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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't remember much about this book except that it was very moving to me when I read it as a teenager. Would like to re-read one day.
Thornton Wilder's writing reminds me of Sherwood Anderson. They both write pretty but their writing comes across old-fashioned which perhaps is the reason why these two prolific authors are not as strongly remembered today as some of their counterparts such as Hemingway.
I struggled to get through this lullaby-like narrative due to the rhythmic structure which made my mind drift. Wilder uses this structure of verse to write a historical fictional account of Peru in the 1700s in which the debate of chance or fate triggers Brother Juniper, a Franciscan Monk, to dedicate part of his life into discovering what were the reasons for five strangers to be crossing a bridge when it collapsed. This short novel presents three various stories of the strangers in which the only commonality was that separate acts of love brought them to the bridge. Hence, the famous last line of the story: "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 personally feel that Wilder received the Pulitzer Prize for that line alone. It does not matter if fate or chance controls our lives because either one is beyond our control anyways. The only thing that matters in life that we can control are random acts of love.
I struggled to get through this lullaby-like narrative due to the rhythmic structure which made my mind drift. Wilder uses this structure of verse to write a historical fictional account of Peru in the 1700s in which the debate of chance or fate triggers Brother Juniper, a Franciscan Monk, to dedicate part of his life into discovering what were the reasons for five strangers to be crossing a bridge when it collapsed. This short novel presents three various stories of the strangers in which the only commonality was that separate acts of love brought them to the bridge. Hence, the famous last line of the story: "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 personally feel that Wilder received the Pulitzer Prize for that line alone. It does not matter if fate or chance controls our lives because either one is beyond our control anyways. The only thing that matters in life that we can control are random acts of love.
reflective
tense
medium-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
I really liked the premise here; it's one that I've thought of at many points during my own life. It asks the question of why things happen to people. Is it random? Is it fate? Is it part of the plan of a higher being? As the story begins, a bridge that has held for hundreds of years collapses and 5 people fall to their deaths. The event was witnessed by a monk, Brother Juniper, who seeks to find out what these people did to deserve their fates, on the assumption that God has a plan.
He had done this once before when pestilence visited his home village and many died, ranking each peasant's Goodness, Piety and Usefulness with results that had displeased him:
And so this time, he took a different approach, talking to family and friends of the deceased, learning as much as he could about them. Or at least, the adults.
Two of the three who perished were children, and I really wish more time had been spent on them. The three adults each got their own chapters, but the children were only mentioned as part of the adult stories. It seems to me that if you were going to answer questions about whether its part of God's plan, you'd need to take the children into account. After all, they haven't had much time in their short lives to do something that is "deserving" of death. And it seems a cruel, cruel God who would kill a child to punish a "deserving" adult.
The adults were all flawed, but they all had good qualities as well. And they interacted with people who were decidedly more flawed. The thing they had in common was obsession ... or unrequited love and loss, depending on your viewpoint. The ending seems to imply something about love but ... I'm not sure it was meant to be taken literally. There's a bit of a satire feeling to much of this book.
Anyway, it was a nice read. Interesting viewpoints, interesting characters, and a lot to think about. The fate of Brother Juniper says a lot.
He had done this once before when pestilence visited his home village and many died, ranking each peasant's Goodness, Piety and Usefulness with results that had displeased him:
Spoiler
From all this saddening data Brother Juniper contrived an index for each peasant. He added up the total for victims and compared it with the total for survivors, to discover that the dead were five times more worth saving. It almost looked as though the pestilence had been directed against the really valuable people in the village of Puerto. And on that afternoon Brother Juniper took a walk along the edge of the Pacific. He tore up his findings and cast them into the waves; he gazed for an hour upon the great clouds of pearl that hang forever upon the horizon of that sea, and extracted from their beauty a resignation that he did not permit his reason to examine. The discrepancy between faith and the facts is greater than is generally assumed.And so this time, he took a different approach, talking to family and friends of the deceased, learning as much as he could about them. Or at least, the adults.
Two of the three who perished were children, and I really wish more time had been spent on them. The three adults each got their own chapters, but the children were only mentioned as part of the adult stories. It seems to me that if you were going to answer questions about whether its part of God's plan, you'd need to take the children into account. After all, they haven't had much time in their short lives to do something that is "deserving" of death. And it seems a cruel, cruel God who would kill a child to punish a "deserving" adult.
The adults were all flawed, but they all had good qualities as well. And they interacted with people who were decidedly more flawed. The thing they had in common was obsession ... or unrequited love and loss, depending on your viewpoint. The ending seems to imply something about love but ... I'm not sure it was meant to be taken literally. There's a bit of a satire feeling to much of this book.
Anyway, it was a nice read. Interesting viewpoints, interesting characters, and a lot to think about. The fate of Brother Juniper says a lot.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t remember when or how this got added to my TBR list, but I’m so glad that it did. This is an absolutely beautiful novel; there are passages within the last two pages that stopped me in my tracks. Besides exploring universal themes related to love, grief, and faith, Wilder also paints a vivid picture of 18th century Peruvian culture and politics.
I’d particularly recommend this edition, as the Foreword and Afterword were enjoyable to read and provided helpful context for someone new to both Wilder and this book.
I’d particularly recommend this edition, as the Foreword and Afterword were enjoyable to read and provided helpful context for someone new to both Wilder and this book.
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
‘On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travellers into the gulf below.’
Who were these five people? Why were they on the bridge? A witness to the accident, Brother Juniper wonders why this happened to those five and resolves to inquire into their secret lives. Because, surely ‘… this collapse of the bridge of San Luis Rey was a sheer Act of God.’
This is the first part of the story; the next three parts of the story introduce the characters whose lives ended when the bridge collapsed. There are connections between the individuals: the Marquesa de Montemayor, estranged from her daughter, and her servant Pepita are the first mentioned. Pepita and Esteban, who also died in the collapse, were orphans raised by the Abbess Madre María del Pilar. Esteban’s identical twin brother Manuel, whose death has driven Esteban to grief, had written letters for Camila Perichole, a brilliant Peruvian actress. And it is Camila Perichole’s son Don Jaime and her mentor Uncle Pio who are the fourth and fifth victims.
Part five of the story opens by telling us that a new stone bridge has been built, and that Brother Jupiter’s pursuit of detail caused his book to be judged heretical. Both are burned. But the story is noy yet finished. Sometime later Camila meets with Abbess Madre María del Pilar, as does the Condesa d’Abuirre (daughter of the Marquesa de Montemayor). The story ends with the Abbess’s conclusions.
Abbess Madre María del Pilar’s witnessing of Camila and Doña Clara’s spiritual awakening leads her to conclude: ‘Even now’, she thought, ‘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.’
Mr Wilder used just one hundred pages to tell this story. Each of the adult characters is fully realised, while Don Jaime, a child, is frozen between actual and potential lives. And the deaths? Coincidence and chance, or fate? Poor Brother Juniper: his efforts proven nothing in relation to these deaths and resulted in his own.
This novella was the winner of the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
