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3.5 starsIf you have read the Lords of Discipline and the Great Santini, then you know these two excellent fictional books are really thinly disguised autobiographies of Pat Conroy's life at the Citadel and life in the shadow of his abusive father. This is relevant here because this memoir feels redundant to some degree, that is if one has read the aforementioned novels. It is true that Conroy's wit is on full display in this memoir and it gave me quite a few chuckles. But there is a lot of sadn...
I enjoyed listening to the audio version of MY LOSING SEASON: A MEMOIR by Pat Conroy. He loved the game of basketball; the basketball court was an escape from the reality of his domineering father. Pat Conroy describes several games - play by play, and there is a lot of name-dropping. Basketball is not all rosy. One could say this book is an analogy to life. 4 stars
4+★In these autobiographical pages the author delves into his heartbreaking childhood at the mercy of a brutal father and his four years as point guard for the Citadel basketball team through its final losing season. It's a true life coming of age tale recounting how the game helped him become the man who wanted to be the writer. He describes his book as “an act of recovery” and explains how "losing prepares you for the heartbreak, setback, and tragedy that you will encounter in the world more t...
When Pat Conroy made his escape from an abusive ass of a father to play the game he loved, basketball, at The Citadel, he had no idea the abuse would continue in the form of (a.) his fellow classmates during Hell Night and then his entire plebe year, and (b.) his coach, who thrived on shaming his players in one way or another until they either collapsed in on their emotions or put on an "I'll show him" performance when next out on the court. Torn between his two loves, for the game and for devel...
This is a good book, albeit one that needed a more forceful editor. Pat Conroy is a particularly emotional and effusive author who has a tendency to use superlatives about everything in his life. I didn't mind that for 90% of the book, but after a while, it begins to grate. Conroy is always a failure, a bad husband, an unworthy friend while the people in his life are giants of humanity, saints and true companions. Of course, neither is the case. The same emotional element holds true with his wri...
As a basketball player and a major participant in several losing seasons i am probably biased. But, Conroy does a great job of telling the story of his losing season as a senior at the Citadel. Lots of basketball action, but a great underlying message that goes far beyond the sport.
I know this is a strange thing to say about a book that is mainly about basketball, but I enjoyed this book with the exception of the play-by-play basketball game parts. I thought the team dynamics, Citadel life, his crazy coach and his mean father were all really good but the basketball parts I could take or leave. I am glad I read it because I liked learning about this authors life and how he came to be an author and the different parts of his real life and basketball career that translated in...
I'm a huge fan of Pat Conroy. His writing is blisteringly honest and he never fails to demonstrate the fraility and the strength of the human condition. This is a non-fiction account of his senior year at The Citadel where he played basketball. In writing this account many years later, he manages to locate all of his teammates (and their coach, the infamous Mel Thompson) to interview them for the book and compare his recollections with theirs. It reads almost like a series of short stories becau...
Listening to this book in one "sitting" as I drove 1,000 miles after leaving my son at college for the first time. . . perfect book to remind me of the incredible bonding that takes place among young men at college and how crucial this time period is for boys/men to fight through together - without their mommies :-).I was stunned by the abuse Conroy overcame - I had read many of his other books about his father, and his father had seemed tough and overbearing, but deep down lovable. This memoir
"My Losing Season" is a powerful book that uses the author’s losing 1966-1967basketball season at The Citadel to explore whether one learns more from winning or from losing. From the opening line, “I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one,” to the end, Conroy has a gift for memorable, descriptive writing. I should preface my review by stating I don’t enjoy basketball, which includes playing it growing up and now watching it live or on TV. In High School P.E., they nicknamed me “Th...
I have yet to meet a Pat Conroy story that I haven’t liked and My Losing Season is no exception. Conroy grew to maturity influenced and ‘disciplined’ by two authoritarian and cruel men-his father and his college basketball coach- and this memoir describes his slow and difficult emergence from their shadows as he developed into adulthood becoming a successful writer. In this story, we are provided a glimpse into the world of the plebe system that existed at The Citadel (and at the other military
Conroy the memoirist is akin to Conroy the novelist, which is to say fantastic. One of the most powerful prose writers I've encountered.
Another book I pulled from my bookshelves while riding out our snowpocalypse. I picked up this advanced reader's copy back when I was working at Barnes and Noble. The book was hugely popular when it was released, but I never got around to reading it until now. In the book Pat Conroy explores his life through his love of basketball, particularly through his senior year season on the Citadel basketball team. Although it is a lot about basketball and the games that team played, it also explores his...
Eh, this was an OK book. I'll start by saying that I'm an admittedly hard sell on memoirs.I found this one to be slow moving. Pat Conroy seemed to vacillate between being absolutely full of himself to being completely self-degrading. That got on my nerves. Which was it? Likely, it was somewhere in between and he should have just stayed there in his narration. "Oh I sucked so much at basketball. Oh I got the basketball MVP. Oh I was such a mediocre player. Oh I took them to the hoop and scored 25...
There's a scene in a 1970s movie in which Gene Hackman tries to grind up a broken wine glass in a garbage disposal. Reading this book is a lot like that.I picked up "My Losing Season" not as a great fan of Pat Conroy or as a former athlete. I was attracted more by the theme of loss and its lessons. And I expected a different personal story than the one Conroy tells. The losing basketball season in his last year as a cadet at The Citadel in Charleston, SC, is a pretext for a much deeper theme - s...
My son and I both enjoyed reading this while my son was playing high school basketball.
Pat Conroy does it again! This time is about his senior year at The Citadel and his losing season in basketball. Full of reflections, insight, and heartfelt writing. This and The Death of The Santini are must reads for Pat Conroy fans.
This is a fun memoir and I love the slightly complex words that are used. I am a word geek, so I love to see a book that’s inundated with interesting words. This book has a good motivational tone in regards to overcoming the travails of life as well. Finally, the author does a great job at painting a vivid picture of his adversities. I recommend this book.
My Losing Season was a delightful coming-of-age memoir by the late Pat Conroy, an author close to my heart. Conroy relates the perils of growing up in a military family with the frequent moves and changes in schools and friends. However, from the time he was introduced to basketball, his life changed dramatically. The book primarily focuses on his senior year at the Citadel, where he was point guard and coach for the Bulldogs. It is also a tribute to how he made the transition during his schooli...
If you *love* basketball you will love this recounting of Conroy's senior season as a member of the Citadel basketball team. A touching meditation on loss and pain, Conroy's diction in this work is masterful; If, as I, you are merely a Conroy fan, you will enjoy learning more of who and what shaped this writer. In writing about basketball, Conroy finds a vessel to chew, interpret, and shape so much of his past, and out of it life's meaning. “There is no teacher more discriminating or transformin...