Conversations with the Conroys: Interviews with Pat Conroy and His Family

by Walter Edgar (Editor), Nikky Finney (Afterword)

Overview

“Portrays a deeply troubled family struggling to survive amidst terrifying abuse . . . a page-turner, as engrossing as any of Conroy’s novels.” —Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr., University of South Carolina

A New York Times–bestselling author of eleven novels and memoirs, Pat Conroy is one of America’s most beloved storytellers and a writer as synonymous with the South Carolina lowcountry as pluff mud or the Palmetto tree. As Conroy’s writings have been rooted in autobiography more often than not, his readers have come to know and appreciate much about the once-secret dark familial history that has shaped Conroy’s life and work.

Conversations with the Conroys opens further the discussion of the Conroy family through five revealing interviews conducted in 2014 with Pat Conroy and four of his six siblings: brothers Mike, Jim, and Tim and sister Kathy. In confessional and often comic dialogs, the Conroys openly discuss the perils of being raised by their larger-than-life parents, USMC fighter pilot Col. Don Conroy (the Great Santini) and southern belle Peggy Conroy (née Peek); the complexities of having their history of abuse made public by Pat’s books; the tragic death of their youngest brother, Tom; the chasm between them and their sister Carol Ann; and the healing, redemptive embrace they have come to find over time in one another. With good humor and often-striking candor, these interviews capture the Conroys as authentic and indeed proud South Carolinians, not always at ease with their place in literary lore, but nonetheless deeply supportive of Pat in his life and writing.

“[A] small gem of a book . . . For fans of Conroy’s books, this is a must-read.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611176322
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	04/13/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	153
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Walter Edgar is the Neuffer Professor of Southern Studies Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of South Carolina: A History, editor of The South Carolina Encyclopedia, and host of the radio program Walter Edgar's Journal.

What People are Saying About This

John Shelton Reed

Let's hope Tolstoy was right when he wrote that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, because the world couldn't handle more than one batch of Conroy children. Their way of dealing with memories of cruelty and fear involves a lot of dark humor, as these marvelous interviews reveal, and I'd love to have them as siblings, though not if the parents come with them.

Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr.

Piercingly honest, hilarious, and gut-wrenching, Conversations with the Conroys, edited by Walter Edgar, portrays a deeply troubled family struggling to survive amidst terrifying abuse. It's ultimately a story of triumph, of the healing power of love and forgiveness. And it's a page-turner, as engrossing as any of Conroy's novels.

William Ferris

Conversations with the Conroys offers an intimate view into the life of Pat Conroy and his family. Beautifully illustrated with photographs that capture Conroy from the age of two to the present, the book is an invaluable resource for the writer's many admirers. Walter Edgar brings a deft touch to the work—both as an editor and as an interviewer. Edgar links Conroy's powerful literary work with his conversational voice in this impressive book and gives us a deeper understanding of his craft as a writer.

Editorial Reviews

08/24/2015
This small gem of a book collects five group interviews conducted with bestselling author Pat Conroy (The Great Santini) and four of his siblings: Mike, Jim, Tim, and Kathy. Like many writers, Conroy wrote what he knew. Unfortunately for Pat and his siblings, that included the physical and verbal abuse inflicted by their father, Air Force colonel Donald Conroy, aka the Great Santini. As the eldest, Pat was often the target. He was also the one who would, “like a dog,” herd the other children to a safe place during their father’s rages. These valuable interviews provide intimate glimpses into the lives of children who suffered deeply but came to see themselves, in Tim Conroy’s words, as “survivors,” not “victims.” Those survivors had acquired enough perspective by the time they were adults to observe that their father “totally changed” after their mother divorced him, becoming a “nice guy and great grandfather.” Even brother Tom’s suicide, which Conroy calls the “great wound of our family,” is recounted with some humor (albeit dark humor). The abundance of joy present in the siblings’ exchanges about painful events, often expressed in teasing, underscores the message of South Carolina poet Nikky Finney’s afterword: that “the art of the conversation has the power to save each of us.” For fans of Conroy’s books, this is a must-read. 50 b&w illus. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This small gem of a book collects five group interviews conducted with bestselling author Pat Conroy and four of his siblings: Mike, Jim, Tim, and Kathy . The abundance of joy present in the siblings exchanges about painful events, often expressed in teasing, underscores the message of South Carolina poet Nikky Finney s afterword: that the art of the conversation has the power to save each of us. For fans of Conroy s books, this is a must-read. Publishers Weekly


Conversations with the Conroys offers an intimate view into the life of Pat Conroy and his family. Beautifully illustrated with photographs that capture Conroy from the age of two to the present, the book is an invaluable resource for the writer s many admirers. Walter Edgar brings a deft touch to the work both as an editor and as an interviewer. Edgar links Conroy s powerful literary work with his conversational voice in this impressive book and gives us a deeper understanding of his craft as a writer. William Ferris, author of The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists


"Let s hope Tolstoy was right when he wrote that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, because the world couldn t handle more than one batch of Conroy children. Their way of dealing with memories of cruelty and fear involves a lot of dark humor, as these marvelous interviews reveal, and I d love to have them as siblings, though not if the parents come with them." John Shelton Reed, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Piercingly honest, hilarious, and gut-wrenching, Conversations with the Conroys, edited by Walter Edgar, portrays a deeply troubled family struggling to survive amidst terrifying abuse. It s ultimately a story of triumph, of the healing power of love and forgiveness. And it s a page-turner, as engrossing as any of Conroy s novels. Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr., University of South Carolina

From the Publisher