Prince of Tides

I finished Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy, and it has taken a place as one of the better novels i have ever read. I wouldn't categorize it as the best but I have a hard time picking a "best" novel, there are so many great authors who have published great works that i can not narrow center in on one best novel. But Prince of Tides is truly fantastic.

A brief disclaimer without spoiling the novel: this is not a story for the week of heart. It deals with some of the darker aspects of man and the truly horrible things one human can do to another. It isn't constant, it doesn't plague the novel, but there are some brutal scenarios played out in the novel and as you read be prepared for the worst. That said, the novel unfolds beautifully and draws the reader into the rich and painful southern world of Tom Wingo.

To surmise, the novel is primarily set in New York where the youngest son, a second born twin and third child, is reliving the abusive and atrocious story of his past to his sisters psychiatrist while she recoups in a mental hospital after slitting her wrists. This would be a repeat attempt at suicide. Tom is in New York on the heals of a lengthy spell of unemployment after being fired as a teacher and coach after a nervous breakdown. An event which caused him to withdraw deep into his own insecurities and fears as a way of coping with his lost passion and perceived masculinity. His wife is consequently pushed away and on the shirt-tails of the news his sister has attempted suicide she reveals to him she is having an affair with a fellow doctor. Tom leaves for New York to help his sister by revealing the dark secrets of an abusive childhood. In the process he re-discovers who he is and by helping his his sister (Savannah) he helps himself. It becomes a great twin metaphor of connectivity that as Tom is hurt and shamed (through out) and hides it, the real life reflection is lived through Savannah, finally, as she sees ghastly hallucinations it is as though the fear and shame of her family haunt her personally and finally as she begins to attempt suicide on the eve of leaving for New York city, where she makes her mark as a great feminist poet.

The greatness of Conroy's novel isn't the darkness of humanity or the honest and candid portrayal of abuse and fear. Rather it is the honest way he binds the siblings, Luke, Savannah, and Tom, in an alliance against the world that works so hard to oppress them. There are very few passages of beautiful prose in the novel though it is laced with little observations by Tom, as the narrator, that reveal the complex layers of Conroy's prose. The novel is a whole and to dissect it in parts is unfair to the story and the author but having read it i feel a renewed sense of hope about the value of survival and the tenacity of the human spirit.

In my own life i have witnessed the ease with which the human spirit can be broken, shattered like a rock going through plate-glass. I have also seen the triumph of the same spirit lifted off the floor and put back together. Prince of Tides may have a fairy tale ending but it reflects the tenacity and durability that is often hidden beneath our fragile lives. I have always believed in redemption and hope but at times it takes truly great artists to help me renew the drive to the end.

I highly recommend Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy.