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    The Water Is Wide: A Memoir
    Unavailable
    The Water Is Wide: A Memoir
    Unavailable
    The Water Is Wide: A Memoir
    Ebook367 pages6 hours

    The Water Is Wide: A Memoir

    By Pat Conroy

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    New York Times Bestseller: The “miraculous” memoir of an inspiring teacher and the students who changed his life on an impoverished South Carolina island (Newsweek).
     
    Though the children of Yamacraw Island live less than two miles from the southern mainland, they can’t name the US president or the ocean that surrounds them. Most can’t read or write. Many of the students are the descendants of slaves, handicapped by poverty and isolation.
     
    When Pat Conroy arrives, an eager young teacher at the height of the civil rights movement, he finds a community still bound by the bitter effects of racism, but he is determined to broaden its members’ horizons and give them a voice.
     
    In this poignant memoir, which Newsweek called “an experience of joy,” the New York Times–bestselling author of The Prince of Tides plumbs his experiences as a young teacher on an isolated South Carolina island to reveal the shocking inequalities of the American education system.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateAug 31, 2010
    ISBN9781453203903
    Unavailable
    The Water Is Wide: A Memoir
    Author

    Pat Conroy

    Pat Conroy (1945–2016) was the author of The Boo, The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life, My Losing Season, South of Broad, My Reading Life, and The Death of Santini.

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    Reviews for The Water Is Wide

    4/5

    22 ratings14 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Once again, this is a reread. I don't think I've read it since I became a teacher, however. That made this book even more poignant than it was in previous readings. Pat Conroy takes a teaching job on an island in South Carolina that is only accessible by boat. It is 1968, and the school is all-black, small, and forgotten by the county people. Conroy makes a difference but bucks the system one too many times. Not only does this book portray a unique education challenge, but it also gives a picture of the Deep South in the 1960s. I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Pat Conroy vividly recalls his teaching experience on the Gullah island of Yamacraw, South Carolina. In the midst of the Civil Rights era, Conroy, a former racist, find himself drawn to this exotic school, after being ignored by the Peace Corps. I found it interesting that Conroy spent the first few pages of the book, confessing his racism, hatred and abuse of blacks, and then engaged in repentance. While I appreciate his humilty and do believe he loved the children he served, I still found it interesting. It gave me insight into the lingering racist actions of school districts across the United States and in district which I teach.Initially, Conroy is met with a lush island, where its citizens are woefully still in the grips of the Jim Crow South. Industrial businesses have been allowed to set up shop on the river which surrounds this island. The businesses release pollutants and toxins into the river with no concern for the people which make a livelihood from it's resources. After a major company successfully contaminated the oyster beds, which were the economic lifeblood of Yamacraw, its citizens were forced to return to more agricultural positions to create some form of monetary gain. I wondered if the students in Conroy's class hadn't suffered brain damage from the pollutants in the fish they ate from the river. Such were the descriptions of the lackings of these children, one has to wonder. In all this, their separation from the mainland helped to keep them all the more ignorant of how life had been on a trajectory course of improvements for Blacks. These descendants of slaves were mired by racism, industrial rape and logistical isolation from the real world, keeping them hostage to their folklores and traditional beliefs, which did not grow their minds and allow them to keep up with the changing pace of the times.Conroy, lacking in cultural awareness and training as an elementary teacher, meets his students and is suddenly flooded with the realization that his students are illiterate and uninspired. Mrs. Brown, the other teacher, who is black, is hated by the students and parents. She rules with the discipline of an antebellum overseer, and her hatred for her own people is horrifying at best, all the while, calling the students "babies". Mrs. Brown is insistant that Conroy follow the rules of the state, however the reader learns that she herself, is overwhelmed by the rules of the state and has spent the last several years, literally piling up information sent to her by the state. While I read about Mrs. Brown, I often wondered if she were somewhat illiterate herself, although she was proud that she had attended a private school before becoming an educator.Conroy embarks on a humble, but honest course to educate his children. Not only does he see their need for the basics of education, he comes to grips that knowledge of the outside world will also impact their understanding. Conroy's non-traditional educational methodology and his intuition, lead him to opening the minds of his young scholars. The reader witnesses his daily struggle to overcome discouragement at the lack of progress being made by his students, and the disapproving face of Mrs. Brown at his window, each time he and his students erupt in loud excitement of something or the other. In addition to Mrs. Brown, his own inexperience and shock at his student's ability levels, Conroy is faced with the heavy hand of racism from the school board. Where they received information about Conroy's failures to act within the framework of South Carolina's educational standards, remained a mystery, but somewhere and somehow, someone didn't want the children of Yamacraw to be exposed to the freedom which comes from education.I appreciated the book and Pat Conroy's honesty. I loved his passion for the children and his constant struggle to find meaningful ways for them to learn. It reminded me of myself as a young teacher, utilizing my instinct and passion, to drive instruction home to the children who faced inner city poverty in New York. I am revitalized and inspired to take some of my intuition and "gut", and bring it to my classroom on Monday morning!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      couldnt find the listing, but after reading the tree book , listened to the tom Stechschulte reading which was excellent.
    • 5/5
      I loved the movie “Conrack” based on this true story of Pat Conroy’s experience of teaching the black children who populated an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina in 1969-70. It was well done, but it couldn’t capture the passion and profundity of Conroy’s prose. He honestly described his own prejudiced background and the personal turnaround he made in his feelings toward black people. I liked the juxtaposition of his youthful idealism next to the rigid thinking of the school board and superintendent. Some things never change.The book itself was pure joy to read; however, it had an underlying sadness about the children that taught him so much: “Each had come into the world imprisoned by a river and by a system which insured his destruction the moment he uttered his first cry by his mother’s side.” (97) You will laugh and cry along with these remarkable children. You will be amazed at the young man who dared to stand up to his superiors as he sought to widen the world of these young people. Pat Conroy is not a perfect man. He is egocentric and impulsive, but he wasn’t afraid to try any unorthodox approach that his far-reaching imagination conjured up to reach these children. This is a must-read book for anyone in the teaching field or anyone interested in a well-told true story.
    • 4/5
      Another enjoyable Conroy story. Based on his experiences teaching on a forgotten island, South Carolina’s Daufuskie Island, Pat Conroy tells the tale of a teacher who truly loved his students and tried to do what was best for them, despite the obstacles around him. Told with humor and love.....
    • 4/5
      This poignant memoir tells of Conroy's early teaching career attempting to upgrade the educational experience of students in an all black school on poverty plagued Daufuskie Island (fictionalized in the book to Yamacraw Island). After teaching high school for a year, and being turned down by the Peace Corps, "Mr. Conrack" as he called by the children, finds himself teaching 18 children in grades 4-8, several of whom cannot count the 5 fingers on their hands, or recite the alphabet, and who do not know what country they live in or any other elementary facts or skills expected of 4th graders in any other school in the state.Conroy must throw away his playbook on how to teach, and devise new methods to inspire his children to learn and to love learning. However, before he can do any of this, he must learn about them, and he must find a way to understand the local dialect known a gullah that the children speak. He discovers one young girl, Mary, is able to serve as the 'translator' for the class, so the adventure can begin.Set in 1969, it is the story of a year of adventures, of triumphs, and of many failures and missteps. It is the story of a small southern school district trying to come to grips with desegregation, and ignoring the needs of this heretofor 'out-of-sight, out-of-mind' school. Now with Conroy butting heads with the black principal who "teaches" grades 1-3 (mostly by wielding a huge leather strap), devising numerous games, field trips, and non-traditional methods to inspire his class, the school board is faced with a devoted educator they see as a demanding renegade who refuses to abandon a town, his students, or his principles. Although he was himself the product of segregated Beaufort High School, and a graduate of the Citadel, his world view has expanded, and his championing of this group of neglected but needy children is a story both heartwarming and heartbreaking.Conroy's way with words is, as always, able to paint scenes, dialogue, and emotions in a way that transports his reader exactly where he wants to take them.
    • 5/5
      A memoir of a year spent teaching destitute students on a remote island, The Water is Wide challenges convention and prejudice in really powerful ways. And is proof positive that being seen to do the right thing is different from actually doing it. What I think I valued most was the author's demonstration that throwing money at a problem isn't a solution. Caring is the solution.
    • 5/5
      Just now finished reading "The Water is Wide". Having watched the movie so many years ago and desiring to read the book, I have no idea why doing so took me so long. I'm so grateful that Pat Conroy chose to write his memoir of his days of teaching school on Yamacraw Island during the period of the Civil Rights Movement and integration. How I wish there were more teachers like him, then and now. It was so hard to believe there could be children in 5-8th grades who didn't know the name of their country, the names of any continents, who thought the earth was the center of the universe, and thought that JFK was our country's first president. And, what was most unbelievable was the fact that no one in the local school system cared, and even fought fiercely to keep these children's lives the same. Even after all this time, as I read of his outrage, I felt outrage. As I read of his frustation, I felt frustrated. As I read of his hopes and triumphs, I felt hope too, and felt his triumphs. I'm now eager to find out what life is like for the people on the island today. This is one of the most important books I've ever read.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! It was the first book I read of Conroy's & I can't wait to get my hands on another one (along with the movie that is based on this book). I thought it was well written & very entertaining! It was both funny & sad. I found myself laughing one minute & heart broken the next. Being based on Conroy's true life it was a very interesting look into the Carolina Low Country in the late 60's & early 70's. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books giving insight to history,...more I loved this book! It was the first book I read of Conroy's & I can't wait to get my hands on another one (along with the movie that is based on this book). I thought it was well written & very entertaining! It was both funny & sad. I found myself laughing one minute & heart broken the next. Being based on Conroy's true life it was a very interesting look into the Carolina Low Country in the late 60's & early 70's. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books giving insight to history, teaching or southern settings.
    • 4/5
      This is a fascinating look at the South and race and what happens when you try to buck the system. Conroy is a young school teacher in this, and he takes a job on a small island to teach the unschooled residents. He introduces them to opera and books and takes a beating from many directions as he tries.What astonished me is, despite knowing about the South and the (attempted) Reconstruction, is that there was still an enormous amount of prejudice against black children, with even those entrusted with education still resisting giving the kids their basic human need for learning. So many people wanted to hold on to the status quo even when it clearly was not working.This was a great read for me and it was appropriate for my son to read as well (he was 13). It also contains great descriptions of the coast, flora and fauna and people of the region.
    • 4/5
      I first discovered Pat Conroy this past May when Susan and I stood on line at Book Expo to get an advanced copy of South of Broad. I loved the book and went on to read Prince of Tides, which was also wonderful.I stumbled on The Water is Wide at my library and decided to give his non-fiction a try. Although the prose are not as wonderful and descriptive as the two fiction books I read, they are still good and the story is gripping.In 1969, a young, idealistic Conroy decides to teach on Yamacraw Island, a forgotten island off the coast of South Carolina. The school is a two room schoolhouse and Conroy teaches 4th-8th grade, while Ms. Brown, a disciplinarian (vs. a teacher) teaches the lower grades. An island inhabited primarily by Black families, the children are basically ignored by school administration.The Water is Wide describes Conroy's efforts to teach the children (many of whom do not know the alphabet, let alone current events), expose them to things outside of the island to prepare them when they move away and give them a feeling of self-worth. His battles with the old ways of the inhabitants, the lack of caring by administrators and the childrens' ignorance and fears makes for compelling reading.I highly recommend Pat Conroy in any form.
    • 4/5
      An autobiographical story of when Conroy was a teacher on an island in South Carolina that was more interested in baby sitting than teaching the students. He tries many times to broaden his students horizons and meets continual resistance. I enjoyed this book
    • 5/5
      A glimpse into 1970's southern life. Interesting.
    • 3/5
      An interesting tid-bit. Pat Conroy was not the first person offered the job to teach on Daufuskie Island. I worked for a librarian whose father was offered the job. He was interested in taking it, but as he and his wife had a new family, he reluctantly had to turn it down to stay home with them. If my manager hadn't have been little then, Conroy would have had a different book as his breakout story. Life's a funny old dog, isn't it? :-)