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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Interesting premise, trying to quantify people's lives, their virtues after a bridge falls and they fall to their death. Trying to answer why it was that those people met their ends. Some good bits about love and death/grief.
“We ourselves shall be loved for awhile 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.”
"We do what we can. We push on, Esteban, as best we can. It isn't for long, you know. Time keeps going by. You'll be surprised at the way time passes.”
“We ourselves shall be loved for awhile 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.”
"We do what we can. We push on, Esteban, as best we can. It isn't for long, you know. Time keeps going by. You'll be surprised at the way time passes.”
I usually skip forewords, introductions and afterwords, but I went back after I finished this short, unforgettable book and read the foreword and I'm glad I did; I think Russell Banks summed up why we read, why literature is so important: "We are the only species that does not know its own nature naturally and with each new generation has to be shown it anew." Wilder's monk does not figure out if there was any rhyme or reason to the five people who died on the bridge, but he does show us that it is part of our human nature to contemplate these questions that we cannot answer.
The last four sentences of this book are as beautiful and powerful as anything I've ever read. "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."
The last four sentences of this book are as beautiful and powerful as anything I've ever read. "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."
Thornton Wilder is a genius in making the every day seem magical. The closing lines of the book (not directly quoted) - the land of the living and the land of the dead, with the bridge between, which is love says it all.
I read this multiple times and wrote an in depth thesis on the love in this book when I was a Junior in high school. It was my favorite book at the time. Nearly 20 years later, I’ve read quite a few more books and have different tastes. The book is still on my shelf. I thought “how can a book as short as that be as good as I remember?” So I re read it. It’s perfect.
This was my grandmother's favourite book and I only just now read it. Beautiful, wonderful prose. Moving.
I read this book as part of my travel prep for a trip to Peru. While it didn't really serve that purpose it is a great, compact book really about the meaning of your life and what you do and don't mean to others.
There were lots of interesting traits in this novelette. Some with style, some with phrasing, and one of the best final paragraphs of any book anywhere. But, there some very boring parts, too. The intro said it was a modern moral fable, but I did not think it was a fable at all.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my favorite of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels, reading in order of award, so far.
It's a revelation.
I won't try to summarize, but don't let its setting or time put you off. It's just good.
It's a novel written by a master playwright, but the only way you'd know it is by its structure. Its intertwining stories lend itself to play structure, but this is a poetic novel.
Short but wonderful. Just read it!
It's a revelation.
I won't try to summarize, but don't let its setting or time put you off. It's just good.
It's a novel written by a master playwright, but the only way you'd know it is by its structure. Its intertwining stories lend itself to play structure, but this is a poetic novel.
Short but wonderful. Just read it!
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
This Pulitzer winner (1928) has been on my radar for awhile (I've been trying to read at least 5 Pulitzer winners a year and this was my 3rd of 2021). It's a short book, and the writing itself is technical as and beautiful, but somehow, I just didnt enjoy reading it that much. Part of my issue was that each chapter focuses on a different character which is vaguely connected to others in the book, not unlike in Olive Kitteridge. My other issue was that is felt almost... aloof? Like there was a sweetness but also a sarcasm or mockery to each story and I wasnt sure if I liked any of the characters. Both of my issues are more personal taste than any true "issue" with the book, so dont let me discourage you if you're considering, but it wasnt for me.