Ebook The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy Audible Audio Edition Michael Mewshaw Bob Souer HighBridge Company Books
Download As PDF : The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy Audible Audio Edition Michael Mewshaw Bob Souer HighBridge Company Books
Pat Conroy was America's poet laureate of family dysfunction. A larger-than-life character and the author of such classics as The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, Conroy was remembered by everybody for his energy, his exuberance, and his self-lacerating humor. Â
Michael Mewshaw's The Lost Prince is an intimate memoir of his friendship with Pat Conroy, one that involves their families and those days in Rome when they were both young - when Conroy went from being a popular regional writer to an internationally best-selling author. Family snapshots beautifully illustrate that time. Shortly before his 49th birthday, Conroy telephoned Mewshaw to ask a terrible favor. With great reluctance, Mewshaw did as he was asked - and never saw Pat Conroy again. Â
Although they never managed to reconcile their differences completely, Conroy later urged Mewshaw to write about "me and you and what happened... i know it would cause much pain to both of us. but here is what that story has that none of your others have." The Lost Prince is Mewshaw's fulfillment of a promise.
Ebook The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy Audible Audio Edition Michael Mewshaw Bob Souer HighBridge Company Books
"One of the most fascinating memoirs I have read. The story of a friendship built in Rome, that lasted almost a lifetime, between two men who were so close, both writers, who had so much in common, who loved each other so hard, whose families were intertwined, and then one asked the other for a favor, and the other complied, only to never hear from his great friend again. This is Michael Mewshaw’s THE LOST PRINCE: A SEARCH FOR PAT CONROY. The tale of the wonderful times, the hard times, and the times that were left behind with his pal, novelist and memoirist Pat Conroy.
Beautifully told with the kind of stories that will sweep you away, compassion, and humor, Mewshaw portrays a man of immense talent who had a tortured childhood and used this to his advantage in his writing. A man who was extremely generous but in other ways, a prisoner of his own past.
This book will be relatable for anyone who has lost of a friend. Who is left longing for that joy that only a best friend can bring to your life."
Product details
|
Tags : The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy (Audible Audio Edition) Michael Mewshaw, Bob Souer, HighBridge Company Books, ,Michael Mewshaw, Bob Souer, HighBridge Company,The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy,HighBridge Company,B07NS5FH7B
The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy Audible Audio Edition Michael Mewshaw Bob Souer HighBridge Company Books Reviews :
The Lost Prince A Search for Pat Conroy Audible Audio Edition Michael Mewshaw Bob Souer HighBridge Company Books Reviews
- One of the most fascinating memoirs I have read. The story of a friendship built in Rome, that lasted almost a lifetime, between two men who were so close, both writers, who had so much in common, who loved each other so hard, whose families were intertwined, and then one asked the other for a favor, and the other complied, only to never hear from his great friend again. This is Michael Mewshaw’s THE LOST PRINCE A SEARCH FOR PAT CONROY. The tale of the wonderful times, the hard times, and the times that were left behind with his pal, novelist and memoirist Pat Conroy.
Beautifully told with the kind of stories that will sweep you away, compassion, and humor, Mewshaw portrays a man of immense talent who had a tortured childhood and used this to his advantage in his writing. A man who was extremely generous but in other ways, a prisoner of his own past.
This book will be relatable for anyone who has lost of a friend. Who is left longing for that joy that only a best friend can bring to your life. - Great book, Pat Conroy worshipers probably will be unhappy, but it is a story Pat wanted told. This book is well written and it was obvious that the writer enjoyed the relationship he had shared with Pat but he is honest in showing their flaws.
- A surprisingly clear-eyed story of a complicated friendship with a writer whose work and outsized personality made him beloved by many but who clearly struggled with his own demons. This book really brings Conroy's life into perspective. Mewshaw is a seamless writer.
- Mike Mewshaw’s riveting and achingly honest memoir about his star-crossed friendship with the novelist who gave us The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides depicts not only the breezy expat life of writers in Rome circa 1980-90 but also the pitfalls of that freeform existence—even for writers as successful as Pat Conroy. While peppered with witty anecdotes involving the likes of Nora Ephron, William Styron, and Gore Vidal, the meat Mewshaw serves up here deals with the demons that often drive writers to excel and, in Conroy’s case, for one, prod their descent into seeming madness. With an unflinching eye Mewshaw documents the resulting collateral damage to family and friends, including himself.
- I am a Michael Mewshaw fan.
I have read all of his books and reviewed two.
The Lost Prince, A Search for Pat Conroy, about his strange and moving friendship with the of novels fraught with Conroy’s own ambivalence about family and relationships, is sometimes a harrowing but always enlightening voyage into what exactly makes someone feel indispensable to one's life. Mewshaw examines the question of what makes, keeps and perhaps loses a true friend.
Might love not be strong enough to heal betrayal? Is there such a thing as a loving betrayal?
What could have been done to avoid the wrenching apart of what Mewshaw felt was an unbreakable bond with a fellow author but which evolved into something he could never have predicted?
So much in common, these two well-known writers who felt at times like survivors from the same dysfunctional family, but who found their friendship foundering on lies and deceit.
A must read for anyone who searches for answers to questions about the strength and frailty of human bonds.
And if anyone could have found this lost pince of tides, it was Michael Mewshaw - I confess I am a literary romantic. I really want to believe that great writers live in a paradise of books, good music, poetry, and fine conversations with other literary people, punctuated by long periods of sitting in a perfect setting writing words that will last forever. Reading about literary greats punches gaping holes in that myth. All the way back to my high school days, I read biographies of writers. Some writers led incredibly dull lives that were tied mostly to them pecking away on typewriters or filling pages with ink. Others lived lives that were more adventurous and harrowing than their books.
Pat Conroy was a man with real literary gifts. He could write prose that soared. Maybe more than most writers, his fiction was autobiographical. And then much of his autobiographical material was fictitious. He was outgoing, fun, generous, and loveable, but he was also morose, cruel, and mentally messed up. I tend to view his books overall as being good, but not great literature. He could weave a fine story. He could make a reader laugh, cry, and feel the stunning weight of beautiful language.
This past several months, I have occasion to read and write several times about Conroy. I read and loved the book Our Prince of Scribes which was compiled by a number of friends and fellow writers who shared memories of Conroy. More than any other writer I have read about, Conroy encouraged, promoted, and pushed other writers. He really loved helping others. More than most writers, he really loved his fans. Rather than eschewing crowds, he was empowered by them. He would sit and autograph books and listen to fans for hours. That is the Conroy man that I love.
I also read his posthumous book A Lowcountry Heart Reflections on a Writing Life. Many of the essays were wonderful. This book is quite similar in approach to his book My Reading Life. Anyone wanting to enjoy books by a writer about reading and writing will enjoy these.
The Lost Prince, published by Counterpoint, is by Michael Meshaw, who is also a writer and was a close, maybe even the best friend, of Conroy. This book is a delightful story in many ways about the ups and downs of the writing life. Both the Meshaws and the Conroys were living in Rome; both Mike and Pat (begging pardon for this informality) were working on novels; both found lots of similarities in their life experiences. However, Conroy was writing best-selling books that were being turned into movies while Meshaw’s works were less successful.
As always, Conroy was supportive of his friend. That sometimes meant Conroy would make use of contacts to help Meshaw or would lavish him with gifts. All this is the positive side of the friendship. These two guys really did have some heart-to-heart shared thoughts, experiences, and vision. But Pat Conroy was a combustible figure. Much of the book is about how Conroy’s marriage to Lenore (his second wife) bounced from battle to battle. Sometimes, the battles were with Lenore’s ex-husband, while often the conflicts were between Conroy and his wife.
Life in Rome was followed by times when the Conroys would move to Atlanta, Georgia or to California, or to Fripp Island in South Carolina. The Meshaws lived a similarly nomadic life. It is, once supposes, the nature of writers to be vagabonds in many cases. The friendship and comradeship would wax and wane for years, but after Conroy and Lenore divorced, the Meshaws were estranged from Pat.
This book is a sad reflection of a lost and never-ending painful separation. Granted, this is only Mike’s side of the story, but it seems that Pat was down-right cruel, manipulative, vindictive, and evil toward ex-friends and ex-family members. Added to that, Pat’s tendency toward alcoholism, toward suicidal thoughts, toward sadistic behavior compounded the problems.
In short, Pat Conroy didn’t mind living in fiction as well as writing it. It hurts to realize that the wonderful man described by friends in Our Prince of Scribes was also the mean man described by Mike Meshaw. This is a story of love and friendship, but, boy, it hurts.
Preaching is not always appreciated, but I will venture to preach a bit in closing. Pat Conroy needed to experience God’s grace. He had a horrific upbringing with an abusive father and a deceptive mother. He was a flawed human being. He could be brave and bold with a willingness to fight for right. But he never found the peace in his heart to deal with his past or to acknowledge his own sins to others. Since Michael Meshaw was not close by during Pat’s last days, perhaps there were reconciliations and repentances. One can only hope.
The lives of writers often fall short of their fiction. Perhaps the same can be said of those of us who are teachers, preachers, and people in other professions. It is the greatness of man interwoven with the flaws of man that keeps us searching and thinking. Only Jesus of Nazareth was perfect in every way. The rest of us, whether we are lost princes or lost serfs, are still lost and in need of something greater than mere human improvement. - I really loved this book. It's so well-written, but reads easily. Mike's evocations of he and Pat raising their respective families in Rome — not an easy task — are priceless. If you loved or are interested in Pat Conroy, you'll be fascinated by this book. Ditto if you're interested in Rome; living the expatriate life in Europe; or just plain ol' friendships. (Calling all men If you've ever struggled in a friendship with another guy, this book might speak to you.)
