On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Comments on this board should be written with the assumption that not all readers have finished the book. Please avoid revealing any spoilers.

I have read this book twice now, so won't re-read, but will follow the discussion. The Great Santini is my favorite Conroy novel, but this runs a close second. Powerful, and the reason he was persona non grata by the Citadel for so many years.

This will be my second time reading it. It was my introduction to Pat Conroy about 30 years ago and I have loved reading everything of his that I have gotten hold of since.

This is my first time but I'll admit, I have serious demands in my personal life with major life event in three weeks that has me seriously distracted. I have started it but I'm unsure if I will get to it this month as I made other obligations in my reading life as well.
What I have read thus far is intriguing and I now understand why he is so highly regarded.
At only around 40+ pages, he is about to meet the newbie that the college has recruited.

I’m new to the group. I started the book yesterday and hope to finish by the end of the month. Will is preparing to meet Pearce. I haven’t read much but already am enjoying it. The only other book I’ve read by Conroy is Prince of Tides which was a favorite many years ago.

I love Conroy. My second read of this one. My favorite will always be The Prince of Tides. The Great Santini next. And then The Lords of Discipline. Conroy's first book, The Boo offered a much more favorable view of life at the Citadel.

I'm late starting this but within minutes of starting to reread it I regretted putting other books in front of this one. It is the first Conroy book I ever read and it started a lifelong love affair with his writing. Elsewhere in this group we are asked to identify what was our first experience with southern literature. I had read other books first, starting with GWtW but I believe that this the book that really opened my eyes.

Tom,
Why do you feel this book in particular opened your eyes?
I have never pursued reading Southern literature with the exception of GWtW, which I first read when I was 12 and then again every summer for 3 more years. To me, that is the essence of the South before the 20th century (though someone may be able to persuade me to rethink this).
The reason I joined this group is because I have really missed an essential understanding of what Southern life is truly. I have grown up in FL for the most part but I am a damn Yankee (still?). Though I experienced culture shock when I moved to a small and remote community that wasn't even on the map, when I was 15. My college experience isolated me from other experiences of the deep South (FSU in the 1980's). Then I moved to big cities and have had an urban experience with a few forays in TX and TN. small and large communities...so I need a deeper immersion via literature.

I'm not sure that its southernness is what attracted me to The Lords of Discipline as much as it was Conroy's prose. There is much in his writing that I relate to which provided me with a window to understanding the aspects of his character that were alien to me.

So well said, Tom. I felt similarly when I discovered Carson McCullers and Member of the Wedding as a teenager. Her work simply unlocked doors for me.

Lords of Discipline and The Great Santini were my first Conroy books in my mid-twenties. I was besotted with his language, his outrage, all his emoting. It had never occurred to me that not only was it okay to write in the torrential manner of Conroy; as his legions of readers have exhibited; it was very much desired.

Funny though, as I’ve aged a couple of decades, it is now his later books, like Prince of Tides, and yes, Beach Music, that just tear me up.

I just love reading emotive comments about Pat from like-minded readers and fans :)