My Losing Season

Kliatt, Sept, 2003 by Edna M. Boardman

Pat Conroy. 2002. Read by Chuck Montgomery. Books on Tape. 12 cds. 12 hrs. $112.00. 0-7366-8834-x. Vinyl; content note. SA

Conroy reprises every game of the 1966-67 basketball season when he played point guard for the Citadel Bulldogs, in this story of almost fanatic fervor for the game set against the mix of emotions and experiences that shaped him. A gifted Jesuit high school English teacher awakened in him a passion for literature. He loved his college English classes all the while striving to overcome his fate as "born second stringer." He vividly depicts the horrors of the plebe system at the Citadel, and works through how he grew even when both his coach and Marine father heaped on him physical and psychological abuse with the "power to both hurt and enlarge." Conroy revisited each team member--all successful in life and relationships--and comes to an adult resolution with his father.

This will be loved by the legion of athletes who have given 100 percent but find themselves consigned to the "green weenies" while the "blue team" fumbles the game. Teachers will appreciate this sports-emotion story by a player with a strong intellectual interest. Conroy has written many books, among them Beach Music, Lords of Discipline, and Prince of Tides. Chuck Montgomery is the reader of this audiobook (there is a misprint on the jacket that credits another reader). His reading is fast-paced, his voice boldly masculine. Nice final touch: several minutes of Conroy himself presenting to an audience. Edna M. Boardman, Bismark, ND