The Death Of Santini by Pat Conroy

 

In this autobiographical novel, Pat Conroy details his adult life.  Readers will remember his childhood from his great novel, The Great Santini and his life in high school from the novel based on it, The Prince Of Tides.  Conroy grew up in a Marine family with a fighter pilot for a father.  His father was abusive to Conroy's wife and the seven children, beating them all for little or no reason, making their lives full of anxiety and brutality.

In this book, Conroy details how as an adult, he was reconciled with his father and mother after their divorce.  Conroy himself had three marriages with another long time relationship and three daughters.  But his first two marriages ended in adultery and fighting.  He also reconciled with most of his siblings although the sister who was closest in age to him holds him in contempt and hatred.  The youngest son grew up and lived the life of a schizophrenic and ended up killing himself.  Pat details all of these tragedies and the stories of his extended family on both sides.

In addition, he talks about each book he wrote and what the reaction was to each.  His first book was The Water Is Wide and the people of Beaufort, SC, which was the place he most considered home, were not pleased to be shown as racists who were denying a decent education to the black children descended from the Gullah people.  His novels created outrage and disharmony within his family and his detailing of the brutal education he got at the military college, the Citadel, also was a revelation to many.  But Conroy continued to write his truth and was a very successful novelist.

His third marriage, to Cassandra King, lasted twenty-eight years, ending only with Conroy's death.  Conroy had good relationships with many authors and never forgot a kindness shown to him or to his family.  In my mind, Conroy is one of the great American authors who details the South and the live Southern people live.  This book is recommended for those who enjoy biographies or those who love  the Conroy books.