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My Losing Season
My Losing Season
Author: Pat Conroy
“I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one. . . .There was a time in my life when I walked through the world known to myself and others as an athlete. It was part of my own definition of who I was and certainly the part I most respected. When I was a young man, I was well-built and agile and ready for the rough and tumble ...  more »

So begins Pat Conroy’s journey back to 1967 and his startling realization “that this season had been seminal and easily the most consequential of my life.” The place is the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, that now famous military college, and in memory Conroy gathers around him his team to relive their few triumphs and humiliating defeats. In a narrative that moves seamlessly between the action of the season and flashbacks into his childhood, we see the author’s love of basketball and how crucial the role of athlete is to all these young men who are struggling to find their own identity and their place in the world.

In fast-paced exhilarating games, readers will laugh in delight and cry in disappointment. But as the story continues, we gradually see the self-professed “mediocre” athlete merge into the point guard whose spirit drives the team. He rallies them to play their best while closing off the shouts of “Don’t shoot, Conroy” that come from the coach on the sidelines. For Coach Mel Thompson is to Conroy the undermining presence that his father had been throughout his childhood. And in these pages finally, heartbreakingly, we learn the truth about the Great Santini.

In My Losing Season Pat Conroy has written an American classic about young men and the bonds they form, about losing and the lessons it imparts, about finding one’s voice and one’s self in the midst of defeat. And in his trademark language, we see the young Conroy walk from his life as an athlete to the writer the world knows him to be.
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780553381900
ISBN-10: 0553381903
Publication Date: 8/26/2003
Pages: 416
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 55

3.7 stars, based on 55 ratings
Publisher: Bantam
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

harmony85 avatar reviewed My Losing Season on + 982 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
During one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, Conroy became part of a basketball team destined to fail. And yet for a military kid who grew up on the move, the Bulldogs were a sanctuary from the cold, abrasive father who dominated his life-and a crucible for becoming his own man. An extraordinary memoir!
recyclist1954 avatar reviewed My Losing Season on + 33 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Whether you are a basketball fan or not, this book should be read. It is an often painfully compelling and frighteningly true coming-of-age story of a young man and his abusive and mean-spirited father. Not only does Conroy tell what must be a difficult story for him, but he does it well.
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reviewed My Losing Season on + 14 more book reviews
I must admit, I had this book on the shelf for YEARS, I read all his other works. I am a big fan. I would buy a Conroy book comprised of random, dis-jointed sentances just to bask in the way he uses the English vocabulary. Anyway, I had just finished "South of Broad but needed more Conroy word drug. So, off the shelf it comes! "lOSING SEASON" IT WAS! I am not a basketball fan, I understand the basics of the game, I might watch some of the Final Four March Madness is there is not a good John Wayne or Elvis movie on. This is FAVORITE Conroy Book!! Just beating out "Beach Music and Prince of Tides" Every parent should read this book. Words are powerful things..Mr. Conroy makes all his "word bullets" hit the target exactly where he wants, when he wants. A great book!

Thank you Mr. Conroy.
reviewed My Losing Season on + 90 more book reviews
Best seller by well known author. Not fiction but a discussion of his life growing up in S.C. Excellent reading.


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