In the mid-90s, Barbra Streisand directed this Oscar-nomiinated movie called The Prince of Tides which Pat Conroy wrote. Just like this book, South of Broad, which I just finished reading today, the major characters in the movie had to keep some terrible family secrets close to their hearts - secrets which left their psyches terribly scarred for the rest of their lives.
Pat Conroy's South of Broad still has that theme, but in a much broader scale. This is a quintessential book about the south, specifically Charleston, South Carolina. Because of this book, I am actually curious to visit that city and find out how much of the Southern gentility and reputed aristocracy is true and which is fiction. Incidentally, when I was reading this book, I watched Gone with the Wind in TCM again, and yes, that movie had a setting in Charleston, where some of the major scenes featuring Rhett and Vivien Leigh were shot. Their proud Southern bearing coincided perfectly with how the characters in this book were described as well! That helped me better understand how it was to be an American Southerner at that time.
This book has so many dramatic moments which I think a 2-hour movie won't be able to tell. If this was adapted it would play better as a miniseries - to give justice to all the rich, complex and tragic characters Pat Conroy has created. I tell you, this book never has a dull moment, as the twists it gave me sometimes made me shake my head with incredulity! Yet, it can happen and those incredulous moments can actually happen in real life! So just free your mind when you read this book, and immerse yourself in the proud and rich characters of the American Southerners!
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