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Bridge of Sighs
 

Bridge of Sighs

by Richard Russo

Amazon Significant Seven, November 2007: Richard Russo's first book since the Pulitzer Prize-winning Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs is a typically stunning portrait of three small town families struggling--like the town itself--to strike a balance between obsessively embracing their own history or shunning it entirely, with devastating consequences along both paths. Bridge of Sighs is pure... (read more)

Top tags: fiction,  small town,  family,  contemporary fiction,  art (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

3 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Sarah J
  • Rated 5 stars

“This book has grown on me even after I've finished it, because it keeps coming up in my thoughts. Richard Russo's writing is amazing, with his characters, I think, being his greatest strength. His books always take me a while to read - they're not edge-of-the seat reading - but it's only because they require time to absorb. For me it was a page-turner but I turned the pages slowly...”

Sarah J’s full review »
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Didn’t Like It

b.schock
  • Rated 2 stars

“I don't know what to do with this book. I didn't care for it while I was reading it. But now, as I reflect back, my opinion of it is improving, slightly. It is not a great book like “Empire Falls”. My dilemma is this: Russo gets credit for creating real, believable characters so it his fault if these people don’t have much to say? I usually don’t mind stories about normal people dealing with normal problems if the prose is good. And Russo’s prose is good but, perhaps, there is too much...”

b.schock’s full review »
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Community:
  • Rated 3.817829 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 3.5 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Inkberry

    inkberry said:

    “I actually was in Venice last Christmas and walked over the Bridge of Sighs. Prison was pretty frightening...they allowed us to roam through it.”

    posted Sunday, August 24 2008
  • Sarah Y

    sarah y said:

    “God, this book was horrible.The characters were consistent, I'll give them that. But I really didn't care about a single one of them. Or their town. Or their damnable store. True, the characters were well drawn, but they were completely one-dimensional, predictable, and unlikeable. Russo captured a town in stagnation, and along with the population, my interest stagnated after paragraph one. I hope the rest of his books aren't this boring.
    ”

    posted Monday, January 21 2008
  • jereco

    jereco said:

    “This is definitely the least of his novels. The alternating view-points worked well for me until the abrupt shift to a third perspective at the end of the novel. It was like some sort of emotional blackmail - a total cheat and cop-out. (and the melodramatic situation it described was from some other world entirely - like a bad Hallmark Hall of Fame special). Fortunately his prose is as engaging as always, and his career will withstand this mis-fire - and I'll still be one of the first in line for his next effort.”

    posted Sunday, January 20 2008
  • Blue Cypress Books

    blue cypress books said:

    “Russo's writing never fails to be moving and memorable. However, this book could have used a good editor.”

    posted Sunday, January 20 2008
  • mark c

    mark c said:

    “Unreliable Narrator?

    Do you believe Lucy was unreliable in his telling of his youth? Sarah mentioned a few items where he was unreliable. Do you think he told his story differently that how it really happened? Which parts were most changed (Bobby's friendship)?”

    posted Tuesday, January 8 2008
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