Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A TRUE WINNER
Conroy turns the turbo jets of his writing engines to the sport of basketball in this alternative perspective to much of his fictional work. Nowhere else have I seen a writer bring so much life and poetry to descriptions of a game that, aside from Updike, has rarely received literary treatment or scrutiny. Conroy takes the reader to the hardwood floors of small college arenas and into the steamy locker rooms of a broken down team and its half-crazed coach. As he traces his own "glory" days, Conroy attempts to understand the psychology of the overachievers (his coach and dad) that fail to find joy in the lesser accomplishments of their own charges. Anyone who has played under such conditions at the high school or college level will recognize the accuracy of many of Conroy's observations (Conroy confirms in print with his comments on modern players turning the ball over a condition that I have long thought has cheapened the sport). Those of us that have never let go of the competitive fires described here will bask in them again. This is an exceptional sports book; unlike his novels, there is little fat that needs to be trimmed. It is work of both great pride and great humility.
Rating: - Knowlege of sports not required
I was a bit unsure at first if I was ready to read a non fiction work by Pat Conroy. I enjoy non fiction and have lately devoted most of my reading to it, but I wasn't sure what I was going to be getting when I read the description of "My Losing Season". After all, who cares about an unknown college basketball team that played in the sixties? I haven't read all of Mr. Conroy's books yet, not because I don't think he is one of the great writers of all time, but because I know that I'll only get to read them once for the first time. My introduction into his worlds of fiction caught me by surprise because I was well into 'The Prince of Tides' before I realized that the book wasn't a true story. I now realize after reading 'My Losing Season' that everything he writes is true, even the fiction. I would have broken down crying several times during the reading of this book, but my heart is still guarded by never sleeping sentinels whose tireless detail is to walk the stone walls that guard my interior. Mr. Conroy manages to gain an entrance, however, and at times during reading his work I feel a sense of hatred towards him. Not meanness, just anger with no where to go. So what is it about this book, this story that makes it so worth reading? The nakedness that Pat Conroy brings to the page. The truth. Simple and raw and courageous. Enduring and joyful, sad and painful. I envy his memories, his legacy, his past, not because I feel that the journey was easy or he was lucky, but because whatever molded him into the man he became, whatever blessing or curse that was bestowed him at birth, whatever angels or demons followed his path, he has been able to live outside of the shells and caves and fortresses that most of us dwell in. Or at least he has done so enough to make a difference. While I can't recommend 'My Losing Season' enough, I do have one slight reservation, that being I don't know whether or not a first time reader will enjoy it more before or after they've read one of his previous books. But do read it, whether or not you are familiar with basketball, military colleges or the journey of broken boys trying to become men, you will turn the last page wishing there was more. I promise.
Rating: - It's Not Whether He Won or Lost- It's How He Wrote the Game
Having practically memorized the football accounts in The Prince
of Tides (carefully handling my prized signed copy as I re-read
it) and the basketball scenes in The Great Santini, I was eager
for more when My Losing Season came out. Indeed, when Pat
Conroy turns his incredible ability to put the nuances of a
situation into words, it is beautiful and when he turns it again
to basketball and his life, it's even more so. It's not whether he won or lost, it's how he wrote the game ! I found lots of "winning" in the stories that he tells. A lover of basketball will be engaged by the descriptions of every play, pass, dribble and lay-up; and about how he developed his game, what it meant to him, and how he interacted with the various people who were part of it. The meta-message in this book, to me, is one of resilience. The
real gripper is how Mr. Conroy, under relentless pressures from
his violent father, the Citadel and his coach, simply kept going.
To apply the words of that famous North Carolina State coach,
Jim Valvano, Pat might be envisioned as having said to himself,
"Don't give up, don't ever give up !" We know that sports in
the lives of some youths make them more resilient in the face
of life's stresses and unfavorable circumstances, and this
account is a compelling support for this. However, the reader needs to be steeled for a noir aspect to Mr. Conroy's account. This is the subtext of violence - physical and emotional - that like the proverbial river, runs through it. It can be as shaking as an elbow in the face when posting up to the basket. I was also left hungry by My Losing Season. Why ? Pat Conroy
still has another story to tell that he just holds out tempting
tidbits about here. This would be about the origins of his
desire to write and his love of books that he describes all
too briefly as coming from the place in himself that he went
to in order to deal with the violence that surrounded him.
There are a few marvelous passages describing this true
scholar-athlete's interactions with English teachers and professors. I would love to read more of this. Now that Mr.
Conroy has told us his story of basketball, perhaps for his
next book he'll tell us the story of his life as a writer.
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