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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
One inauspicious afternoon in 1714 a much traveled bridge connecting Cuzco and Lima snaps as five people are traversing across it. Among the horrified persons who bear witness to this fatal event is a Franciscan friar, Brother Juniper. Believing this accident could provide “scientific” proof that all seemingly random or coincidental occurrences in the world submit to a universal law, that of God’s Will or Acts of God, he sets out on a years long task of assembling a biography of each of these five victim’s lives. This he does with the conviction that it will become apparent on why those five in particular should have lost their lives, as opposed to anyone else who had crossed the bridge that day.
Wilder then proceeds to chronicle the lives of these five individuals: a peculiar and lonely noblewoman, a duteous convent orphan girl, a sheepish and grieving copyist, a delicate and sickly young boy, and a clever, wily and aging man of the theatre. The author is alternately tender and affectionate in his relating of each respective person’s quirks and traits, and at other times touches upon their more vain and baser natures with cool detachment. The complexities of these people’s lives necessarily complicates the friar’s original hypothesis, leading to a bittersweet conclusion. This was an elegantly written and touching novella.
Wilder then proceeds to chronicle the lives of these five individuals: a peculiar and lonely noblewoman, a duteous convent orphan girl, a sheepish and grieving copyist, a delicate and sickly young boy, and a clever, wily and aging man of the theatre. The author is alternately tender and affectionate in his relating of each respective person’s quirks and traits, and at other times touches upon their more vain and baser natures with cool detachment. The complexities of these people’s lives necessarily complicates the friar’s original hypothesis, leading to a bittersweet conclusion. This was an elegantly written and touching novella.
There were some really beautiful moments here but overall I found his writing to be unconvincing. It was too short to fully involve me in the lives of the characters and the plot was wandering. All of that said I did enjoy bits of it quite a lot, it just wasn’t the probing existential drama I thought it would be.
Well, it won a Pulitzer for a reason!
I read this book, along with re-reading Our Town, as part of a project on universal spiritual themes in religious and non-religious art. Thornton Wilder is interesting because he was so religiously ambiguous. He said that he wrote this book partly as a response to 'friendly spiritual arguments' he had with his father (who was extremely religious, Calvinist). He was thought of as Atheist by some and other classified him as a Congregationalist-- many people (and I tend to agree with this group) believe that he was simply a humanist. But a humanist in the most positive sense of the philosophy. But he believed in beauty of life, and above all love. Love is the strongest theme in this novel (as well as Our Town) and the appreciation of love in our singular human experience as we we live it.
".. and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
I read this book, along with re-reading Our Town, as part of a project on universal spiritual themes in religious and non-religious art. Thornton Wilder is interesting because he was so religiously ambiguous. He said that he wrote this book partly as a response to 'friendly spiritual arguments' he had with his father (who was extremely religious, Calvinist). He was thought of as Atheist by some and other classified him as a Congregationalist-- many people (and I tend to agree with this group) believe that he was simply a humanist. But a humanist in the most positive sense of the philosophy. But he believed in beauty of life, and above all love. Love is the strongest theme in this novel (as well as Our Town) and the appreciation of love in our singular human experience as we we live it.
".. and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a heart-breaking story. An accident occurs. One man, Brother Juniper, takes it upon himself to judge these people in the accident. Why were they chosen to befall such a tragedy? Were they bad, without religion, or useless to society? His conclusions are surprising. Hold your friends and loved ones close. You never know when the bridge will fall away from your feet.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A classic, and follows through on that promise. The sort of emotional investigation of meaning and love that nonfiction can never quite grasp
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death
A lovely set of intimate and wryly-drawn portraits. Feels like it is from another era, but not dated.
The central conceit of "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is the collapse of an old Incan bridge in Peru, leading to the death of five people, and more importantly, the investigation by an over-earnest friar who seeks to know the lord's mind through his tragic work. It only works as a device because it distracts us, ever so slightly, from his real purpose, which seems to be to poke fun at love in its many weird and tragic forms.
The set of novellas that provide the narrative stream are each poignant tales of love and loss. Not maudlin but rather bittersweet, they show a subtle hand of a storyteller that knows how to play when drawing a character. Each of the victims is unveiled with wit and charm. The writing is lovely and calm and sad and kind. It does not bludgeon you, nor allow for any notion of tragedy. If nothing, it makes you appreciate the sweet ridiculousness of people and the little dramas of a life.
In "The Bridge" death is a sentence. Literally. It is something that happens and is noted.
Love, however, is bigger. It is not everlasting or spectacular. It is silly and weird and a form of memory, albeit short-termed at best.
There is some lovely writing, including this passage:
"He delighted in her letters, but he thought that when he had enjoyed the style he had extracted all their richness and intention, missing (as most readers do) the whole purport of literature, which is the notation of the heart. Style is but the faintly contemptible vessel in which the bitter liquid is recommended to the world"
The central conceit of "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is the collapse of an old Incan bridge in Peru, leading to the death of five people, and more importantly, the investigation by an over-earnest friar who seeks to know the lord's mind through his tragic work. It only works as a device because it distracts us, ever so slightly, from his real purpose, which seems to be to poke fun at love in its many weird and tragic forms.
The set of novellas that provide the narrative stream are each poignant tales of love and loss. Not maudlin but rather bittersweet, they show a subtle hand of a storyteller that knows how to play when drawing a character. Each of the victims is unveiled with wit and charm. The writing is lovely and calm and sad and kind. It does not bludgeon you, nor allow for any notion of tragedy. If nothing, it makes you appreciate the sweet ridiculousness of people and the little dramas of a life.
In "The Bridge" death is a sentence. Literally. It is something that happens and is noted.
Love, however, is bigger. It is not everlasting or spectacular. It is silly and weird and a form of memory, albeit short-termed at best.
There is some lovely writing, including this passage:
"He delighted in her letters, but he thought that when he had enjoyed the style he had extracted all their richness and intention, missing (as most readers do) the whole purport of literature, which is the notation of the heart. Style is but the faintly contemptible vessel in which the bitter liquid is recommended to the world"
3.5 it’s fine. Little blips of cool things and I like the concept, but mostly boring and introduces too many names that don’t matter for my taste. Liked the beginning a lot.