The Prince of Tides in Retro Chapter Chicks

Feb 20, 2014 Book Concierge rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: family, movie, literary-fiction, mental-illness, new-york, psychology, abuse, library, concierge, southern-lit

Audiobook narrated by Frank Muller
3.5***

Tom Wingo leaves his Charleston home to go to New York City because his twin sister, Savannah, has tried, yet again, to commit suicide. Savannah has repressed much of her childhood and her psychiatrist, Dr Susan Lowenstein, is hoping that Tom can fill in the gaps in an effort to get to the cause of Savannah’s mental illness/distress. As Tom reluctantly begins to recall their childhood spent in the Low Country of South Carolina, he slowly comes to realize t Audiobook narrated by Frank Muller
3.5***

Tom Wingo leaves his Charleston home to go to New York City because his twin sister, Savannah, has tried, yet again, to commit suicide. Savannah has repressed much of her childhood and her psychiatrist, Dr Susan Lowenstein, is hoping that Tom can fill in the gaps in an effort to get to the cause of Savannah’s mental illness/distress. As Tom reluctantly begins to recall their childhood spent in the Low Country of South Carolina, he slowly comes to realize the emotional toll it has taken on not just Savannah, but all the Wingo family members.

This is a story about a Dysfunctional family (with a capital D). It’s a story about one man’s belated attempts to come to grips with the horrors of his childhood, to recognize the reality of his family relationships, and to find a way to become a better man despite all that he has endured. That’s exactly the kind of literature I love. But …

While Conroy’s prose can be poetic, intensely personal, funny, irreverent, and so evocative of place that you can smell the brine of a salt marsh, his plotting in this case is sometimes so over-the-top as to stretch credulity too far. I got the feeling the story got away from him and he couldn’t figure out how to end it. For me the scene with greatest impact should have been the one that becomes the GREAT FAMILY SECRET. Tom is supposedly relating this to Dr Lowenstein and it is so horrific an occurrence that one would naturally expect an emotional breakdown (especially after keeping it a deep dark secret for so long). Yet it seemed to have little emotional depth (this may be a fault of the narrator on the audio book). Nor did it seem to have any cathartic effect. Oh, and there are still 150 pages to go to the end of the book.

And speaking of the ending – I felt really let down and disappointed. There didn’t seem to be any real point to this great airing of all the family’s tragic secrets.

Several plot elements and characterizations seemed to work at cross purposes. Susan Lowenstein was as messed up emotionally as her patients. And her behavior – from the beginning – was FAR from professional. Henry Wingo is portrayed as possibly the worst father and husband ever found in literature, yet his children love and forgive him without so much as an apology for what he put them through (in fact he totally denies it ever happened). Tom would have us believe that Lila was a fine mother protecting her children in one episode, and nothing but a selfish, self-serving, social climber the next. I know that children who are abused still love their parents, but these adult children of abusive parents seem to have an unrealistic ability to forgive and forget. I think a good editor might have helped Conroy trim a hundred pages and still have a great novel.

Frank Muller does a creditable job narrating the audio. His pacing is good and he had enough skill as a voice artist to differentiate most of the characters. He really made Tom come alive for me – sarcastic one moment, deeply troubled the next. However, some of the scenes which I felt should have had the greatest emotional impact were delivered without much emotion at all.
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