Search - The Great Santini

A book picked out for my book club - I would have never placed this one on my read list. And even after a rousing discussion with the ladies, I am still not sure how I exactly stand with this one.

Upon beginning the book, I completely despised Bull Meecham - his presence, his attitude and basically just him. I kept telling the boy that I would NEVER live with this man, let alone have four children with him. As the book went on, my feelings for him kept moving to the dark side along with the book. Somewhere just before the end, I decided that I didn't hate the book due to the plot being acceptable - BUT I still hated him.

Then came book club. One of the ladies stands by Pat Conroy and loves everyone of his books. Intrigued, she advised us that this book was autobiographical and the overbearing father that made my feelings boil was in fact based on his own father. Crazy. It is said that because of this book, his family has disbanded and a lot of controversary was made of it.

A book that I would put into the male audience's hands much quicker than the females. A story with a family at the center, women would be intrigued, but beware the man at the center of this family is not one you will fall in love with.

I think this is Conroy's greatest book to date. The poignancy of the plainly-autobiographical interaction of the characters is simply masterful.

This has been my least favorite Conroy book and I LOVE Pat Conroy. I skimmed through the end.