South of Broad, by Pat Conroy (2009)
South of Broad is a novel narrated by Leopold Bloom King. His mother was a James Joyce scholar, hence his name. The novel begins on Bloomsday (June 16), 1969 in Charleston, South Carolina when young Leo is a troubled teenager.
Leo adored his older brother, Steve. After Steve committed suicide, it was Leo who found his brother’s lifeless body. No suicide note was found, so his death remained a mystery to the family.
Leo was an under achiever and feels that his mother somehow wished that it was him and not Steve who had died. Leo’s family is devoutly Catholic ~ a theme that runs through the novel.
Shortly after Steve died, Leo was caught with a large amount of drugs in his pocket. Although the drugs did not belong to him, Leo refused to name the individual to whom the drugs belonged. As a result, Leo was under court probation and community service.
On that fateful day in June 1969, Leo met his new neighbors who were about his age ~ Sheba Poe, the drama queen, and Trevor Poe, who was gay and proud of it, along with their alcoholic mother. Their father may or may not be in the picture. He was also ordered by his mother (who was principal in the public high school), to befriend two orphans ~ Niles and Starla. Then, he attended a luncheon at the ritzy yacht club where he met Chad, and his sister Fraser, and Chad’s girlfriend, Molly. They were kicked out of their private school and must attend the public school. These three were of wealthy families with nothing in common with Leo’s middle-class upbringing.
As if that were not enough, integration has come to Charleston, and the new football coach is Black. Leo it told by both his mother and the new coach to befriend the coach’s son, Ike. Eventually, Leo, Sheba, Trevor, Niles, Starla, Chad, Fraser and Molly become inseperable. This all seems so improbable.
The novel recounts their trials and tribulations, which the reader learns involves domestic abuse, sexual abuse, the AIDS epidemic, class differences, racial integration, and Hurricane Hugo ~ all of which happens to these teenagers. The novel goes back and forth in time from the late 1960s to the early 2000s.
It was a bit of a mess, with all the “social” issues occurring to the main characters. The novel would have been more interesting if the author had focused on one or two of these issues, rather than try to discuss them all in one book.
I enjoyed the first 300 pages, but the book went off the rails in the last 200 pages. I finished reading this book at Starbucks. A young college student saw that I was reading a book by Pat Conroy and asked me about it. He said that he liked Pat Conroy. After I finished the book, I gave it to him.
Read: May 19, 2019
3 Stars
