A family friend “Fred” often recorded his reflections in the back of his books. “MY BOOK, MY NOTES” he announced before noting reflections, disagreements, favorite paragraphs etc. I do this with a dog-ear to a page and on this blog but not to Fred’s detail.

Fred and my dad would exchange books, several at once. My friends do this too. Recently, my parents passed me a book of Fred’s they found while cleaning out shelves. They thought I might enjoy reading Fred’s notes in the back of The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son before I was to pass it along to Fred’s daughter. Fred had also noted in the front of the book that it had been a gift from her, Christmas ’13.

And yes I did enjoy Fred’s notes in the back – so much so that I ended up reading the book itself. I loved this book. How Conroy writes about both the horror and humor of his dysfunctional family is completely fascinating.

Upon his father’s (Santini’s) return from work every day:

“The door would be flung open and the strongest Marine aviator on earth would shout, ‘Stand by for a fighter pilot!’

He would then line up his seven kids against the wall and say, ‘Who’s the greatest of them all?’

‘You are, O Great Santini, you are.’

We were not in the middle of a normal childhood, yet none of us were sure, since it was the only childhood we would ever have. For all we knew men were coming home and shouting to their families ‘Stand by for a pharmacist’ or ‘Stand by for a chiropracter.’ “

In addition to the famous The Prince Of Tides (and several other books) Conroy had previously written, The Great Santini: A Novel about his explosive father. In fact, much of this book discussed how the “honesty” detailed in The Great Santini tore his family apart, and his dad hated and railed against the book. However, later, when it turned into a movie (in which Robert Duvall played the Great Santini and was nominated for an Oscar) his dad basked in the fame and would even sign books along with Conroy.

“I marveled at my father’s charm as he schmoozed with the readers and made them laugh and happy to be there. Two separate lines formed–one for me and one for the Great Santini. Dad’s favorite part of the afternoon was when he looked up and I heard him say, laughing, ‘Hey, son, my line’s longer.’ My father learned to turn my portrait of him to his own favor.”

To finish out my experience with this book, I watched the movie The Great Santini. It was good but came across (to me, now) really dated (1979 release). Still it made sense to me how the father used this portrayal towards his transformation.

Sadly, Fred, like Pat Conroy, is no longer in this world. So now I will return this really good book, made better by Fred’s personalization, to his daughter so she can also enjoy and treasure HIS BOOK, HIS NOTES after it passed through other book-loving friends.

I wrote before how I love old books because they have character. I wish more people would leave notes in the back of their books – what a lasting tribute and a way to personalize a book. Also the record of who gifted the book when is a loving and useful record to have.

Thank you, Fred, for your notes and for introducing me to Pat Conroy and the Great Santini. Like you, they are characters to remember!