rubybubbles's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
meldbrit's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read. Because it was written almost 100 years ago I found it a little hard to follow at times, but all the stories of the people who perished in the bridge accident was an intriguing story and the final moments of the book are ones that warm my heart.
loragracegrace's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this book up at random to read before the year’s end, and I was utterly caught off guard by how much I loved the prose. Wilder is so masterful at quick, deep characterization. A story about shades of love, loneliness, and death that could have been didactic, but isn’t. And a quick read, you could finish it in a morning.
carmenere's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book several years ago and this reread confirmed what I knew back then, Wilder can write!
Five people in Peru are crossing a bridge when in an instant they all are plunging to their deaths in the valley below.
Certainly poetic in style this little novella invites the reader to think about fate, destiny and happenstance. Every reader will walk away with a different interpretation of the events related here and too the aftermath inflicted upon those who were left behind.
A classic that will never grow old.
Five people in Peru are crossing a bridge when in an instant they all are plunging to their deaths in the valley below.
Certainly poetic in style this little novella invites the reader to think about fate, destiny and happenstance. Every reader will walk away with a different interpretation of the events related here and too the aftermath inflicted upon those who were left behind.
A classic that will never grow old.
teorogers29's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
shanviolinlove's review against another edition
4.0
My copy of Wilder's novel includes an excerpt printed on the back, taken from the Abbess' thoughts, that "There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning." This is, indeed, a story about redemption, that the bridge "bridges" the remaining to the departed. In the chronicles of the five victims of the bridge's collapse, a character called the Perichole, esteemed actress of the stages of Lima, appears in an integral role to each of the other major characters. Her connection to each of them connects them to each other in the fabric of this narrative, and this culmination is manifested in her appearance at the end of the story. Wilder's novel explores the condition and representation of love--in its selfish and selfless states--and asks the important questions about where their characters position themselves in regards to it.
yujtang's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
brianharrison's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
mjsteimle's review against another edition
2.0
I know that this book won the Pulitzer and is considered a masterpiece, but I just didn't find it all that profound or impressive. Maybe I'd appreciate it more if it were a book club read, but just reading it on my own didn't do much for me.