heyjude1965's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so much fun. I enjoy reading about daughter and mother relationships, especially when the daughter and mother are about the same age as me and my mom. From the same generation.The author moves back to the city she grew up in when her father’s health fails. She starts attending her mothers bridge group, ladies she use to
distain when she was a rebellious teen, and she begins to have an affinity for them, and grows to love them. She interviews them and we get to see what life was like when they were girls. It’s a lovely memoir that spans across the ages. How a daughter who could not understand her mom and was never close to her grows to see her from a different perspective. Mother and daughter grow closer through the bridge Club. Beautiful. Listened to on audio.
distain when she was a rebellious teen, and she begins to have an affinity for them, and grows to love them. She interviews them and we get to see what life was like when they were girls. It’s a lovely memoir that spans across the ages. How a daughter who could not understand her mom and was never close to her grows to see her from a different perspective. Mother and daughter grow closer through the bridge Club. Beautiful. Listened to on audio.
aprisky's review against another edition
4.0
A super fun read primarily because my DNA is all over this book! I had to check carefully to be sure I wasn't the author. It would be an understatement to call bridge my hobby - more accurate to call it my retirement - and a Jewish princess too - but alas, not the introspective (neurotic?) Betsy. A definite kick and a half that I gobbled up in two sittings.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
A 2016 staff favorite recommended by Becky.
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sbridge%20ladies%20lerner__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sbridge%20ladies%20lerner__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
debbiecuddy's review against another edition
3.0
Reading this was like a trip down memory lane, taking me back to my mother's weekly pinochle games; she played until she went to work around 1965.
thebookhippie's review against another edition
4.0
http://bookhippie.com/index.php/2017/05/22/the-bridge-ladies-a-memoir/
indydriven's review against another edition
4.0
This is a memoir about a group of ladies who have met every Monday for lunch and bridge for more than fifty years. One of these ladies is Roz, Betsy Lerner’s mother. As a teenager, Betsy can remember the ladies coming over to their house to play bridge and feeling dismissive of their lifestyles. These were all Jewish ladies who had married well, dressed well, took care of themselves and their greatest achievement was raising their families. Betsy was part of the sex-drugs-and-rock n’ roll generation and thought that her mother and her friends were boring and old fashioned. Certainly compared to the 60’s and 70’s, they were old fashioned and it was a difficult time for them to adjust to the changing morals and attitudes of the time.
Several decades later Betsy’s father is deceased and her mother, Roz, requires surgery. Betsy moves in with her for a period of time to assist and reconnects with the bridge ladies. By this time Betsy is in her 50’s and is more forgiving and understanding. She becomes curious about the ladies and starts to wonder what their dreams were as young women and if they had been happy in their marriages, etc. She starts to learn bridge and becomes a regular at their Monday sessions.
I think Betsy, for a long time, had been looking for a way to connect with her mother. Betsy described Roz as always being critical of Betsy’s appearance, how she behaved, her choices, etc. and what normally would be a normal conversation between mother and daughter was usually fraught with tension and misunderstandings. With Betsy learning bridge and spending part of every Monday with these ladies, she was able to start to build a bridge between her mother and herself and begin to understand and see things a little more from her mother’s point of view.
I enjoyed this memoir and give it four stars out of five.
Several decades later Betsy’s father is deceased and her mother, Roz, requires surgery. Betsy moves in with her for a period of time to assist and reconnects with the bridge ladies. By this time Betsy is in her 50’s and is more forgiving and understanding. She becomes curious about the ladies and starts to wonder what their dreams were as young women and if they had been happy in their marriages, etc. She starts to learn bridge and becomes a regular at their Monday sessions.
I think Betsy, for a long time, had been looking for a way to connect with her mother. Betsy described Roz as always being critical of Betsy’s appearance, how she behaved, her choices, etc. and what normally would be a normal conversation between mother and daughter was usually fraught with tension and misunderstandings. With Betsy learning bridge and spending part of every Monday with these ladies, she was able to start to build a bridge between her mother and herself and begin to understand and see things a little more from her mother’s point of view.
I enjoyed this memoir and give it four stars out of five.
deathcabforkatey's review against another edition
4.0
This book felt like a mirror into many of my feelings towards my mother. I overall enjoyed it, and felt like it was beautifully written. Finding a sense of family, motherhood, daughterhood, and how to make sense of it all when the generation gap feels too wide.
thelexingtonbookie's review against another edition
3.0
This memoir is another book I picked up at a book sale, and then didn’t make time to read the physical copy, so I listened to the audiobook instead. Lerner’s story, narrated by Orlagh Cassidy, was entertaining and shared a lot about the game of Bridge, a mother-daughter relationship, and life strategies.
In the memoir, Lerner reveals that her relationship with her mother has never been good. Growing up, Betsy rebelled against the traditional Jewish housewife lifestyle her mother had, opting for a more rock ‘n roll feminist route by moving to NYC and doing as she pleased. However, after years of therapy, settling down, having kids, and burying her father, Betsy was amicable to reestablishing a relationship with her mother. Then, it became a necessity as her husband landed a job in the suburbs, causing then to move back into Betsy’s old neighborhood.
In her childhood years, Betsy has witnessed her mother and friends play Bridge, a very involved card game, every Monday afternoon for as long as she could remember. Betsy decides that the best way to get to know her mother again would be from across the card table. She begins learning by watching, then eventually takes a class on how to play Bridge. Through it all, she learns that there is more to the game, as well as more to her mother, than she could’ve imagined.
I thought the memoir was entertaining, but I often felt that Betsy and her mother were often conflicted and overly sensitive with each other for most of the book, which grew tiresome at times.Often, I thought that Betsy needed a little perspective- and by the end, she achieved. Thankfully, the background of the card game and the observations made about the strategy, the players, and the teaching class were a great distraction from the mother/daughter relationship woes. There was also plenty of humor and storytelling, and I thought the narrator did a great job creating distinct voices for the Bridge ladies. God, I loved the accents!
Would I recommend the read? Well, I think it’s a pretty specific group that would enjoy this novel, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but if you enjoy Bridge, memoirs, relationship dynamics, or are in the later years of your life and can relate to most of the bridge ladies, then I would say go for it.
In the memoir, Lerner reveals that her relationship with her mother has never been good. Growing up, Betsy rebelled against the traditional Jewish housewife lifestyle her mother had, opting for a more rock ‘n roll feminist route by moving to NYC and doing as she pleased. However, after years of therapy, settling down, having kids, and burying her father, Betsy was amicable to reestablishing a relationship with her mother. Then, it became a necessity as her husband landed a job in the suburbs, causing then to move back into Betsy’s old neighborhood.
In her childhood years, Betsy has witnessed her mother and friends play Bridge, a very involved card game, every Monday afternoon for as long as she could remember. Betsy decides that the best way to get to know her mother again would be from across the card table. She begins learning by watching, then eventually takes a class on how to play Bridge. Through it all, she learns that there is more to the game, as well as more to her mother, than she could’ve imagined.
I thought the memoir was entertaining, but I often felt that Betsy and her mother were often conflicted and overly sensitive with each other for most of the book, which grew tiresome at times.Often, I thought that Betsy needed a little perspective- and by the end, she achieved. Thankfully, the background of the card game and the observations made about the strategy, the players, and the teaching class were a great distraction from the mother/daughter relationship woes. There was also plenty of humor and storytelling, and I thought the narrator did a great job creating distinct voices for the Bridge ladies. God, I loved the accents!
Would I recommend the read? Well, I think it’s a pretty specific group that would enjoy this novel, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but if you enjoy Bridge, memoirs, relationship dynamics, or are in the later years of your life and can relate to most of the bridge ladies, then I would say go for it.