A review by shanviolinlove
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

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.