South of Broad

Pages: 512 📖

Year Published: 2009 🕰️

Days to Complete: 31

Author:

Pat Conroy seems to be a person made of bits and pieces of his own novels and memoirs; that or his writing is made up of bits and pieces of his life. Whichever makes more sense. He was born in the south but had quite a bit of experience living in other locations due to his father’s work for the military. He also attended military school, the same one mentioned in this book in Charleston, South Carolina. Eventually he became a teacher and found success with writing despite his first novel causing a lot of personal turmoil. After remarrying for the third time and retiring from writing, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2016.

Learn More about Pat Conroy

Three words to describe this read:

Captivating- The characters and their relationships drove the story. I never knew what was going to happen and it wasn’t revealed until the very last page.

Adventurous- The main characters went on several journeys together, as kids and adults, and it added a adventurous element to the story that I enjoyed.

Honest- The main character was a southern gentleman but that didn’t stop him from sharing his true thoughts and opinions throughout the story. He admits to not liking one of his closest friends very much but retains respect for him. Despite their differences, they are able to support each other in the ways that matter.

Quote:

“Perfect doesn’t just mean happy. Perfect can have lots of different parts.”

Aside from capturing a lot of the story, this quote spoke to me because there is no such thing as perfect. We have to find small moments of “perfection” within our imperfect lives.