Average customer rating:
- Conroy the Great
- Not as good as his other books
- Penetrating portrait of fathers and sons, and of America
- Beware of Blackstone
- A Great Book
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The Great Santini
Pat Conroy
Manufacturer: Dial Press Trade Paperback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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The Lords of Discipline
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The Water is Wide
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Prince of Tides
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Beach Music
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My Losing Season
ASIN: 0553381555
Release Date: 2002-03-26 |
Book Description
Step into the powerhouse life of Bull Meecham. He’s all Marine-fighter pilot, king of the clouds, and absolute ruler of his family. Lillian is his wife—beautiful, southern-bred, with a core of velvet steel. Without her cool head, her kids would be in real trouble.
Ben is the oldest, a born athlete whose best never satisfies the big man. Ben’s got to stand up, even fight back, against a father who doesn’t give in—not to his men, not to his wife, and certainly not to his son.
Bull Meecham is undoubtedly Pat Conroy's most explosive character—
a man you should hate, but a man you will love.
Download Description
A tyrannical father, a military "ace" brutalize his family and particularly his oldest son, interpreting humanity as weakness in this unsparing novel. Tragedy is the outcome. Robert Duvall's performance of the title character in the film adaptation is p
Customer Reviews:
Conroy the Great.......2007-08-26
I discovered Pay Conroy as a young adult many years ago and in short order read everything he ever wrote. In my youthful, relatively uneducated mind, I couldn't help but think he was one of the greatest writers of all time. I distinctly remember the unmitigated joy of reading The Lords of Discipline for the first time, unable to tear myself away from the thing, staying up some nights until 4am with it. It was and maybe still is the most engrossing book I have ever read.
Well, many years have passed and many more books are under the belt and I guess I've come to the conclusion that maybe Pat Conroy isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread after all, but, all the melodrama notwithstanding, he still has to rank up there somewhere. This one, The Great Santini, is a fine example of Conroy in his prime.
We are introduced to the Great Santini--aka Bull Meacham, Marine fighter pilot--at a wild, drunken, hilarious going-away party in his honor in the first scene of the novel. We see immediately that he is a brash, loud, cocky and arrogant; traits that serve him more or less to good effect with his Marine subordinates, but traits that serve him far less effectively with his wife and four children.
The story, of course, is truly about them, and especially Ben, the oldest of the siblings. The relationship with his father is of the classic love/hate variety. He is proud of his father: his exaggerated toughness, his extraordinary discipline, his status in the world as a true warrior. But he loathes him as well: his bullying, brutal, unbending tactics are too often unnecessarily thoughtless and cruel.
There are so many fine scenes. One of the most famous is the one-on-one basketball game between the maturing seventeen-year old Ben and his insanely competitive father. Ben beats him, finally--a great moment in his life--but instead of getting the congratulations he deserves and has strived for since childhood, his father instead humiliates him, calling him a girl and systematically bouncing the basketball off of his head as he walks into the house.
But as brutish as Ben's father is, his mother in contrast is filled with Southern charm and grace, and loves her children unconditionally. There is a wonderful scene that I had forgotten about, in which the family is walking to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The mother is suddenly so overcome with joy that she begins to dance on the way, a gentle, graceful waltz, thrilling the children with her loveliness. Even old Bull expresses a growl of appreciation.
The novel is loaded with scenes like this, both big and small. All of the characters are sharply defined and painfully human. And as with Conroy's other novels, there is a strong sense of the South, with its swamps and its backwoods, slow-paced charm. Conroy is also a very witty fellow, particularly the dialogue between his characters which is always hilariously dead-pan.
However, by the end you realize that he's tried just a little bit too hard. The novel encompasses a little less than a year in Ben's life, yet his friend's date is victimized by a brutal rapist, another friend is murdered, he is threatened by a deputy sheriff, and finally he must come to terms with the death of a significant character. It is a bit much.
But don't be dissuaded. It's nevertheless a fine novel, filled with wit, wisdom and painful honestly. As are all of his first four novels--The Water is Wide, this one, The Lords of Discipline, and The Prince of Tides--which are each and every one a terrific read.
Not as good as his other books.......2006-09-14
Let me start out by saying that I think Pat Conroy is one of the best authors out there. He can paint a picture so vividly with is words you truly feel like you are there. I first read Beach Music and it rocked my world. Each of the stories told in that book were amazing. So, even though I'd seen the movie Prince of Tides, I decided to read the book. I loved it also. Now having a hunger for more of his amazing writing, I picked up The Great Santini. I must say, I was disappointed. I loved the characters and the general concept of the story. A tough Marine, a true southern belle and two of the four children with depth that you admire throughout the entire story. I just felt that there was no storyline. I get what Conroy was trying to portray by creating the characters, and the relationships between the characters were great, but I just felt as if something was missing from this story. I also didn't feel like a whole lot happened until half way through the book.
There were also a couple of highly dramatic scenes(Sammy's girlfriend and Toomer and Red) that had you at the edge of your seat. However, once that chapter was over, no mention of it whatsoever. I would think these things happened for a reason (e.g. character growth, forming a bond between two characters)and would be explored through the eyes of the characters some more. This was a disappointment to me also.
All in all, the book had a lot of good in it, but just didn't measure up to Beach Music and The Prince of Tides. I plan on reading Conroy's other books in hopes to feel the magic of his writing again.
Penetrating portrait of fathers and sons, and of America.......2006-08-03
The Great Santini is Colonel Bull Meecham, husband to his lovely Southern enabling wife Lillian, father to Ben, Mary Anne, Matt, and Karen, Marine, fighter pilot, bully, creep, alcoholic, and all around jerk. Bull rules his family as he does the marines that serve under him. A bad drunk, Bull experiences violent mood swings, which send his family into chilling bouts of fear, hatred, and battles with the brute. Ben, most of all, the oldest, is most challenged by Bull, most humiliated, and most deeply touched, although his sister Mary Anne is a very close second. Ben is a very transparent stand-in for Conroy, although how much of this work is autobiographical is hard to know, but I suspect most of it is. Conroy could not write with such depth of feeling if he didn't experience this material firsthand. All I can say is that experiencing Bull Meecham is like experiencing brutality and hell in order to discover kindness, heaven, and love.
Clearly written, brilliant, scintillating, this work sharply etches an unhappy family and the inner life of a boy and his love/hate relationship with his father. It also presents life in the racist south of the early 1960s, its beauties, and its nightmares. I was deeply moved by this work in spite of the ugliness of Bull Meecham and the marines he loved. This is a genuine work, an American novel, and a major achievement.
Beware of Blackstone.......2006-01-24
While this is an excellent and well written story, the Blackstone Audio version is horribly read. It is painful to listen to. The reader is very "nasal" and the attempts at accents and characterizations are just simply horrific. Find another version, or read the book if you can. I can't, and had to endure this version of the audiobook. I listen to a LOT of audiobooks and this experience was a nightmare!
A Great Book.......2006-01-13
I began reading this book with trepidation, because I worried that a book about the Marines and basketball might be a little too masculine and juvenile even for someone who tends to enjoy books with that character, but I was pleasantly mistaken. This is a great book--not just good, but great--about a career Marine who has established himself as a hero in war, leader within the Corps and one of the most bombastic, foul mouthed and party-hearty personalities anywhere, but a man who has no idea how to alter his personality at home. His family, which dutifully follows him around the South, admires his professional abilities and follows his orders almost without question also live in terror of the man who rules with an iron fist and absues them emotionally and physically. Bull Meecham is truly one of the great characters and personalities from any fiction I've read.
The other members of the family, however, are also just as valuable and interesting in this book. Bull's son's attempts to be a man, his wife's attempts to rear her children with Southern charm and grace despite their father, the oldest daughter's attempts to be an independent woman despite both of her parents. The Great Santini goes further, however, and explores racism in the mid-century South, the power of sports in youth culture, the troubled existence of military families, etc.
Pat Conroy is a beautiful writer who creates lifelike characters, produces huge laughs and equally large tragedies, and never lets a dull moment slip into this book. This is one of my favorite books I've ever read and will highly recommend it to anyone I meet.
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The Great Santini
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: B000GABMJ2 |
Product Description
4 massmarket Titles By Pat Conroy - The Great Santini - Lords of Discipline - Prince of Tides - Beach Music
Average customer rating:
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The Great Santini
Pat Conroy
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L5FF9A |
Average customer rating:
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The Great Santini
Pat Conroy
Manufacturer: Morrow/Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HGXYXM |
Average customer rating:
- The Murder Channel
- Surprising & chilling....
- Philpin does it again...
- What a read!
- Unfinished Business
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The Murder Channel
John Philpin
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Dreams in the Key of Blue
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The Girls He Adored
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Fear Itself: A Novel
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Deviant Ways
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The Prettiest Feathers
ASIN: 0553580094
Release Date: 2001-05-01 |
Book Description
You have a prime-time date with a brutal murderer ... right in your own living room.
Lucas Frank knows the cost of hunting human monsters. That's why he left Boston for the peace of the Michigan woods. But a tantalizing case has lured the forensic psychiatrist back to work — and straight into the path of a cold-bloodedkiller.
Felix Zrbny was just a teenager when he went on a murder spree that left three women dead. Now, after spending fifteen years locked away, Felix has escaped — and he is determined to finish what he started all those years ago.
Lucas races to untangle the mysteries of Felix's mind as the ratings-hungry press steps in to make Felix its own macabre media darling. They track his every move and broadcast his bloody reign of terror for the whole world to see. And all the while, behind the scenes, someone is orchestrating the moment when the killer and the hunter will at last come face-to-face.
They say everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame. For Felix Zrbny, it's fifteen minutes of infamy. The clock is ticking — and he's going to make sure that every minute counts.
Customer Reviews:
The Murder Channel.......2005-01-23
Thsi has been the most difficult book to follow I have ever read, and believe me I've read many. The back and forth between the reporter, the psychologist and the criminal makes for need of a score card. Normally when I read a good book, I go and purchase all other books by the author, in this case I would be afraid. If his other writings are remotely like this one, I wish to steer clear.
Surprising & chilling...........2002-02-24
is Philpin's tale of a serial killer, at loose in a snowstorm in the Boston area that almost shuts the city down. Relatively unheralded, Philpin's hero, Lucas Frank, a forensic psychologist with a bent for action is funny, insightful and makes the book difficult to put down.
Philpin alternately narrarates the book from Lucas' point of view, and that of the serial killer, Felix Zrbny (whose chapters are in italics). Generally, I feel that when authors trade off narration between characters, I'm always spinning through the chapters from the storyteller I don't like, to get to the ones I do. That is not the case here - Zrbny is as intricately drawn as Lucas himself, and, you find it difficult to believe that what draws him to kill and to seek his freedom from an institution is a need to be famous, to seek prime-time notoriety. It just doesn't fit with the Felix you come to know through the chapters he narrates; in part, you are drawn to his humanity, although it is obvious that, in his delusions, he is a most dangerous man.
There are some interesting supporting characters - media types from the BTT (the local Boston version of Court TV), the institution that Felix has called home for 15 years, Lucas' friend Bolton, who draws him into the case, and the husband of one of the early victims, Waycross, who comes into play in an unusual twist of plot late in the novel.
This is a nearly perfect book, a little less so because some of the violence is overplayed and unnecessary. It certainly has interested me in the works of Philpin, who combines the best attributes of a thriller with the sardonic wit of the hero.
A real find....read it soon!
Philpin does it again..........2002-02-17
Nobody gets inside a killer's mind the way John Philpin does. I've read all his books, and this one ranks among my favorites. There's an abundance of thrillers on the shelves these days, but if you like excellent writing to along with your chills and thrills, dive into this one. Or any other book by this author.
What a read!.......2001-08-09
If you read this book and miss the message, read it again. The problem is yours. Lucas Frank doesn't want to deal with the horrible acts we commit on each other anymore. Felix Zrbny grew tired of them too. Dr. Frank has the skills to catch killers. Felix was only 14 years old! How do we cope with a world that is fed to us on TV? How do we live in a world where patriotism isn't service to country but being a good consumer? This book asks important questions and thank God gives some answers.
Unfinished Business.......2001-08-07
Fifteen years ago teenager Felix Zrbny finished his paper route, picked up a knife and slaughtered three woman in his neighborhood. Since that time he has been institutionalized. On the way to a hearing for his release, Felix is accidentally allowed to escape. Now he is loose in the streets of Boston, getting ready to take up where he left off. Lucas Frank, a retired forensic psychiatrist, was brought in to testify at the hearing, and now finds himself drawn into the search for Felix by his old friend Ray Bolton. In the meantime Zrbny is hiding under the cover of a record snowstorm that has blanketed Boston.
Frank and Bolton quickly discover that there are other forces at work, that other agendas are interfering with their manhunt. Wendy Pouldice, owner of Boston Trial Television has kept in touch with Felix since his sister was kidnapped, two years before his first murder spree. BTT cameras seem to appear wherever Felix is. Is Wendy using her connection with Felix to increase her station's marketshare? Dermott Fremont is head of Vigil a militia group that seems to have it's own plan for Felix. They too seem to show up everywhere, usually with bloody results. Neville Waycross has become a street monk after Felix killed his wife. He joins in the hunt, but his motivation is unclear.
Philpin chooses to alternate narration between Frank and Zrbny. Normally I don't like dual narration, but both characters are so interesting that this device works perfectly. Frank, after too many rough cases in Boston, has retired to Northern Michigan, where he relishes the quiet and the isolation. Frank is not a classic courtroom psychiatrist. Instead he is every bit as involved as any other investigator. Frank, bluffs, bullies, shoots, and finesses his way to the facts that will help him to get inside Zrbny's head.
And Zrbny's head turns out to be a very interesting place! As the story gradually fills in the blanks in his past, Zrbny become an almost sympathetic character. Of imposing size and intelligence, Felix displays both psychotic and sociopathic traits, making him and extremely dangerous killer. But he is aware of his psychological state and understands that he is using death as a way to manipulate symbols in the public eye. He is also capable of concern and conscience in his relationships. He has a sense of honor, and he is capable of remarkable insights into human behavior. I wouldn't call him sympathetic, but the reader will feel an attraction to him.
The drama builds in unexpected fashion to a truly surprising conclusion. Philpin displays fine writing skills, knowing just when to describe, when to build character, and when to move the plot forward. This is the fourth Lucas Frank novel Philpin has written or collaborated on, and I fully intend to read the others. If you are a fan of the serial killer genre put "The Murder Channel" on your must buy list.
Marc Ruby - for The Mystery Reader
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The Newall Murders
Anthony Masters , and
Philip Falle
Manufacturer: Constable
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0094735204 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from St. Louis Journalism Review, published by SJR St. Louis Journalism Review on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1861 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Impressive gains for Channel 4. (Channels).(television news coverage in St. Louis, Missouri; article highlights coverage of murder victim and radio broadcaster Nan Wyatt)
Author: Tripp Frohlichstein
Publication:
St. Louis Journalism Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: SJR St. Louis Journalism Review
Volume: 33
Issue: 254
Page: 8(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
- A Personal Favorite
- Amazing
- An excellent and entertaining read
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Tegne Soul Warrior
Richard Plante
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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La Plante, Richard
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ASIN: 0812552709 |
Customer Reviews:
A Personal Favorite.......2006-12-20
Tegne was a book I read the first time 10 years ago and have subsequently read many more times.
This was Richard La Plante's first novel and it manages to combine many of the author's interests into one story. In a mythical time and place, the story follows the life of a young warrior-priest named Tegne. He is the child of parents from complete opposite ends of the economic and social spectrum. Tegne's mother is a beautiful albino slave woman and his father a powerful (Ghengis Khan-like) warlord. The boy's mother dies while he is still an infant and Tegne is raised by a martial monk and schooled in the ways of Classical Karate and Yoga. La Plante does a great job of weaving the web of destiny around young Tegne as the young man's life unfolds into something that he never expected.
This book was written as the beginning of a trilogy and the second book, while rare, is available. It has been many years since these books came out and my guess is that La PLante has no plans to finish the series which would be a terrible shame,(Richard, if you read this review my vote is for you to finish the series).
Tegne is a wonderfully rich story that allows its' readers to delve deeply into the Eastern spiritual and physical arts as well as western psychology. The story is fiction, but it is rich in archetypal symbols and plot and many will find deep truths hidden within.
A great read for anyone interested in eastern thought, fantasy and just great storytelling.
Amazing.......2001-03-25
This book is truely amazing. If you are a fan of of fantasy andmartial arts, this is the book for you. I have read many books in mylifetime, but this has got to be one of the best I ever read. Isuggest that you get your $... ready and order this book.
An excellent and entertaining read.......1999-05-12
I actually bought this book over two years ago and just recently got around to reading it. I was glad I did as I found it to be an exhilirating adventure that kept me turning the pages until the climactic ending. This is a martial arts-oriented epoch that even includes a glossary of terms in the back so as to educate the reader as the story unfolds. La Plante is a martial artist and his understanding shows in the many fight sequences throughout the book. The author writes vividly and makes you feel like you are 'there' with the characters, experiencing the situation at hand. As a fantasy/ science fiction reader, I appreciated that La Plante could stick to the point of each scenario, without trailing off into endless details that only detract the reader from the point the story. He offers enough detail to prime your imagination and delivers the story succinctly and satisfiably. I would thus highly recommend this book to anyone into fantasy, martial arts and fictional works.
Average customer rating:
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Tegne, Soul Warrior
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKJ96Y |
Customer Reviews:
Don't waste the time.......2007-09-20
This was, hands down, the WORST book I've ever read in my life. I read it once, hated it...decided maybe I missed the "deeper meaning", so I read it again...it was even worse the second time. It is an unorganized collection of ideas and thoughts that had so much potential, but decided to skip class and get high instead. I cannot say strongly enough not to buy this book. It was so bad I stopped donating money to literacy programs in order to save people from ever possibly reading it.
Book Description
Valerie Ann Worwood explores the connection between fragrance and spirituality, examining both scientific and esoteric evidence for the spiritual power of essential oils. She examines the spiritual traditions that use aroma for ritual, prayer, and meditation and shows how to incorporate these traditions into modern practices.
Customer Reviews:
Heavenly.......2004-03-05
When there are so many readymade products on the market, why do people take so much time to create their own? Reading "The Fragrant Heavens" supplies key answers to this question, the most significant is our desire to tap into the spiritual dimensions of plants. "The Fragrant Heavens" is another stellar work by Valerie Ann Worwood. This is a book to treasure and to give as as a gift to anyone involved in holistic health or spirituality.
A Labor of Love.......2000-02-09
One can easily tell that the author has not only spent much time studying and working with this aspect of aromatherapy, but the writing was purely a labor of love. Her other books are very good. This one is excellent. Even people who do not particularly do this type of practice will appreciate the detailed knowledge provided and the author's deep respect for the subject.
Fragrant heavens.......2000-01-21
Hi I use essential oils in my Reiki Healing practrice. I love this book its just wonderful It really helped me learn about how to use Essentail oils in my healing work. Its clear and easy to read . and I look at it often. Angelic Reiki Blessings, Gigi Benanti Norwalk ct
Extraordinary, Wonderful Book.......1999-08-26
This book does wonderful justice to what we have all subliminally known - namely that scent and fragrance work on more than the physical realm. In this remarkable book, Valerie Worwood discusses in great detail the role of essential oils in all kinds of spiritual and emotional practice and healing. For example there are numerous colour photographs of the remarkably beautiful auras of different oils. There are table compiled by those who have real experience of them, of how oils interact with angels (don't let this put you off) and there is an in depth discussion of each of 62 oils and how they work to support and heal us on a deeper and higher levels than anything purely chemical could. I have long used and love essential oils and this is an invaluable addition to my library of more basic introductions to the physical properties of the oils. Incidentally, Worwood's Fragrant Pharmacy is one of the best books of its kind of the medical and household uses of oils, and her Fragrant Mind is BY FAR the best book on healing mind and emotions with essential oils.
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Fragrant Heavens the Spiritual Dimension
Valerie Ann Worwood
Manufacturer: Bantam Doubleday Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0385408994 |
Books:
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- The Mangrove Coast (Prime Crime Mysteries)
- The Medusa Stone (Philip Mercer)
Books Index
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