The Prince of Tides (Entry #3)

While I had already come to understand that a book recommended by Mr. Neden would surely have a lot to offer, I underestimated the powerful experience of reading Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides. From the strikingly profound and succinct opening line, “My wound is geography,” I was spellbound by the blunt yet poetic voice of narrator, Tom Wingo, a middle-aged man reflecting on his life experiences growing up in South Carolina alongside his brother and sister. While I was skeptical that a fictional autobiography would yield much entertainment and enlightenment, I was pleasantly surprised by the refreshingly honest tone of the novel. Within the book itself, the retrospective anecdotes – ranging from seemingly minute or unimportant stories to recollections of life-altering events –have such shockingly powerful and thought-provoking concepts that I had to sit back in awe after finishing each chapter. Even though the plot of the novel itself was riveting, I think the most salient impression I received from this book was that I truly resonated with the narrator’s poetic opinions about life experiences. The narrative voice weaves in all kinds of astute logic that is the combined result of driving emotion and harrowing life experiences. I believe this is a book that will have new meanings and messages for me every time I read it, and I am so grateful to have read it for the first time last fall. Since this book pretty much exposes a reader to all kinds of family situations, political views, hardship, and humor in such a cohesive manner, in order to become more informed “citizens” of the world, or maybe even just better people, no teenager should graduate high school without reading this book.

It's Mr. Neden approved √√√√

Here are some (of my favorite) samples of the poetic narrative:

-  “But even her demons she invested with inordinate beauty, consecrated them with the dignity of her attention.”

- “Violence send deep roots into the heart, it has no seasons, it is always ripe, evergreen.” 

- “I was delighted I had offended her upholstered sensibilities.” 

- “These are the quicksilver moments of my childhood I cannot remember entirely. Irresistible and emblematic, I can recall them only in fragments and shivers of the heart.” 

- “The desolate narrowness, the definitive thinness of experience is both the vainglory and the dead giveaway of a provincial man.”

- “She understood the nature of sin and knew that its most volatile form was the kind that did not recognize itself."

- "She saw the world through a dazzling prism of authentic imagination." 

*** Yes, there is a movie version. No, I do not personally recommend it, as it is a little heavy on the Barbra Streisand.