The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

"From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,
We will fight our country's battles on land, on air, on sea.
First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean,
We are proud to claim the title of United States Marines."
                         -from the Marines' Hymn

I have recently discovered Pat Conroy and love his writing but I must say this novel was not entirely enjoyable. In its 536 pages there were some touching moments and some humor but a lot of physical and verbal abuse to get through. I will rate it a 4.

Ben Meecham is the oldest son of Lt. Col. Bull Meecham, a Marine fighter pilot,"The Great Santini." He is at best rigid and dictatorial in his parenting and at worst, cruel and abusive. These qualities are most often visited on Ben, a gifted athlete who also has many of the softer qualities of his mother---kindness, compassion, the love of words. The entire book is really the family story in the year 1962.

In reading the biography from the author's website, I learned some interesting things related to the author and this novel:

".... the Conroys moved to Atlanta, where Pat wrote his novel, The Great Santini, published in 1976, and later made into a film starring Robert Duvall, that explored the conflicts of the author's childhood, particularly his ambivalent love for his violent and abusive father. The publication of a book that so painfully exposed his family's secret brought Conroy a period of tremendous personal desolation. This crisis resulted not only in his divorce, but the divorce of his parents; his mother presented a copy of The Great Santini to the judge as "evidence" in divorce proceedings against his father."

I guess the plot seemed very real because much of the story was autobiographical. I certainly gained an appreciation for not being born a "Marine brat"!  Also I didn't know there was a movie. Now I have to decide if I really want to see it. I do have a copy of The Death of Santini that I look forward to reading soon.