Preview of Beach Music Summary:

While avid Conroy fans will recognize many of the thematic concerns of previous novels in Beach Music, including sibling relationships, parent and child relationships, family abuse, mental illness, class differences, politics, religion and faith, new themes add focus to this novel. War occupies much of the reader's attention through the discussion by the Jewish characters of the terrors of the Holocaust and through an overview of the effects of the Vietnam war on those who remained at home. No scenes or reminiscences from the fighting in Vietnam itself appear, but much attention focuses on the war protestors and on the older generation who greatly disapproved of such actions. Conroy attempts to balance the arguments for and against involvement in the war as characters disagree over the definition of "patriotism." The subtheme of peace takes on a double meaning as Jack's high school friends try to find a way...