South of Broad
First edition
|
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| Author | Pat Conroy |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
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Publication date
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August 11, 2009 |
| Pages | 528 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 264669827 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3553.O5198 S68 2009 |
| Preceded by | My Losing Season |
South of Broad is a 2009 novel by Pat Conroy. The novel follows the life of Leopold Bloom King in Charleston, South Carolina. It ranges from his troubled childhood to his adult life with his close group of friends.
The story is divided into five parts.
Part one focuses on introducing the reader to Leopold Bloom King (Leo), his family, and his set of friends who he meets on a fateful Bloomsday (June 16, 1969). Leo is the narrator of the story who gradually reveals his troubled childhood which was traumatized by the sudden and unforeseen suicide of his older brother Steve. He reveals himself to be a paper-boy for the South of Broad delivery area, thus introducing the reader to the Charleston neighborhood. Hints at a previous run-in with the law are given and he will exit his parole period that summer. He then introduces the reader to his loving father and strict mother and how their life stories shaped their characters. An influential Catholic priest named Monsignor Max is also introduced, and he proves to be lifelong companion to Leo's mother after Leo's father passes away.
On Bloomsday, 1969, Leo performs a series of tasks that leads him to meet his soon-to-be friends. He bakes cookies for his new dramatic neighbors Sheba and Trevor Poe and their alcoholic mother. He then meets the two orphans Niles and Starla who he finds tied down to chairs and wins their confidence by untying them. He then appears with his mother at a gathering at the Charleston yacht club where he meets Chad, Molly, and Fraser; three affluent teens, two of whom were kicked out of their respective private schools. Lastly, he meets his new high school football coach (the coach is black and will coach the first ever integrated team at Peninsula High) and later will meet Ike, the coach's fiery and talented son who will co-captain the team with Leo. Eventually, all the characters (including Betty, another orphan) will meet each other and become friendly, despite the major differences and cultural struggles between black and white, city and country, and rich and poor.
Part two of the story occurs twenty years later, when Leo (who is now a newspaper columnist) is interrupted from work by Sheba Poe, who is now a famous actress who flew back to Charleston from Hollywood. After a series of embarrassing moments and behavior for Sheba during which time Leo's old high school friends unite together, Sheba reveals that she has lost contact with her brother Trevor, whom she suspects is dying of AIDS in San Francisco at the height of its outbreak among the gay community. Leo, who had since that time married and separated from a mentally-ill Starla, reveals his love for Molly, who has grown apart from her philandering husband Chad.
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