101. South of Broad

By:  Pat Conroy
Rated:  3 Stars
From:  Library

 I just never really got it with this book and was never able to move away from the idea that this was some nerdy guy's fantasy life or put another way, jazzed up revisionist history.

On the other hand, it was readable.  Although I grumbled I didn't get the urge to wall bang it or just give up on it although I have to confess to much eye rolling.

I have recently criticized another author who used so many gimmicks and plot hooks it turned her book into a cliche.  Well Conroy has pretty much done the same thing.  Family drama, relationship drama, racial drama, religious drama, deaths, suicides, crimes, affairs, addiction, mental illness, natural disasters, and, for heaven's sake, not one psychopath--but two!  Whatever happened to simple but well told stories?

The waiting list for this book at my library is huge, and growing every day.  Obviously other people are seeing more in this book that I am. (sigh) I really, really don't get what the big deal is all about.  It's an OK book.  But that's about all.

LIBRARY SUMMARY:  After his brother's suicide, Leopold Bloom King struggles along with the rest of his family in Charleston, South Carolina, until he begins to gather an intimate circle of friends, whose ties endure for two decades until a final, unexpected test of friendship.