Am Enjoying Pat Conroy's ... BROAD STREET... About Modern Charleston
Robert Cohen
like it because I like
fictional, gossipy intimate too--adult soap opera minus commercials
for false teeth cleaner and expensive
pills for grown-ups
It's a long novel, and I listen it when I'm not sleeping, so I'll
have to keep going back,
while the essence so far is ...uh...
Conroy's fairly blunt impressions of some Catholic high society
shakers & movers of Charleston, South Carolina
Their status, accomplishments, truths, pretenses, sex affairs, and the
situations and inter-dynamics of
seem to me plausible & realistic
And Pat has black southern American characters substantively
interacting therein, which I perceive is tricky though working
I'll be further posting about this novel
Is it good literature and or good entertainment or both or what?
I'll be perusing Amazon and other (the NYT) publications' critics to
see what about Conroy stuff
the sages are complaining & applauding, so I'll know what to think
more about, and what's so
right about that
Robert Cohen
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/books/review/Hoffman-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=conroy%20broad&st=cse
This NYT reviewer reads Pat's books...ad nauseam, as he suggests he's
read this
already in the prior works
I saw a Barbra Streisand (Conroy) movie, saw CONRACK, and THE RED ACE
(? with Robert Duval
as the over-bearing father), and so it's pretty much "novel" for the
unjaded me
Pjk
> On Sep 9, 11:03 am, Robert Cohen <robtco...@msn.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > I'm listening to the Audible version as read by a gifted actor, and
> > like it because I like
> > fictional, gossipy intimate too--adult soap opera minus commercials
> > for false teeth cleaner and expensive
> > pills for grown-ups
>
> > It's a long novel, and I listen it when I'm not sleeping, so I'll
> > have to keep going back,
> > while the essence so far is ...uh...
>
> > Conroy's fairly blunt impressions of some Catholic high society
> > shakers & movers of Charleston, South Carolina
>
> > Their status, accomplishments, truths, pretenses, sex affairs, and the
> > situations and inter-dynamics of
> > seem to me plausible & realistic
>
> > And Pat has black southern American characters substantively
> > interacting therein, which I perceive is tricky though working
>
> > I'll be further posting about this novel
>
> > Is it good literature and or good entertainment or both or what?
>
> > I'll be perusing Amazon and other (the NYT) publications' critics to
> > see what about Conroy stuff
> > the sages are complaining & applauding, so I'll know what to think
> > more about, and what's so
> > right about that
>
>
> This NYT reviewer reads Pat's books...ad nauseam, as he suggests he's
> read this
> already in the prior works
>
> I saw a Barbra Streisand (Conroy) movie, saw CONRACK, and THE RED ACE
> (? with Robert Duval
> as the over-bearing father), and so it's pretty much "novel" for the
>
> - Show quoted text -
I was enjoying Conroy's books up until Prince of Tides, then I
stopped. I didn't like it thinkng he was just looking for a new
topical twist.
I liked E.L.Doctorow up until the Waterworks.
Pjk
Robert Cohen
Well, here is what happened to me, and perhaps it's somewhat
emblematic (what better word
am I looking for?)
As I had stated, I started listening to SOUTH OF BROAD STREET, but I
did not
feel like continuing--why? Frankly there was a sing song-soap opera
feel
My wife tells me it gets very interesting, and she has been gobbling-
up (consuming voraciously)
up novels for years while I watch tv & read news and political
magazines
I suspect & admit the negative NYT critic influenced me, which is weak
if not disgusting
circularity in art appreciation on my part
But I did quit listening, while I should pick it up again, because
this ain't fair treatment
of a renowned writer
So, it's them damn New York yankees publishing the negative presumably
native southerner reviewer that has
caused the insult I've made
Pjk
>
> - Show quoted text -
I like Sunday mornings with a cffee and the NYTimes book review
section, but they sometimes go beyond just reviewing and move into
critical analysis. This might be OK for a work of non-fiction -
politics or history or whatever - that goes too far, but not in a work
of fiction.
Pjk
Robert Cohen
Tom Wolfe's book last year or year before is about contemporary
college mores, isn't it?
I think I borrowed (tho didn't read) it from a public library, or saw
it marked down somewhere
Did you read it? I'd like to know your opinion--can't recall what
critics said
It is fiction though Wolfe is known for not avoiding controversy, and
he well-researched it, didn't he?
When I was a teenager & in my twenties, a semi raunchy Wolfe book
would be something interesting like his TANGERINE book which
I liked
As the French don't exactly say: Fun is wasted on the young
Did old guy in the white suit, snooping around universities seamy-side
fun, do well with that sex book--did they do a movie of it?
Pjk
>
> - Show quoted text -
His The Right Stuff is easy to read and interesting even if you are
not into the space program. I have a few more of his books in
paperback at home but cannot get into any of them. I recall reading
the reviews of the one you are talking about but can't remember
anything about it. I haven't seen mention of it since then.
God only knows why but I am forcing myself to finish the Abruzzi
Trilogy which someone told me was a classic and a must-read for
Italian students, but at 927 pagaes it has become a bit much. I hit
832 last night and am stubborn. After that, back to my more normal non-
fiction.
Pjk
Robert Cohen
I have started TIME TRAVELER in audio and it's fun and humorous &
keeping
my interest
I despise and avoid the seemingly on-going vampire fad, and don't ask
me why I associate such caca with "time traveling," but vampire junque
is childish and is
boring, cheap, cliche, ludicrous, and no doubt quite profitable for
the perpetrators, and
it's bad art, catering to imbeciles, and ... who's the moron that
likes an absurd metaphysical theme.... ME ? the time-travel
reader ?.. neverminddddddd
Pjk
>
> - Show quoted text -
I was downsized in 2001 and didn't start working again for a few
years, and then it was only part-time.
Off-and-on I read a lot of things I had missed - The Time Machine,
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Frankenstein and Dracula, Kim.
Things like that. I just recently did abunch of bios - Jules Verne, AC
Doyle, HG Wells, and Kipling. I want to get the new bio of Teddy
Roosevely. Next is Together We Stand, a history of the joint
American / British effort in North Africa during WWII.
I live near Princeton NJ and a new just bookstore has opened. I was
browsing last weekend and could have backed up a truck and filled it
with
books. And it's right next to the Triumph Brewery - a nice micro
brewery on Nassau Street.
Pjk
Robert Cohen
This is the movie promotion that is on-going of the novel that I like
listening:
The novel doesn't take itself as seriously as the film
seems to be persenting itself