A review by abrswf
My Losing Season by Pat Conroy

4.0

As is usual for me with Pat Conroy, I find myself with mixed emotions. On the negative side, I always find Conroy a bit operatic. He generally uses two or three adjectives where one would do, over the top metaphors, and highly dramatic phrasing. I normally like a much more understated style. And I feel the same discomfort with Conroy’s self-flagellation for things like protesting the Vietnam war instead of serving and not being the world’s best point guard. I realize some of this is his lifelong depression speaking, but it’s still too much. Further, I don’t think I can agree with Conroy on the life and death significance of his college basketball games. Finally, I dislike the fact that except for Conroy’s unpredictable and confusing mother, not one woman who appears in the book emerges as a real person — they are all “beautiful,” “lovely,” and “brilliant” ciphers. And now that I’ve explained why Conroy always grates on me a bit, here’s why I still think this was a wonderful listen, admirably narrated by Chuck Montgomery, with a little bonus recording of Conroy himself speaking about the book at the end. First, Conroy has a compelling story to tell about how it feels to be subjected to cruel tyranny from older men — including in this book not only his infamous father, the Great Santini, but his very abusive and mercurial college basketball coach. The book’s backdrop, Conroy’s itinerant childhood in the service of his father’s military career, and his attendance at the rigidly disciplined Citadel, just adds to that oppressive history. Second, Conroy loves and understands basketball, and this book actually made this game much clearer to me too. And third, Conroy tells us a great deal in this book about his own post-college life, and since he is a fine author, it is interesting to learn what came after the traumatic childhood and young manhood that are the subject of almost all his novels. Overall, this is a worthy read.