The Prince of Tides: A Novel

Pat Conroy

Aug 2010 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

New York Times bestseller: A “powerful” Southern drama about the destructive repercussions of keeping an unspeakable family secret (The Atlanta Journal).

Tom Wingo has lost his job, and is on the verge of losing his marriage, when he learns that his twin sister, Savannah, has attempted suicide again. At the behest of Savannah’s psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lowenstein, Tom reluctantly leaves his home in South Carolina to travel to New York City and aid in his sister’s therapy.
 
As Tom’s relationship with Susan deepens, he reveals to her the turbulent history of the Wingo family, and exposes the truth behind the fateful day that changed their lives forever.
 
Drawing richly from the author’s own troubled upbringing, The Prince of Tides is a sweeping, powerful novel of unlocking the past to overcome the darkest of personal demons—it’s Pat Conroy at his very best.

Ratings and reviews

The entire scenario of this book is off the wall and the dialogue is completely unbelievable. Protagonist has an abusive father, a crazy mother, cheats on his wife, wife cheats on him, cheats on his wife again, is jobless, sister tries to kill herself and brother has died. Why didn't the.author just have a meteor fall to earth on his face? Would have made a more true to life book than this.

I made it about 200 pages in. It was painful. The only thing that kept me coming back were the vivid stories he painted about the Wingo childhoods. I enjoyed reading about a perspective that was drastically different from my own initially but the lack of plot and molasses slow pace finally made me want to move on.

As a native of South Carolina, I am always partial to lowcountry writers, but Pat Conroy can weave a tale more heartbreaking and beautiful than any other. This is one of my favorites, probably tied with Beach Music and Lords of Discipline. I suggest only picking up this book when you have time to read the whole thing- you won't want to put it down.

About the author

Pat Conroy was the New York Times–bestselling author of two memoirs and seven novels, including The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and The Lords of Discipline. Born the eldest of seven children in a rigidly disciplined military household, he attended the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. He briefly became a schoolteacher (which he chronicled in his memoir The Water Is Wide) before publishing his first novel, The Boo. Conroy passed away in 2016 at the age of seventy.