The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

3.7 AVERAGE

cagebox's review against another edition

3.0
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a book is one that I likely would have quickly dismissed after finishing with little thoight, but because of its reputation it demands to be more comprehensively considered. On face value, this is a book about the randomness in life and God’s role in death. A monk witnesses a seemingly random collapse of a long standing and oft used bridge. Five people perish in this tragedy, and the monk views it as a laboratory to understand why God has chosen those five people to die there and then, supposing that from the sheer randomness of the calamity that reason can be found. He spends years of his life biographing the lives of those that perished and this takes up almost all the novel. Unfortunately, the tales of the unfortunate souls who all end up on the bridge when it collapses are frankly dull. The many details in the stories that focus particularly on three of the five figures feel over explained and ultimately unecessary. All that matters in this book is in its conclusion which, aside from the introduction, is the only meaningful part. In the conclusion, we are told of the monk’s failures at discerning meaning from his research which he tried to do in a mathematical way. Not only this, but his work is deemed heretical and he is executed for it. We are then told that two women, certain close relations to those deceased, make a journey to the convent near the bridge to seek the counsel of the Abbess to find comfort and meaning in the tragedy that affected them so personally. We are not told how this meeting affects the women, both of whom loved one of the deceased, but also were at the time in conflict with them, but we are shown that one of the women begins to work at the convent, while it is hinted at that the other, exposed to all the thing the convent needs to thrive, will support it in some way. Finally, the famous quote that ends this novel is observed by ghe Abbess, “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.” One’s interpretation of this quote is crucial to their understanding of the novel. What seems clear, is that despite the monk never being able to decipher meaning in the tragedy, the death of the five on the bridge brought together people who otherwise never would have met, and led them on a path towards service. Wilder does not say that God’s plan through this tragedy was to have these people meet and do the work that it is hinted at they might do, but one can reason that though the monk in his mathematical and narrowly focused way of reasoning never gleaned meaning, there was a meaning, some good came out of the disaster, though the meaning can only be comprehended over time and by looking from a macro scale. Similarly, the death of the monk seems to be a senseless waste of life, but his book survives though neglected, and we are told of it, so that his research did not go completely in vain. Of course, there is a message of love here too though I would never considered this a romantic novel. Wilder also is careful to only give facts and hints, never stating his meaning behind the book. All this contemplation on the novel and its ending make it worthy of its reputation, and a great candidate for a reading for a book club, I can’t give the novel more than 3 stars, since the majority of it is nothing more than tedious details, despite it being fantastic as a concept.

mlefever1's review against another edition

5.0
Not sure why this has gotten a relatively low mark. I liked the succinct style of writing, and still felt the characters were well developed. I appreciated the different cadence of writing of 1927, compared to modern, clipped writing. So many things in this story got me thinking. Mostly, the evolution of love, and the variation of love within each character. Themes, that though set in the 1700s in this story, are timeless.

meghantilley11's review against another edition

4.25
emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lilithesquid's review against another edition

3.0
emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
My Dad gave me this book twice across about ten years, so I guess I had to read it eventually. Reflective, very sad, hopeful. Not quite my kind of book but glad I read it.
I enjoyed the faux-archeological style to it. The poignancy and seeming pointlessness of the characters' lives cut short also really got me ('As they drew near the bridge of San Luis Rey, Jaime tried to conceal his shame, for he knew that one of those moments was coming that separated him from other people... Uncle Pio said that when they had crossed the bridge they would sit down and rest, but that turned out not to be necessary.' god damn it). The conclusion about love should have been a nice touch, but felt a bit rushed for me, and maybe a bit too obvious? But then I also spent about 3 weeks reading this rather than an afternoon, so maybe that would have had more of a cumulative effect and felt more satisfying.
A good book! 

annie1955's review against another edition

4.0
challenging reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
Read with Close Reads

bs_007's review against another edition

4.75
reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

kimigomez's review against another edition

4.0
Interesting. 

susannadkm's review against another edition

2.75
reflective slow-paced
"'Now learn,' she commanded herself, 'learn at last that anywhere you may expect grace. And she was filled with happiness like a girl at this new proof that the traits she lived for were everywhere, that the world was ready.'" (The Abbess in Part 4).

This book has an interesting premise: exploring the lives of the five people who died when the bridge of San Luis Rey collapsed. But though it's written well, I didn't care very much for the three stories contained in it, so 2.75 stars.

I found the setting in a deeply Catholic country very interesting. The dialog seemed distinctively Catholic in a way that at least felt authentic.

I liked how the Marquesa deacribed human selfishness here: "She saw that the people of this world moved about in an armor of egotism, drunk with self-gazing, a thirst for compliments, hearing little of what was said to them, unmoved by the accidents that befell their closest friends, in dread of all appeals that might interrupt their long communion with their own desires." (Part 2)

I listened to the audiobook. I started this book because it was on the Close Reads podcast and listening to their conversation made the book so much more understandable.

thingtwo's review against another edition

3.0
In the very beginning of The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Brother Juniper watches five people fall to their deaths as the Inca robe bridge they are on collapses. He sets off to discover tells the story of why. "'Why did this happen to those five?' If there were any plan in the universe at all, if there were any pattern in a human life, surely it could be discovered mysteriously latent in those lives so suddenly cut off. Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan. And on that instant Brother Juniper made the resolve to inquire into the secret lives of those five persons".

Published in 1927, Thornton Wilder won the Pulitzer for it in 1928.

amykclaflin's review against another edition

3.0
reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character