South of Broad by Pat Conroy6/22/2023 ![]() ![]() Pat Conroy is known for sprawling, character-driven novels like "The Prince of Tides," "The Great Santini" and "The Lords of Discipline." "South of Broad" is another good read, but has too many flaws to be considered their equal.Ĭonroy's latest novel revisits prominent themes from his previous books, namely suicide, sexual abuse, and race relations and class struggles in the Deep South. They support each other over the following decades as they contend with illness, emotional breakdowns, death and other perils of adulthood. "South of Broad" begins as the story of Leo's struggle to redeem himself, but becomes the tale of the close-knit circle of friends who help him do it. Leo is also a criminal, serving the last days of his probation after the police find him carrying a half-pound of cocaine. And he's a few years removed from a mental hospital, where he landed after discovering his older brother in the bathtub with his wrists slit. His domineering mother, a former nun who also serves as his high school principal, named him after the protagonist from James Joyce's "Ulysses," much to his chagrin. ![]() His severely bug-eyed appearance earns him the nickname "Toad" from his classmates. Talese, 528 pages, $29.95)Įven outside the rigid social structures of adolescence, Leopold Bloom King is something of a freak. ![]()
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