIP TO GRADUATE SCHOOL AND SEVERAL OTHER AWARDS. HE'S HAD BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES. WHY IS HE WHINING? HE HAD A TOUGH CHILDHOOD. TIME TO MOVE ON, PAT. YOUR BOOKS ARE FUN TO READ BUT WE GET THE THEME ALREADY! MAYBE YOUR DAD WANTED YOU TO FIGHT HIM BACK. MAYBE COACH THOMPSON WANTED YOUR TEAMMATES TO FIGHT HIM BACK. WHO KNOWS? WHO CARES? LET'S GO PLAY H-0-R-S-E...
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Title: The Great Santini by Pat Conroy ISBN: 0553268929 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy ISBN: 0553271369 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1982 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy ISBN: 0553268937 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Beach Music by Pat Conroy ISBN: 0553574574 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy ISBN: 0553268880 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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