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	• The Water is Wide Pat Conroy Dial Press Trade Paperback, 2002 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 54 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

As an 8th grade teacher I enjoy reading books about others in education, but quality teaching stories are hard to find.

I loved this lyrical tale of Conroy's year spent teaching on a remote South Carlina island. He faced immense challenges in this primative school, but loved his students and made a great impact on these young lives.

I found his stories both tragic and humorous. Aternatley lauging and crying. Conroy is a gifted story teller capturing the children, the island and himself woth poignancy and clarity. This was delightful to read!

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Great summer reading

I knew this would be the perfect book to read this summer. I first caught a glimpse of "Conrack" playing one morning on AMC, then I found this book on the shelves by some kind of kismet. As I perused the pages, I was immediately drawn into the humid, lush island environment that Conroy deftly describes. There's a paragraph in the beginning of the book that I read over and over, it was such a wonderfully and lovingly written homage to the beauty and wonder of this magical place. The rest of the book was equally great, and was a wonderful learning experience for me. It taught me many things, but most of all it taught me how great storytellers tell great stories. The lessons that the writer and the reader learn together in the telling of the tale are fairly self evident, and don't need to be retold here. It is a brave book, told by a courageous and extraordinary writer and man. I didn't take a vacation this summer, but I read The Water is Wide. And it was one of the finest trips I've ever taken.

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And the children shall teach us

Published in the 1970's, "The Water Is Wide" was the first of author Pat Conroy's novels to be adapted for the big screeen, that project being "Conrack," starring Jon Voight. Conroy's uproaringly hilarious and, at the same time, heartbreakingly honest and moving story-telling should be read first to catch the spirit that the film doesn't totally harness. Conroy spent a year on the improverished, virtually isolated and forgotten Yamacraw Island off the South Carolina coast as teacher to an economically and socially devastated group of children, most African-Americans, that the outside world seems to have cast off and neglected until Conroy reaches shore. Little does he know on arrival just how desperate his pupils lack even the basics of life, and he gets a clue when his children, unable to pronounce their teacher's name, instead come up with "Conrack." But through an ingenuity as an educator and an even greater gift to tap into the souls of his destitute pupils, Conrack manages to lift the veil of ignorance and instill in his wards a thirst for knowledge. In powerfully moving story-telling fashion that will invoke both laughter and tears, Conroy teaches us just how much one person can make a difference in a life of another who has been left behind. And at the same time, Conroy manages to instill in his readers a sense of compassion for the status quo that most of us are blessed enough not to endure. Well worth a read once and again, "The Water Is Wide" masterfully bridges the gap between classes and races and implores each of us to exericse our humanity for the good of the lesser of our children.

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The book is very appealing to me because it tells me that every is like here every places is advanced in technology which makes life easier and that we should not take it for granted. "The tiny bellicose Irishman residing in my genes and collective unconscious urging me on and whispering to me that a great injustice was being perpetrated and that it was up to me to expose this condition to the person with the ability and training to do something about it". The theme of this book is to never give up no matter how hard things get and always strive for the better. I agree with the theme because not giving up is the best solution to the problem at hand. It relates to my life in a big way because when lived in country I was poor and I had always had to work hard for the things I had to get and not giving up or not quitting was my motive because if give up on anything it means you are a failure. Yes I would recommend this book to others because it has a great message and you care it through you life.

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Great writing

The Water is Wide is my second favorite Conroy--Prince of Tides being the first. Both books are excellent with great characters, situations, and bold ideas. Highly recommended.

Also recommended: The Great Santini,Prince of Tides, Bark of the Dogwood, To Kill a Mockingbird


reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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