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Title: Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)
Score:
Author: Richard Russo
Rating: Not available
Hits: 41

Review of Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)

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Comments for Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)

• Posted on 2010-03-06
  A very beautiful novel
  
  I have read other books by Richard Russo and loved them, but this one is my favorite. It is admittedly written at a pace that can bother some people, but it has the most believable and real characters I've ever read in a book.
  The tone of the book and his treatment of the characters is what struck me the most, you see their flaws and Russo allows you to relate to them, pity them, feel above them and basically feel the way one might to real people. Often authors rever or mock their characters and Russo presents how these people fell into their lives and their destinies while allowing for both.
  I can understand why people might like his other books more, since they are faster and easier, but this one is very, very rewarding.
  
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• Posted on 2010-02-13
  bridge of sighs
  
  what a great story! the book tells the trials of growing up and the similar thoughts, difficulties, and joys many of us experience.
  
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• Posted on 2010-02-11
  Bitter disappointment
  
  Having read and loved ALL of Richard Russo's novels, plus his collection of short stories, I suppose it was bound to happen that he would eventually produce something underwhelming, but really... What IS this? The book alternates between two men, though the more interesting man gets short shrift, and the dull one's episodes seem to last forever. As the novel begins winding down -never having really built up much steam- we are suddenly shifted into a third point of view.
  
  Ummmm, Hello? Mr. Russo? The term is "deus ex machina" - and it doesn't work any better in a novel than it does in a play.
  
  Suddenly making the ignored wife character into a major player in the last seconds of the game is not only distancing and odd, it's dishonest. Suddenly shifting focus from the non-relationship between these two men to the woman's relationship with a total stranger is also a cheap trick.
  
  I'm glad that I enjoy Russo's prose - it saved this book from being a total loss, but not by much.
  
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• Posted on 2010-02-05
  A dense story of character
  
  Louis Lynch lives in the same small upstate New York town he has always lived in. He loves the town, his wife, his business, and the memory of his father, a big, simple bear of a man, dead many years from the cancer that haunts the polluted town. A possible visit to to see childhood friend and famous artist Bobby Marconi brings out all of Louis's long held insecurities. A dense story of character.
  
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• Posted on 2010-02-02
  There's good news and there's bad news
  
  The good news is that I enjoyed the story-line, most of the prose, and many of the characters. Lou Lynch's reflections on his last 60 years focuses on the town of Thomaston in upstate New York and the convenience store, Ikey Lubin's that his father purchases when his milk route becomes extinct. Lou's best friend, Bobby Marconi and Lou's girlfriend, Sarah Berg are main characters and are well developed. As is Lou's beloved Dad, Big Lou. I would like to know someone like Big Lou. The bad news is that the book is just too long and wordy and some of the events and characters seem unnecessary. Overall, I would rate this book with 3.5 stars.
  
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