The Lords of Discipline

Great novel - Purchased the CD and listened to en route to Charleston SC to visit the Citadel were my grandson will be a Knob this fall.

Some of favorite books were written by Conroy, but I couldn’t get past the first chapter of this. The dialogue sounds like it was right out of Gone With The Wind. I’ve lived in the south all my life and never heard anyone talk like these characters.

I wanted to like this book, as I am very much a student of contemporary history, love first person accounts of interesting places and am always up for a good coming-of-age story. The setting of a military college in the Vietnam era seemed like a great subject matter. The author obviously knows his subject, and lived through a special time. But...

I just could not get past the ludicrously bad writing. If the author didn't have a national reputation, I would have a hard time believing that it would be published by a major publisher. The early "love interest" between cadet protagonist and daughter of the local aristocracy was, no doubt, intended to carry a sense of two, smart young people who hide behind wise cracks to avoid appearing vulnerable. But the intent was too obvious, and the dialogue so exaggeratedly "wise cracky" that the whole thing just came across as dumb, nasty and unbelievable.

Then there was a whole scene devoted to less-than-even-thinly-veiled homoerotic horseplay that was so obvious as to defy belief that the characters could be so un self-aware.

The protagonist alienated me greatly with repeated inner monologues in which he keeps going on about his supposed awkwardness and poor social traits, but which ultimately just come off as smug and self-congratulatory.

The rest of the characters (as far as I got) were all basically stereotypes.

I really wanted to like this book, to learn more about "The Institute" (Citadel) and culture of the military-serving South in the 60s and get lost in some human interest. But just could not muscle through the lazy, horrible writing.

I love Pat Conroy' s story telling and this book was not disappointing at all. Some might find the language a little rough.

good read

Author Pat Conroy and reader Dan John Miller make a perfect mix!
My personal opinion for car listeners: I recommend it for road trips and above 30-min drives, not for short drives in the city.
Watch for the language. Man I can still hear it in my head after months from listening to it

Another absolutely fantastic book by Pat Conroy. We purchased this book on CD to drive across country and it held our attention hour after hour. The gentleman who read the book did a great job with the southern dialect and the various character changes. Pat Conroy is a master of southernesque literature. The characters are rich in detail and Conroy uses some of his humor that you will find prevalent in his later works to paint the heartbreaking story of college life at the Citadel. A must read.