Monday, September 21, 2009 10:08 PM CDT
Book review: 'South of Broad,' By Pat Conroy
Review by Juanita Sherwood
“South of Broad” features two periods of the life of Leo King, a citizen of Charleston, S.C.: his senior year of high school and his life as a “30ish” adult.
In the sections that cover his senior year, the King family lives in the middle-class area of town. Leo’s father is a high school science teacher, and his mother is the high school principal of one of the public schools.
His older brother Steve had committed suicide at the age of 10; the family suffers life-long repercussions from that, especially Leo, who was the one to find him. The reason for the suicide will infuriate you when it is revealed near the end of the book.
Prior to being a senior, Leo had been in trouble with the law and was fulfilling a sentence for narcotics possession. As a high school freshman, he was rather naïve about social events. He had attended a party where someone had put a substantial amount of cocaine in his jacket pocket as the party was being raided by the police.
He saw who did it, but would not “rat” on the person, an older young man important in the community. The courts knew about the planting of the evidence, but with Leo not revealing the name, he had to serve probation. Leo’s parents seem hard on him, but they have his best interests at heart.
Leo’s senior year will change his life. He meets friends who are still his friends into adulthood. A set of twins, Sheba and Trevor Poe, moves into his neighborhood, just across the street from the Kings. The female is extremely good looking, her brother “marches to a different drum,” but is very creative; both are multi-talented. They face family crises with parents.
Another who becomes a friend is a young black man, son of the newly hired football coach. Ike Jefferson and Leo spend the summer working out to get ready for the football season. Integration is new to the community, and some of the football players refuse to play for a black coach. Eventually, this is solved and the community is delighted when the integrated team does exceptionally well in the state tournament.
Three friends of Leo are residents of an orphanage as teens: Niles and Starla Whitehead, brother and sister from a mountain community, and Betty Roberts, a sharp young black girl.
Two others in Leo’s group are in public school rather than private because they had been expelled from the former. Their previous school was one of the most exclusive, expensive private schools in the area.
Flash forward to adulthood. Leo, Ike and Niles have had football scholarships that allowed them to obtain a college education at the Citadel. The wealthy young Chad has gotten an Ivy League education and married his high school sweetheart, Molly, the person expelled from the private school with him; Chad’s sister Fraser has married Niles, the young orphan. Ike and Betty have married, and Leo has married Starla.
Broad Street is the division between the wealthy section of Charleston and the rest of the community.
All except for the Poe twins, who left town immediately after graduation, have ended up living south of Broad in the exclusive area of the community. The twins, too, have attained success — but challenges in all the group’s lives bring them together for mutual assistance and support.
Conroy’s prose is pleasing to read, and his characters and plot are first-class. It is one of the best recently released books and is very deserving of its spot on the best seller list. It won’t disappoint you.
Sherwood of Charleston is a retired reading teacher.
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