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cloreadsbooks1364's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I went into this book expecting to be brought to tears by the topic of su!cide, but instead was just disappointed the whole way through.
Pros:
1. Good concept
2. Aaron's dad and Tillie's mother were so sweet.
Cons:
1. Aaron's lyrics were in such a light grey I couldn't read them. Oh well, hope they didn't affect the plot.
2. Aaron makes a joke about autistic people, gets called out, then thinks "if I weren't alive you wouldn't be mad at me, you'd think I'm great". But of course they're mad, you made an abelist joke! (As an autistic person this made me sad, as it was so similar to the jokes I often hear in school.)
3. Aaron mentions thinking how all men have pen!ses, which is just not true and as a trans person I was massively disappointed.
4. Molly fantasises hugging the problematic author Sarah J Maas (a racist z!onist) and her whole personality was just "I'm a popular girl who's secretly a SJM-loving geek".
5. In a time jump, a trans kid in 2051 is sad because his mother doesn't fully accept him. It'd be so easy to make this a happier chapter. It also kinda felt like the author went "oh no I've no trans rep, let's stick in this one teen 31 years in the future with no personality who exists for A SINGLE PAGE".
Everything not mentioned above was just unremarkable in neither a good or bad way.
Pros:
1. Good concept
2. Aaron's dad and Tillie's mother were so sweet.
Cons:
1. Aaron's lyrics were in such a light grey I couldn't read them. Oh well, hope they didn't affect the plot.
2. Aaron makes a joke about autistic people, gets called out, then thinks "if I weren't alive you wouldn't be mad at me, you'd think I'm great". But of course they're mad, you made an abelist joke! (As an autistic person this made me sad, as it was so similar to the jokes I often hear in school.)
3. Aaron mentions thinking how all men have pen!ses, which is just not true and as a trans person I was massively disappointed.
4. Molly fantasises hugging the problematic author Sarah J Maas (a racist z!onist) and her whole personality was just "I'm a popular girl who's secretly a SJM-loving geek".
5. In a time jump, a trans kid in 2051 is sad because his mother doesn't fully accept him. It'd be so easy to make this a happier chapter. It also kinda felt like the author went "oh no I've no trans rep, let's stick in this one teen 31 years in the future with no personality who exists for A SINGLE PAGE".
Everything not mentioned above was just unremarkable in neither a good or bad way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
beckyp22's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Classism
makenna_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Forced institutionalization
noahelijah's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was really intrigued by the concept and also think this is a great message and can give a lot to different people struggling with this topic.
My 2.5 Stars are my personal enjoyment and opinion. This really wasn’t for me.
At the beginning I was really into it. But the further I read, the more frustrated and bored I got. Don’t get me wrong there certainly were emotional and impactful scenes but I found myself not being emotionally invested in the characters overall at all.
I often had the feeling, that I only saw the author wanting to make it emotionally impactful.
It took me ages to finish it. After the halfway point we didn’t really get anything new. All the realizations we’ve already been through, and the thing I was interested in ist seeing the surroundings (which we got in Part 3 and I liked the most) but the truths the characters learned were repetitive? The writing wasn’t my taste at all but has nothing to do with the book generally. I would have loved to see the impact on family and friends with such a topic. Or more like: what does their life look like in coming years (in all parts! Not just part 3). A few parts felt very ‚look-how-sad-your-family-will-be‘ what a lot of people in those situations get to hear often and it rarely helps that person.
I really tried to connect to the characters. But I couldn’t.
All in all a solid YA Novel that I see being helpful to a certain audience.
Please reach out in ways you are able to if you are in this or similar situations! Talk to loved ones and find things as small or big as you want to help you get through this. You will!
My 2.5 Stars are my personal enjoyment and opinion. This really wasn’t for me.
At the beginning I was really into it. But the further I read, the more frustrated and bored I got. Don’t get me wrong there certainly were emotional and impactful scenes but I found myself not being emotionally invested in the characters overall at all.
I often had the feeling, that I only saw the author wanting to make it emotionally impactful.
It took me ages to finish it. After the halfway point we didn’t really get anything new. All the realizations we’ve already been through, and the thing I was interested in ist seeing the surroundings (which we got in Part 3 and I liked the most) but the truths the characters learned were repetitive? The writing wasn’t my taste at all but has nothing to do with the book generally. I would have loved to see the impact on family and friends with such a topic. Or more like: what does their life look like in coming years (in all parts! Not just part 3). A few parts felt very ‚look-how-sad-your-family-will-be‘ what a lot of people in those situations get to hear often and it rarely helps that person.
I really tried to connect to the characters. But I couldn’t.
All in all a solid YA Novel that I see being helpful to a certain audience.
Please reach out in ways you are able to if you are in this or similar situations! Talk to loved ones and find things as small or big as you want to help you get through this. You will!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, and Grief
jmross10's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
The Bridge follows Tillie and Aaron, two teenagers who cross paths while contemplating suicide on the George Washington Bridge. It explores the various possibilities of what happens if one, both, or neither of them follow through.
While it is about a very sad topic, I feel that Konigsberg DID NOT write with the singular intent of making people cry, thus blinding them to the bigger story. He wrote about the grief, struggles, catalysts, and potential outcomes with honesty. Explored the various different types of familial and “friend” responses, and (arguably the saddest part for me), people who had never crossed paths with the MCs and who’s lives were altered because of it.
I thought it was well written and I didn’t mind the alternate versions of the story. Parts of it were repetitive but not in an annoying way. I appreciate that the various outcomes weren’t completely different and also that everyone wasn’t suddenly okay because that is definitely not true.
I’ve read Konigsberg before and really enjoyed his work and I look forward to reading more in the future.
While it is about a very sad topic, I feel that Konigsberg DID NOT write with the singular intent of making people cry, thus blinding them to the bigger story. He wrote about the grief, struggles, catalysts, and potential outcomes with honesty. Explored the various different types of familial and “friend” responses, and (arguably the saddest part for me), people who had never crossed paths with the MCs and who’s lives were altered because of it.
I thought it was well written and I didn’t mind the alternate versions of the story. Parts of it were repetitive but not in an annoying way. I appreciate that the various outcomes weren’t completely different and also that everyone wasn’t suddenly okay because that is definitely not true.
I’ve read Konigsberg before and really enjoyed his work and I look forward to reading more in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Outing
rayne_1906's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
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
3.5
6 hours 39 minutes - This is a very interesting book. I have never seen anything quite like this so definitely points for originality. So often people go about their daily lives and never stop to think about all the other paths they could have taken. This book did not only speculate, but contained four different stories of four different outcomes. And this book was heart-breaking, and you really did feel for the characters. However, the format of having four stories rolled into one led to feelings of repetition, and sometimes confusion. Did this event happen in this story or a previous one? for example. At times the characters did seem slightly exaggerated and bordering on annoying, but in a way I can see that being an intentional choice; its more realistic for characters portraying serious mental illness to not come across to the reader's in a perfectly likeable manner. I really didn't like the way the third story was told. I found it confusing and convoluted, and most of it seemed like the author info dumping ideas he had but couldn't quite work into the main plot. It would have been a more reflective choice to keep that section as short as possible. However, overall, a very good story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
emily_reads851's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
really eye opening, talks about all the effects of suicide Check TW
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
micsdirt_nbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A fictional account of a very real situation; depression and suicidal inclinations. The story introduces us to two teenagers that are sorting through their feelings in different ways and end up meeting on a Bridge. Their lives become intertwined because of the results of their decisions. The book uses the "Butterfly Effect" to show how things could be different with different choices made and how you are never alone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief
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