The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy 2.2

To tell his story, Tom Wingo, the scarred but proud hero of Pat Conroys The Prince of Tides, must go on a journey -- a literal, geographical journey to New York from his home on the South Carolina coast that leads to a psychological journey from the present to the past, to a virtual prison of memory. What he finds there is both terrible and liberating, for him and for his whole broken but remarkable family.

Ambitious and intoxicating, The Prince of Tides is Conroys biggest and most popular novel, a lushly evocative but riveting tale of redemption and renewal. Tom Wingo is a high-school football coach, temporarily out of a job, living with his wife and children on the South Carolina coast, where he has always lived. He learns that his twin sister, Savannah, a troubled but successful feminist poet, has made yet another suicide attempt in New York. He goes to New York to take care of her, and her psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lowenstein, ask him to help in reconstructing Savannahs past. Tom stays in New York for several months, submitting to intensive therapy in the hope of helping his sister, while becoming closer to Dr. Lowenstein. Savannah had been a fragile creature since childhood, given to hallucinations and suicidal impulses, but Dr. Lowenstein leads Tom to discover that the reasons are dark and violent, involving the whole family, and that he is their victim as well.

Published in 1986, The Prince of Tides is dedicated to Conroys entire family. It is not about his family, though inevitably elements in the story resonate with his own experience. What is important is the conviction with which he demonstrates the powerful grip of a familys pathology -- something most readers can recognize, on some level, and one of the reasons for the novels great success. The character of Tom Wingo is among the authors finest creations, a good man who very badly wants to make things right -- like most Conroy heroes, a man in a bad situation, struggling to find an honorable way out. Conroy tells Toms sprawling story with skill and abandon, and with a fearless reach for the most lyrical and heartfelt expression of a man, seemingly, learning to breathe again.

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