And that’s just the beginning of the story…

I discovered this book when I attended the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City in August 2014.  I am writing a book with a few friends and thought that the conference would enlighten me on the proper way to find an agent and a publisher.  And to some extent it did.  During the conference there were a few guest speakers.  One was an agent who talked about the importance of titles.  He used “The Husband’s Secret,” by Lianne Moriarty as an example.  He simply said it was a great title.  Who doesn’t want to know what the husband’s secret is.

After the conference, I held off suggesting it for our book club because a few of our members where going through a divorce.  Not knowing what the secret was,  I decided to wait a while.  Two years later it was our February selection.

A third of the way into the novel you find out the husband’s secret.  We all talked at book club about when we figure out what the husband’s secret was. Finding out the secret isn’t the climax of the story. It’s not a psychological thriller with a don’t-see-it-coming ending. Rather it’s about consequences, penalties and penance.

Cecilia Fitzpatrick, the OCD Tupperware saleswoman is married to John-Paul.  He is successful, handsome and a good father.  Sounds like a catch to me – right?  Then we meet Tess who is married to Will and they have a son together.  They spend their time almost exclusively with Tess’s cousin Felicity.  Hmmm…  Lastly, we met Rachel who is equal parts sad and angry. Her teenage daughter was murdered years earlier.  (more…)

Families. Spouse, mother, father, children, siblings – a tough road. When the family is especially dysfunctional, it can be unbearable. Pat Conroy, through his ability to make words bleed, has brought us with him on his journey with his abusive father – The Great Santini and now, The Death of Santini.

There were so many situations with his father that we could only discuss a few of them at our monthly meeting. We literally ran late into the night. We tend to read fiction not memoirs or autobiographies.  But they give us more to talk about because it’s a real story. 

Without talking about specific situations, our book club discussed how each of Pat’s siblings and his mother absorbed the abuse and how they reacted to it afterwards. All of them unique in their own pain and the way they handled it. His poor brother was broken by it. They all were.

It seemed to us that Pat Conroy never lost hope that someday his father would change. In the end, the demon wasn’t purged only tempered.

Our book club members have enjoyed every Pat Conroy novel.  The Prince of Tides and Beach Music were our favorites. We read The Prince of Tides before I started writing small reviews on the website. We even enjoyed the movies.  Pat gives book clubs plenty to discuss.

Enjoy!

Rating: 8.5

Photo by Mike Scheid on Unsplash