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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-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
I've had this book on my TBR list for years. I finally decided to read it after it fit into one of my reading challenges for 2019. What I took away from this classic was "Everything Happens for a Reason".
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this guy fucking gets it
This no doubt is an excellent piece of writing - but felt no connection with it. A book to be admired for its prose rather than enjoyed.
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
franciscan monk attempts to use RCT to study divine intervention. fabulous.
I had to pull out my Post-It flags for this one -- I kept finding beautiful, thought-provoking passages to bookmark. I especially enjoyed Wilder's thoughtful observations on human nature & his interesting perspective on love. Here are a few of my favorite passages:
"[Dona Maria] saw that the people of this world moved about in an armor of egotism, drunk with self-gazing, athirst 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." (p. 18)
"[Camila] was quite incapable of establishing any harmony between the claims of her art, of her appetites, or her dreams, and of her crowded daily routine. Each of these was a world in itself." (p. 88) [I can *so* relate to this!]
"The discrepancy between faith and the facts is greater than is generally assumed." (p. 113)
And, of course, the final passage:
"Even now, almost no one remembers Esteban and Pepita, but myself. Camila alone remembers her Uncle Pio and her son; this woman, her mother. But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, 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." (p. 123)
Don't know how I missed out on reading this book in school, but I'm glad I've found it now. While it doesn't answer the question of why tragedies occur, its message is an uplifting one.
"[Dona Maria] saw that the people of this world moved about in an armor of egotism, drunk with self-gazing, athirst 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." (p. 18)
"[Camila] was quite incapable of establishing any harmony between the claims of her art, of her appetites, or her dreams, and of her crowded daily routine. Each of these was a world in itself." (p. 88) [I can *so* relate to this!]
"The discrepancy between faith and the facts is greater than is generally assumed." (p. 113)
And, of course, the final passage:
"Even now, almost no one remembers Esteban and Pepita, but myself. Camila alone remembers her Uncle Pio and her son; this woman, her mother. But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, 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." (p. 123)
Don't know how I missed out on reading this book in school, but I'm glad I've found it now. While it doesn't answer the question of why tragedies occur, its message is an uplifting one.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
See my review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/day-614-the-bridge-of-san-luis-rey/
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/day-614-the-bridge-of-san-luis-rey/