Dysfunctional families > Fiction.ĭomestic fiction. Authors, American > Family relationships. Search for related items by subject Subject:Ĭonroy, Pat > Family. “Conroy writes athletically and beautifully, slicing through painful memories like a point guard splitting the defense.Prologue - The promise - Fun and games at The Citadel - Daufuskie Island - The writing of The Great Santini - Publication of The Great Santini - On the set of The Great Santini - Two premieres - Stanny - Piedmont - Peg Conroy Egan - Trim to Rome, Georgia - Gnome - Tom's breakdown - The end to it all - Tom's leap, Carol Ann's ball of tears - Losing Carol Ann - Escape from San Francisco - Don and the Chicago Irish - The Arcs - Hurrah for the next man to die - The God of last things - Epilogue: Pat Conroy's eulogy for The Great Santini. “Vital, large-hearted and often raucously funny.” - The Washington Post “Conroy’s conviction pulls you fleetly through the book, as does the potency of his bond with his family, no matter their sins.” - The New York Times Book Review Tom Wingo is an unemployed South Carolinian football coach whose internist wife is having an affair with a pompous cardiac man. “A painful, lyrical, addictive read that fans won’t want to miss.” - People A flabby, fervid melodrama of a high-strung Southern family from Conroy ( The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline ), whose penchant for overwriting once again obscures a genuine talent. The Death of Santini is a heart-wrenching act of reckoning whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to the oft-quoted line from Pat’s novel The Prince of Tides: “In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.” In the final years of Don Conroy’s life, the Santini unexpectedly refocused his ire to defend his son’s honor. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused brought even more attention, fracturing an already battered family. In the final years of Don Conroys life, he and his son reached a rapprochement of sorts. As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the often cruel and violent behavior of his father, Marine Corps fighter pilot Donald Patrick Conroy.

Pat Conroy’s great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A brilliant storyteller, a master of sarcasm, and a hallucinatory stylist whose obsession with the impress of the past on the present binds him to Southern literary tradition.”- The Boston Globe

The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy