The Death of Santini
The Story of a Father and His Son
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Narrated by:
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Dick Hill
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By:
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Pat Conroy
About this listen
In this powerful and intimate memoir, the beloved best-selling author of The Prince of Tides and his father, the inspiration for The Great Santini, find some common ground at long last.
Pat Conroy's father, Donald Patrick Conroy, was a towering figure in his son's life. The Marine Corps fighter pilot was often brutal, cruel, and violent; as Pat says, "I hated my father long before I knew there was an English word for 'hate.'" As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the toll his father's behavior took on his siblings, and especially on his mother, Peg. She was Pat's lifeline to a better world - that of books and culture. But eventually, despite repeated confrontations with his father, Pat managed to claw his way toward a life he could have only imagined as a child.
Pat's great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy's life, he and his son reached a rapprochement of sorts. Quite unexpectedly, the Santini who had freely doled out physical abuse to his wife and children refocused his ire on those who had turned on Pat over the years. He defended his son's honor.
The Death of Santini is at once a heart-wrenching account of personal and family struggle and a poignant lesson in how the ties of blood can both strangle and offer succor. It is an act of reckoning, an exorcism of demons, but one whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to one of the most-often quoted lines from Pat's best-selling novel The Prince of Tides: "In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness."
©2013 Pat Conroy (P)2013 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Listeners will be moved as they listen to Conroy's latest memoir... The humorous and gut wrenching prologue, read by Conroy himself, transitions perfectly to Dick Hill's delivery of the soul-searching memoir. Hill inhabits all the Conroy family members well, but his shifts between father and son...is where the story soars.” (AudioFile Magazine)
"Despite the inherently bleak nature of so much of this material, Conroy has fashioned a memoir that is vital, large-hearted and often raucously funny. The result is an act of hard-won forgiveness, a deeply considered meditation on the impossibly complex nature of families and a valuable contribution to the literature of fathers and sons." (The Washington Post)
"The Death of Santini instantly reminded me of the decadent pleasures of [Conroy's] language, of his promiscuous gift for metaphor and of his ability, in the finest passages of his fiction, to make the love, hurt or terror a protagonist feels seem to be the only emotion the world could possibly have room for, the rightful center of the trembling universe.... Conroy’s conviction pulls you fleetly through the book, as does the potency of his bond with his family, no matter their sins, their discord, their shortcomings.” (The New York Times Book Review)
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When high-school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives. But when Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right.
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excellent all around yarn
- By G. on 01-10-09
By: Wally Lamb
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Where the Past Begins
- A Writer's Memoir
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Moving from her childhood in Oakland and growing up with her Chinese parents through her success as a novelist, Amy Tan delves into her creative interests in music, the paralysis of beginning a new project, journal writing, and travelling. Where the Past Begins chronicles the making of a writer. With characteristic humor and poignant observation, Tan weaves a nontraditional introspective narrative that is as complex and vibrant as this beloved American novelist's fiction.
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Narration Issues
- By Sara on 12-14-17
By: Amy Tan
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Native Country of the Heart
- A Memoir
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Native Country of the Heart is the writer and activist Cherrie Moraga's love letter to her "unlettered" mother. It begins with her mother, Elvira Isabel Moraga, who as a child, along with her siblings, was hired out by her own father to pick cotton in California's Imperial Valley. The lives of Cherrie and her mother, and of their people, are woven together in a story of critical reflection and deep personal revelation as Moraga charts her own coming to consciousness alongside the heartbreaking story of her mother's decline.
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a must read for all chicanx
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Liner Notes
- On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things
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A memoir by the influential Grammy Award-winning singer and actor - son of journalist Loudon Wainwright, former husband of Kate McGarrigle and Suzzy Roche, and father of Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Lexie Kelly Wainwright - a captivating meditation on relationships and creativity from the patriarch of one of America's great musical families. With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of the most enduring singer-songwriters who emerged from the late '60s.
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Best ever book for listening
- By Jeff Bernhardt on 10-29-17
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Finding Me
- A Memoir
- By: Viola Davis
- Narrated by: Viola Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever. This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.
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Absolutely beautifully Written❤️
- By Love bug23 on 05-02-22
By: Viola Davis
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A Journal for Jordan (Movie Tie-In)
- A Story of Love and Honor
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- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2005, Dana Canedy’s fiancé, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, began to write what would become a 200-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. He was killed by a roadside bomb on October 14, 2006. His son, Jordan, was seven months old. Inspired by his example, Dana was determined to preserve his memory for their son. A Journal for Jordan is a mother’s fiercely honest letter to her child about the parent he lost before he could even speak. It is also a father’s advice and prayers for the son he will never know.
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SAD
- By valerie on 12-12-21
By: Dana Canedy
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Daring
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- By: Gail Sheehy
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Candid, insightful, and powerful, Daring: My Passages is the story of the unconventional life of a writer who dared - to walk New York City streets with hookers and pimps to expose violent prostitution; to march with civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland as British paratroopers opened fire; to seek out Egypt's president Anwar Sadat when he was targeted for death after making peace with Israel.
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Enjoyed unexpectedly
- By Corinne O'Rourke on 09-06-23
By: Gail Sheehy
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Shanda
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The word "shanda" is defined as shame or disgrace in Yiddish. This book, Shanda, tells the story of three generations of complicated, intense twentieth-century Jews for whom the desire to fit in and the fear of public humiliation either drove their aspirations or crushed their spirit. In her deeply engaging, astonishingly candid memoir, author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin exposes the fiercely-guarded lies and intricate cover-ups woven by dozens of members of her extended family.
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Beautifully Written!
- By Adele Aron Greenspun on 01-12-23
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The Cost of These Dreams
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- Narrated by: Wright Thompson
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There is only one Wright Thompson. He is, as they say, famous if you know who he is: his work includes the most-read articles in the history of ESPN (and it's not even close) and has been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing series ten times, and he counts John Grisham and Richard Ford among his ardent admirers. But to say his pieces are about sports, while true as far as it goes, is like saying Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is a book about a cattle drive.
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Just great
- By ACK on 06-02-19
By: Wright Thompson
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Cry Like a Man
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His grandfather’s lynching in the deep South, the murders of his two older brothers, and his verbally harsh and absent father all worked together to form Jason Wilson’s childhood. But it was his decision to acknowledge his emotions and yield to God’s call on his life that made Wilson the man and leader he is today. As the founder of one of the country’s most esteemed youth organizations, Wilson explains the dangers men face in our culture’s definition of “masculinity” and gives listeners hope that healing is possible.
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Just a sad story, no useful tips
- By Grzegorz on 08-15-21
By: Jason Wilson
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A Prayer for Owen Meany
- By: John Irving
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- Length: 27 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Of all of John Irving's books, this is the one that lends itself best to audio. In print, Owen Meany's dialogue is set in capital letters; for this production, Irving himself selected Joe Barrett to deliver Meany's difficult voice as intended. In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys – best friends – are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary and terrifying.
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Outstanding
- By Alan on 03-28-11
By: John Irving
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Fury
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The world renowned author of The Satanic Verses and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie is a Whitbread Award winner and recipient of the Booker Prize. His first truly American novel, Fury is a metaphorically rich black comedy that reflects the pressure-cooker of modern life. Malik Solanka, irascible doll-maker and retired historian of ideas, suffers the pain of wanting without knowing exactly what it is he wants.
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surprisingly good
- By David on 11-21-07
By: Salman Rushdie
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Here's the Story
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Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all. But what viewers didn't know about the always sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick was living a very different - and not so wonderful - life. Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen and the woman she became.
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Gripping
- By Chris on 08-12-14
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A powerful look at life of the island peoples.
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Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.
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Authors Need to Review Pronunciations
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The Lords of Discipline is a novel about coming of age, brotherhood, betrayal, and a man’s forging of his own personal code of honor. Will McLean, a senior on the cadets’ honor court, is an outsider by nature: a basketball star at a school that prizes military prowess above athletics, a military man in training who dares to question the escalating Vietnam war. And yet his greatest struggle will be with the corrupt institution of which he is a part.
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Hauntingly Excellent
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A Lowcountry Heart
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A Lowcountry Heart: Reflections on a Writing Life by Pat Conroy is a new nonfiction collection of letters, interviews, and magazine articles spanning Conroy's long literary career, supplemented by touching pieces from the beloved author's many friends. The book collects some of Conroy's most charming pieces of short nonfiction, many of them addressed directly to his listeners, with his habitual greeting: "Hey, out there".
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Pat Conroy was "A Great Love"
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A powerful look at life of the island peoples.
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Hauntingly Excellent
- By Hbug on 02-21-23
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A modern American classic and a family saga that spans decades, this is the story of the volatile Tom Wingo, his brilliant but troubled twin sister, Savannah, and the complex and damaging family legacy they share. Moving between the sparkling glamour of New York City and the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina low country, The Prince of Tides is Pat Conroy’s masterwork.
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Narrator terrible with women's voices
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Best-selling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life. Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy’s portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South.
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Simply Outstanding - Loved It, Over and Over Again
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During one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, Pat Conroy becomes part of a basketball team that is ultimately destined to fail. And yet for a military kid who grew up on the move, the Bulldogs provide a sanctuary from the cold, abrasive father who dominates his life- and a crucible for becoming his own man.
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Dare I say "Beautiful"?
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Tell Me a Story
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Cassandra King was leading a quiet life as a professor, divorced "Sunday wife" of a preacher, and debut novelist when she met Pat Conroy. Their friendship bloomed into a tentative, long-distance relationship. Pat and Cassandra ultimately married, partly because Pat hated the commute from coastal South Carolina to her native Alabama. It was a union that would last 18 years, until the beloved literary icon’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2016. In this poignant, intimate memoir, the woman he called King Ray looks back at her love affair with a natural-born storyteller.
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Thank you.
- By TWP on 08-17-20
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My Exaggerated Life
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Story
Pat Conroy's memoirs and autobiographical novels contain a great deal about his life, but there is much he hasn't revealed to readers and listeners - until now. My Exaggerated Life is the product of a special collaboration between this great American author and oral biographer Katherine Clark, who recorded two hundred hours of conversations with Conroy before he passed away in 2016. In the spring and summer of 2014, the two spoke for an hour or more on the phone every day. No subject was off limits, including aspects of his tumultuous life he had never before revealed.
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Excellent Book and performance
- By Rick on 12-06-19
By: Katherine Clark
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My Losing Season
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
During one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, Pat Conroy becomes part of a basketball team that is ultimately destined to fail. And yet for a military kid who grew up on the move, the Bulldogs provide a sanctuary from the cold, abrasive father who dominates his life- and a crucible for becoming his own man.
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Pat Conroy - heartfelt wordsmith
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What listeners say about The Death of Santini
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ZORRO
- 12-05-13
Conroy at his best
Would you consider the audio edition of The Death of Santini to be better than the print version?
I haven't read the print version, so I can't compare, but the audio version was excellent. The dialogue between the family members was extremely well performed by Dick Hill and at times, I laughed out loud.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Death of Santini?
The conversations between the parents and the siblings were at times funny and at times shocking, but always entertaining.
Have you listened to any of Dick Hill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Its the first book of Hill's that I have listened to, but I don't think it will be the last. Pat Conroy read the preface only, and at first I was disappointed he didn't read the book.Now I see why he didn't. There was a wonderful variety of "voices" that only a professional like Dick Hill could have delivered with such perfection. Many times I totally forgot that Pat Conroy was not reading, because Hill did such a wonderful job capturing the sarcasm, bitterness, pain and love in the voices.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes. Every free minute, I was plugged in and was sorry when it was over.
Any additional comments?
Its an amazing testimony to the power of forgiveness and love that Don Conroy was loved and mourned by so many people. It was also interesting, though not surprising to learn that Pat Conroy was similar to his father in many ways, minus the physical abuse to his loved ones. It was a fascinating followup to The Great Santini.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Mary
- 02-19-14
Pat Conroy Settles Scores
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Yes. I am a big fan of Pat Conroy's novels and this memoir, though self-serving, gives additional depth to his novels. Having said that, he's not a very likable person.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
It was extremely interesting to me that while he has spent a lifetime attacking his own abuser (his father), he supported and excused his sister's abuser (their mother). No wonder she hated him--I would have, too.
What about Dick Hill’s performance did you like?
I can't say I loved it. Maybe because I have always imagined Pat Conroy's voice to be more like Nick Nolte's in Prince of Tides. It took me a while to get used to it.
Could you see The Death of Santini being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
I can see it, but I don't it should be made into a movie. He's hurt his family enough. This memoir is supposed to be the one that puts his relationship with his father to rest. Making a movie of it would make a lie of the premise of the book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ronald
- 12-21-13
A Necessary End Note
Would you listen to The Death of Santini again? Why?
If you have followed Conroy's saga of Santini and his other family members through the decades, this is a necessary listen. It presents new details - many horrible of course - as well as several very moving scenes. As Conroy's neighbors note in several scenes, "Your family always puts on a great show!"
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Death of Santini?
Pat's eulogy for his father was fitting and memorable.
What about Dick Hill’s performance did you like?
Dick Hill had a great voice for Santini as I imagine him. For Pat Conroy, his voice was less perfect (I have met Pat several times over the years).
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Any book about Santini makes one cry (my god, how did that family survive at all!) as well as laugh at and with Santini and the other characters in response to the outrageousness of their lives.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jennifer D
- 02-15-16
Perfect tragedy -- complete
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes . Conroy's writing is so artful and his meaning so common. As a great admirer of all his books, I believe this is a book that is continuing his life as his reader's are able to watch.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I don't have a favorite. To me, they all are part of the bigger piece.
Any additional comments?
This book appeals to people on so many levels, just as Mr. Conroy's past works have. If the reader has had a childhood or family relationships with these powerful struggles, the reader feels it in her heart and gut. If a reader was blessed to believe to never have these dramas, (which I would question of anyone with a "perfect" life), Conroy's work is a window into others as well. Beautiful words create a whirlwind of emotions.
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- matt
- 11-03-21
Can we re-record this one please?
The narration is absolutely brutal on this. We really need this one to be redone for the love of all mankind. What a disappointing shame to have such a great story lost with poor narration. The narrator yelled the story rather than live it breath it. We must all understand that there will probably never be a better narrated book than “the prince of tides” (God bless frank muller) but there are so many great narrators that would have knocked this out of the park. This narration was equivalent to asking me to play a strata-various at a wedding (I have no understanding of how to play any musical instrument.) if they ever re record this, I’ll be the first to snag it up! But unlike my other conroy books, this is a listen once only, never to be listened to again until it’s a fixed version.
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- Kevin P. Mentzer
- 08-21-17
From the viewpoint of a fellow military brat.
I was a fan of "The Great Santini". And now an even greater fan of the author, the family, and the Great Santini himself. I'd like to say Thanks to the author for sharing his life with us.
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- RCH
- 07-09-20
A bit sad to hear the family troubles
If you really want to learn more about the background of the family I believe this book provides that insight. It is so sad that their family was in such turmoil and that Pat lived his entire life in turmoil. He was an amazing writer but his life seems so tragic.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-24-13
Another great Conroy book
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes!
What other book might you compare The Death of Santini to and why?
Prince of Tides. Same subject matter and tone.
What about Dick Hill’s performance did you like?
Excellent!! Coudn't be better.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Part where Conroy gives eulogy for his dad.
Any additional comments?
I loved Hill's rendering of Conroy's father, the Colonel.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Andrew L Durham
- 05-20-15
Heavy.
A fantastic story, but can be depressing at times. The author makes you feel as if you were actually living the life.
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- Martha S. Davis
- 07-23-20
Understanding The Great Santini
After listening to Pat Conroy read the prologue, I wasn’t sure I could endure the entire book. His words mirrored my own childhood experiences of being raised by an abusive father. I decided to forge ahead and am pleased that Pat was able to come to some understanding of and grant forgiveness to his father. I know from experience that the children of such men are only able to live in peace by letting go of the emotional humiliation and physical abuse unfairly inflicted upon them. “The Death of Santini” is a story that needed to be told as only the eldest son could tell it. It brought me a better sense of the man behind the beloved author Pat Conroy. I can’t wait to re-read every one of his books with an empathy and compassion that wasn’t there 25 years ago.
Oh, how I love knowing that Pat Conroy was shaped by the sins of the father as was I. One can only understand the dark prose when they have lived under the tyranny of a complex man like The Great Santini.
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1 person found this helpful