South of Broad **

By Pat Conroy.
Published 2009 by Nan A. Nalese a division of Random House.
512 pages.

This books has one of those covers I try to avoid.  You've seen them.  Their the ones you see on best selling hard cover books; shiny cover, realistic non-ironic illustration, author's name in large type almost as big as the title (I guess the name of the author sells in these types of books).  They have a certain look to them that says "commercial" that I generally pass over when I'm browsing books.  One of the author's previous works is The Prince of Tides, from which I believe a movie was made.  So I believe that the publishers are marketing it as a commercial, mainstream book.  A definite red flag. But the book does have it's charms.

The story starts out with a description of the main character -  Charleston, South Carolina.  The other main character, Leo, has to work out all the issues he has that stems from  his dysfunctional family traumatized by  a  horrific event he witnessed when he was a child. He's supposedly a loner and unattractive (though he's a little too charming to be believable as this type of character).  He befriends an assortment of oddball characters (two orphans from the mountains, an African American with a chip on his shoulder, a beauty queen and her twin gay brother whose father is an abusive homicidal maniac, and two socialites that were busted for drug use).  Through the sheer will of this "awkward" young man, these disparate characters put their prejudices behind them and become the greatest group of friends who have ever lived.

In the next section, the group has grown into adulthood and they embark on a variety of adventures. Meanwhile the book toggles back and forth between the present (of that section) and the past which was skipped over. At this point the quality of the book rises and falls.

At times the story is silly and overblown.  And at times it is tender and sweet.  The opening section of the book where Leo has his coming of age moments is one of those sweet, tender parts.  The beautiful Sheeba takes the virginity of the lonely and hideous Leo - every lonely boy's fantasy is fulfilled here - but it is well done. There's a particularly nice scene when there is an opening of the hearts of the characters while they are floating down a river.  You feel as though the characters have grown. 

This first section takes a dip at the end when Leo has his party and is able to smooth the unruffled feathers of the prejudice the characters show one another when encountered with various exotic backgrounds.  The rich kids don't like the orphans or the African American kids.  Leo, the lonely, unattractive and awkward boy, supposedly has the persuasive powers to knock away centuries of racial and class hatred and make every one friends.  I didn't buy it.  Perhaps kids from the south are so charming that even the pariahs of their society are charming and witty.

And then the book fast forwards to a later version of these friends and here is where the bulk of the story takes place.  I also think it is the least interesting part except for when the story flashbacks to show what happens in the intervening years.  The gay brother is missing in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS epidemic.  The beauty, Sheeba, who is now an Oscar winning actor, gets the group together to help find him.  The group flies off San Francisco and embarks on an adventure.  I think the silliest part of this section is how they resolve the problem. The actual problem its self is silly too.  Trevor, the gay man, is being held hostage by some thug collects checks that come from the family of the suffering AIDS victims.  Instead of calling the police, the group decides on rescuing Trevor and breaking him out.  Exciting perhaps, but not very realistic and really pointless and devoid of meaning.  What could the author possibly be trying to say with this excerpt except to say perhaops, "you see what good friensd they are and what lengths they will go to help each other?"


The story does toggle back to the group's last year in high school.  And I am supposed to believe that the  awkward and homely Leo is one of the stars of the team that goes all the way to the championship.  If that were the case, he should have not been lonely anymore.  Leo's way too charming and talented to be the "Toad" that every one says he is.

I suppose it is naivete, but one of the messages of this book that I liked perhaps is that Leo was so (relatively) successful in his life  because he was such a nice guy.  He might have been awkward (I don't believe it for a second - he was practically the leader of the group - leaders are not awkward) but he was soooooo nice.  I have to admit, I bought into it a little.  After reading this book, my personal philosophy has changed or at least been reinforced. I believe people should be nice - That simple!

Why can't we all be a little nicer?  This is a world where everyone has to be the best, or hyper manly or super cool (gosh, life feels like high school)  Why can't we just be nice?  There is so much meanness and pettiness these days.  You can watch two grown men on TV beat the crap out of each other on Ultimate Fighting matches. Role models for toughness and manliness but where are the role models of civility?     These people should be put in jail for assault, not revered as gods.  Thugs and brutality are celebrated today.  Maybe simply being nice is a way to avoid conflict and create some happiness in the world.  I think the world needs to know that and Leo might be able to teach us that.

The book ends nicely in a tender and charming way, though all the pieces do fall together a little too neatly.  The sacrifices he makes and his good will  earns him his just rewards. Predictable but nice.

 Here are some comments by the writer himself.