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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was less a novel and more of a collection of segmented stories bound under the same name. Don't get me wrong—it was a beautiful book, and the writing was exquisite, but it did not follow a distinct plot or storyline. It felt more like a series of very detailed obituaries for people who did not exist.
It depicts the 1700s stories of how the lives of five individuals happened to lead up to their deaths via the collapse of an Incan rope bridge in Lima, Peru.
The characters had little development, yet each had intricate histories and pasts, which I greatly appreciated. The story wove in some interesting themes, such as the potential existence of an afterlife, love (or lack thereof), parent-child relationships, grief, and the fragility of life.
One main theme that seemed to follow each character hauntingly and beautifully was the lack of a healthy parental relationship. Between the orphaned twins, Uncle Pío's illegitimate adoption of the Perichole, her protectiveness over her son, and Doña Clara's complicated and unappreciative interactions with her mother over an entire ocean, this theme was brought up again and again.
The mood of his writing was a perfect blend of sarcasm and profoundness. I do, however, wish there had been more finality in the conclusions of Brother Juniper's findings. He spent ages putting together intricate writings to find that those with the most goodness die sooner than those without, only for the book to end without wrapping up that point. Then again, maybe that was the whole purpose.
My favorite quotes:
"Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan."
"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
"He is so moth-eaten by disease and bad company that I shall have to leave him to his underworld. He is not only like an ant, he is like a soiled pack of cards. And I doubt whether the whole Pacific could wash him sweet and fragrant again. His eyes are as sad as those of a cow that has been separated from its tenth calf." WHAT AN ICONIC ROAST
It depicts the 1700s stories of how the lives of five individuals happened to lead up to their deaths via the collapse of an Incan rope bridge in Lima, Peru.
The characters had little development, yet each had intricate histories and pasts, which I greatly appreciated. The story wove in some interesting themes, such as the potential existence of an afterlife, love (or lack thereof), parent-child relationships, grief, and the fragility of life.
One main theme that seemed to follow each character hauntingly and beautifully was the lack of a healthy parental relationship. Between the orphaned twins, Uncle Pío's illegitimate adoption of the Perichole, her protectiveness over her son, and Doña Clara's complicated and unappreciative interactions with her mother over an entire ocean, this theme was brought up again and again.
The mood of his writing was a perfect blend of sarcasm and profoundness. I do, however, wish there had been more finality in the conclusions of Brother Juniper's findings. He spent ages putting together intricate writings to find that those with the most goodness die sooner than those without, only for the book to end without wrapping up that point. Then again, maybe that was the whole purpose.
My favorite quotes:
"Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan."
"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
"He is so moth-eaten by disease and bad company that I shall have to leave him to his underworld. He is not only like an ant, he is like a soiled pack of cards. And I doubt whether the whole Pacific could wash him sweet and fragrant again. His eyes are as sad as those of a cow that has been separated from its tenth calf." WHAT AN ICONIC ROAST
One of those reads that leave you staring into space, wondering what the over-arching meaning behind was, coz all you're left with is this vague feeling of meaninglessness.
The feeling feels eerily familiar till you remember that's what you feel when you think about life or death, take your pick.
How often we sieve through life events, trying to create a narrative, trying to make sense of senseless events, trying to ascribe divine intervention.
Failing even as we succeed to convince ourselves that it all matters as long as there's that magic word involved - Love.
Loved it!
The feeling feels eerily familiar till you remember that's what you feel when you think about life or death, take your pick.
How often we sieve through life events, trying to create a narrative, trying to make sense of senseless events, trying to ascribe divine intervention.
Failing even as we succeed to convince ourselves that it all matters as long as there's that magic word involved - Love.
Loved it!
reflective
medium-paced
A high-strung pedestrian bridge snaps sending five people to their death. Brother Juniper, a Catholic priest and witness, decides to use the terrible accident to prove once and for all whether the horrible things that can happen in life are random accidents or whether there is a higher plan or purpose to them by looking into the lives of the five people who died and telling their stories in a book.
Interestingly, Brother Juniper's book is not this book so the reader really doesn't know exactly what he says (this book only gives a generalized summary). Brother Juniper isn't even the narrator of this book. The reader doesn't really know who the narrator is resulting in an aloof, onlooker tone to the writing. Through this narrator, who can see in an unimpassioned way into the hearts and minds of the five that fell to their death, the reader sees evidence of unresolved hopelessness and despair, but also intense love, second chances and spiritual awakenings. Ultimately, it's just not clear if one prevails over the other.
This is the kind of book that when you get to the end, your first thought is that you need to immediately go back and read it again from the beginning because there was some answer or meaning that you almost caught, but just missed. The truth is that San Luis is not any good for giving hard, defined answers, rather it is crafted to make the reader think about philosophical questions of life and death and the purpose of both and not necessarily to provide any answers.
The writing is good and thought provoking, so I really do plan to read it again. I think I'll enjoy it more the second time around because I won't be working to hard to find the book's answer to the question.
Interestingly, Brother Juniper's book is not this book so the reader really doesn't know exactly what he says (this book only gives a generalized summary). Brother Juniper isn't even the narrator of this book. The reader doesn't really know who the narrator is resulting in an aloof, onlooker tone to the writing. Through this narrator, who can see in an unimpassioned way into the hearts and minds of the five that fell to their death, the reader sees evidence of unresolved hopelessness and despair, but also intense love, second chances and spiritual awakenings. Ultimately, it's just not clear if one prevails over the other.
This is the kind of book that when you get to the end, your first thought is that you need to immediately go back and read it again from the beginning because there was some answer or meaning that you almost caught, but just missed. The truth is that San Luis is not any good for giving hard, defined answers, rather it is crafted to make the reader think about philosophical questions of life and death and the purpose of both and not necessarily to provide any answers.
The writing is good and thought provoking, so I really do plan to read it again. I think I'll enjoy it more the second time around because I won't be working to hard to find the book's answer to the question.
After a fantastic opening sentence it went downhill fast for me. I don't know, I just didn't get it. Beautiful prose is usually the kiss of death for me.
emotional
hopeful
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
Thornton Wilder won the first of three Pulitzer Prizes with this lyrically written tale of five people who fall, with a broken rope bridge, into a chasm in 1700's Peru. The language is beautiful, but it's Wilder's ideas, his musings on the butterfly-wing-fragility of life, which make this book a classic. The last couple of pages are as gentle, timeless and moving as anything ever put on paper.
O viviamo per caso, e per caso moriamo; o viviamo secondo un piano e secondo un piano moriamo.
An interesting and moving story of a(n) (un?)fairly grim concept. Why did the five disparate Peruvians cross the bridge…