Beach Music cover art

Beach Music

A Novel

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Beach Music

By: Pat Conroy
Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
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About this listen

 Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of
families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story
that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.

Beach Music is about Jack McCall, an American living in Rome with his young daughter, trying to find peace after the recent trauma of his wife's
suicide. But his solitude is disturbed by the appearance of his sister-in-law, who begs him to return home, and of two school friends asking for his help in
tracking down another classmate who went underground as a Vietnam protester and never resurfaced. These requests launch Jack on a journey that encompasses the past and the present in both Europe and the American South, and that leads him to shocking--and ultimately liberating--truths.

Told with deep feeling and trademark Conroy humor, Beach Music is powerful and compulsively readable. It is another masterpiece in the legendary
list of classics that his body of work has already become.

PAT CONROY is the author of five previous books: The Boo, The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, and
The Prince of Tides, the last four of which were made into feature films.©2009 Pat Conroy; (P)2009 Random House Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

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Critic reviews

“Reading Pat Conroy is like watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel.”—Houston Chronicle
“Astonishing . . . stunning . . . the range of passions and subjects that brings life to every page is almost endless.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Blockbuster writing at its best.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Pat Conroy’s writing contains a virtue now rare in most contemporary fiction: passion.”–The Denver Post
“Magnificent . . . Beach Music is clearly Conroy’s best.”–San Francisco Chronicle
All stars
Most relevant
a beautiful story that intertwines the lives of a large family, the in laws, their experiences of the holocaust and death. although that may sound depressing, its beautifully narrated and fully of hope.

deeper than you imagined

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This bin drew me in slowly. I confess I considered giving up on it after 3 chapters, but I'm so glad I didn't.
It taught me so much about so many things: the poverty in rural America during and after the Depression; the depraved and gratuitous cruelty of Nazi officers in Europe during WW2, outside of the gas chambers; the pressures on young men in America when the Vietnam war began; life in Rome for a food writer; schizophrenia; and Loggerhead Turtles.
It could be said that there was a degree of repetition, and some drawn-out descriptions of events, but the language is so beautiful in this book- sentences glow with beautifully chosen phrases and words, and the conversation between the five brothers is laugh out loud entertaining at times. Some of the wisdom of this novel will stay with me forever.

All of human life

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I have read and listened to this book a number of times over many years.
Each time, I learn something new about the human condition. This last time, I sobbed, again

Outstanding

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This is a beautiful heart felt book, still my favourite of all time, loved it.

Beach Music

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A story that has everything from the beauty of Rome, Venice & South Carolina. Characters who struggle with their own fragility & strength. The unbreakanle bonds of childhood friends, the Vietnam war & holocaust. Romance & suicide. It’s also very good value for money, over 23 hours of fantastic story telling. I wasn’t keen on the narrator but managed to get past it and start enjoying the book after a few chapters.

Beautifully written as with all Pat Conroys books

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