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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This book wasn't for me; I read about two chapters and realized it wasn't interesting enough for me to continue.
I’ve loved every Lauren Beukes book I’ve read, and Bridge is no exception. It’s a sci-fi thriller about multiverses, friendship, and mothers and daughters. The titular Bridge is Bridget, whose troubled mother Jo recently died of a brain tumor. When Bridge and her friend Dom attempt to clean out her mother’s house, they discover the dreamworm, a psychedelic from Bridge’s childhood that allowed her and Jo to visit other worlds. In the years since and with a lot of therapy, Bridge had convinced herself that the dreamwork was an illusion. But now she isn’t so sure…
Bridge was a terrific read. I loved the complicated timelines and multiple POVs, both of which were some of my favorite parts of Beukes’ earlier novel The Shining Girls. Bridge was an adrenaline rush from start to finish, and went in delightfully unexpected directions from time to time. I also loved the overarching themes about mothers and daughters, responsibility, and the idea that sometimes family is who you choose, not genetics. Beukes never commits the cardinal worldbuilding sin of overexplaining and the novel leaves many mysteries intact. I’m such a fan of her imagination and she’s a must-read for fans of funny, intelligent sci-fi.
Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.
Bridge was a terrific read. I loved the complicated timelines and multiple POVs, both of which were some of my favorite parts of Beukes’ earlier novel The Shining Girls. Bridge was an adrenaline rush from start to finish, and went in delightfully unexpected directions from time to time.
Spoiler
The reveal that the main narrative world isn’t ours (President Harris! YouTube is fact checked and moderated!) was great and I loved the tiny differences between multiverses.Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Utterly unique. Where does she come up with her ideas?! Brilliant in research and detail.
Absolutely bananas - had a really hard time getting into it, almost put it down, but glad I finished. It takes over a hundred pages to introduce the antagonist, the narrative build in general is extremely slow, and then the last hundred pages are an absolute whirlwind, exciting and upsetting and really fascinating!
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I listened to the audiobook, read brilliantly by Lisa Cordileone, which really helped me to keep up with the plot as it leapt around.
Was lucky enough to win an ARC of this one. I've read and enjoyed Broken Monsters, and have bought a couple of Lauren Beukes' other novels without getting to them yet, making this my second read by this author.
Our main character Bridget (Bridge) and her best friend Dom are visiting the home of her recently deceased estranged mother. We have some hints that Bridge had, lets say, an interesting childhood, and a strange and difficult relationship with her mother. Thankfully, she's mostly resolved this in therapy, until a discovery in the house throws everything she thought she understood about her own past into question. The book wastes no time in launching into it's sci-fi elements and had me intrigued pretty quickly. It's laid out on the back of the book, so it's no spoiler to say we're soon following multiple plot threads and characters, in multiple realities, and wondering how they're going to come together. Around the 3/4 mark the action kicks up, I found it pretty easy to marathon through to the end on a mercifully slow night at work. Overall, a very satisfying read. It might still take me a while but I'm bumping up The Shining Girls and Afterland on my TBR list. What quibbles I did have, are minor.
Dom is a very easy to like character, and had a couple great fist-pump kind of moments towards the end, but there were a couple moments where I sort of questioned if their motivations and actions were lining up completely--where I might have expected a stronger or more emphatic response from them. Also, the amount of dreamworm our main characters have, and the eventual necessity of somehow finding more, seemed at moments to be in the forefront of our main characters minds, and then at times would sort of fall out the narrative, and just no longer seem like a problem for a while. One final thing I'm going to speak deliberately vaguely about, but will still put behind a spoiler tag, as it involves a characters motivations that aren't revealed until later:
Still a book I'd recommend--and very cool to have a chance to read it before everyone else, grateful to the author and publisher for the opportunity.
Our main character Bridget (Bridge) and her best friend Dom are visiting the home of her recently deceased estranged mother. We have some hints that Bridge had, lets say, an interesting childhood, and a strange and difficult relationship with her mother. Thankfully, she's mostly resolved this in therapy, until a discovery in the house throws everything she thought she understood about her own past into question. The book wastes no time in launching into it's sci-fi elements and had me intrigued pretty quickly. It's laid out on the back of the book, so it's no spoiler to say we're soon following multiple plot threads and characters, in multiple realities, and wondering how they're going to come together. Around the 3/4 mark the action kicks up, I found it pretty easy to marathon through to the end on a mercifully slow night at work. Overall, a very satisfying read. It might still take me a while but I'm bumping up The Shining Girls and Afterland on my TBR list. What quibbles I did have, are minor.
Dom is a very easy to like character, and had a couple great fist-pump kind of moments towards the end, but there were a couple moments where I sort of questioned if their motivations and actions were lining up completely--where I might have expected a stronger or more emphatic response from them. Also, the amount of dreamworm our main characters have, and the eventual necessity of somehow finding more, seemed at moments to be in the forefront of our main characters minds, and then at times would sort of fall out the narrative, and just no longer seem like a problem for a while. One final thing I'm going to speak deliberately vaguely about, but will still put behind a spoiler tag, as it involves a characters motivations that aren't revealed until later:
Spoiler
Jo's motivations for using the dreamworm are revealed in the end, and I think it's meant to feel like a surprise. At some point around half way through maybe, I assumed these motivations correctly, and when I reached this point I kind of had to remind myself, oh right, her daughter, Bridge hasn't actually put this together yet--this is a surprise to her. I'm not sure if other readers will have my experience, but without the text making it explicit, it seemed pretty clear what she was looking for, at least to me, and this may have deflated in a small way, the impact of these scenes at the end.Still a book I'd recommend--and very cool to have a chance to read it before everyone else, grateful to the author and publisher for the opportunity.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at 25%. Just... Weird. And not weird in a way that was compelling enough to make me excited to pick it up again... Something about the timeline hopping, parallel universes (and the way the characters travel) and multiple POVs just wasn't working for me. Usually I like weird so maybe I'll finish it another time and enjoy it more