A Lowcountry Heart by Pat Conroy

In my mind, there’s Pat Conroy and then there’s everybody else. What makes him an island unto himself is his intimate, confessional writing. I’ve been wrestling with trying to articulate exactly why his words speak to so many and have arrived at the conclusion that at the foundation of his God given gift to effortlessly arrange words is the bedrock of clear thinking. Too many people buckle under the weight of their own unwieldy emotional level, and as it is only human nature to duck and cover from pain and confusion, their unexamined emotional life takes on a crippling weight all its own and leads to a list of crimes against the human heart. The magic of Conroy is in his fearlessness to call anything by name and his cache of language to do so exactly. In so doing for himself, he does so for humanity. His is a dauntless, confident voice so surefooted, his readers know and trust him. Each of his novels sends the reader through the thicket of life itself then leaves them parked in front of a mirror to reflect. In A Lowcountry Heart, Conroy tells his legions of fans not only how he does this, but why. I’ve heard Conroy called a generous writer by many, and this book tells me how he earned the reputation. Behold, the man behind the curtain, who has a seat across from you and looks you in the eye as he explains what goes on in his passionate soul. Pick a subject, any subject, and Conroy pontificates in this treasure of a book. Thank you, Nan Talese and Doubleday. This, like all of Pat Conroy’s books, is a masterpiece from the man who keeps on giving.