Book Review: The Death of Santini: the Story of a Father and His Son", Pat Conroy

       Pat Conroy, the noted American novelist, published a memoir 7 years ago.  It was his last book before he passed away 2 years later.   Many readers loved his books, especially "The Great Santini", a thinly disguised story about growing up in

iconic flag of USMC

book cover

a family that was led by an outsized American hero: a Marine Corps fighter pilot who fought in WW II, the Korean conflict, and the war in Vietnam.  Pat Conroy wrote of the family life that was an adjunct to this one man's career as a military man during peacetime and during war.
       It's not a pretty picture.  Author Conroy was the oldest of 7 Conroy children: 5 boys and 2 girls.  His mother, lovely and vivacious, was hardly the ideal match for this wild Irishman from Chicago's Southside where the Conroy boys were well known along the turbulent streets of the City Of Big Shoulders.  The Dad, Don Conroy, dropped out of college to join the Marines after Pearl Harbor.  He was sent to flight school and earned his golden wings of a naval aviator.  He joined the fleet air wing and learned his trade among the best of the era.  But there was a dark side to this man:  he was an alcoholic and a wife beater and child abuser extraordinaire.  No matter where they moved, and the family moved 23 times during his 33 year career,  the shadow of his tempestuous personality followed along, creating anxiety and fear among the many offspring.   Conroy does not gloss over the actions of his Father: he underlines them in bold.  Today, this man would be arrested and imprisoned for a long time.  But the Marine Corps tolerated this behavior:  the organization needed its heroes and its leaders no matter the cost to the families involved.   Sadly, after Don's retirement, he changed somewhat.  As his story came out in the books and then the movie(Don played by Robert Duvall in 1979), Don began to create his own mythical life- a life without the abuse, the drunk behavior, the alcoholism; the sad outcomes for many of the children and his former wife who divorced him just before he retired.
       Pat Conroy wrote other books and tried to explain the effects on the family members raised by this madman.  In the end, when his father succumbed to cancer at 78, Pat Conroy accepted Don as a good man with many faults.  Most of the siblings did,too.