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Big Sigh of Relief - Finally Finished This Book
“This book explores the depressed, upstate New York town of Thomaston through the eyes of Louis ("Lucy") Lynch, from his childhood to his early 60's. He is a gentle soul who loves his town and marries his high school sweetheart, Sarah. His father, Lou, is a sweet, optimistic man who can irritate the heck out of his more pragmatic wife, Tessa. When Lou loses his job as a milkman, he buys a convenience store, Ikey Lubin's, which becomes a town hangout and represents the emotional heart of the town and story.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-11-11.
Lucy suffers a traumatic episode when he is about 8 year old and some bullies lock him in a trunk. From that point on, he suffers spells which continue into his 60's. His childhood fiend, Bobby, was peripherally involved, but Lucy doesn't acknowledge this and continues to pursue a somewhat one-sided friendship with Bobby. The town is socially and racially segregated, and in one scene, a black boy, Mock Junior, who goes to the movies with Sarah, is viciously beaten by another high school student, Perry. Perry is never punished, and in fact ends up in an English class taught by Sarah's father who brings Mock Junior to class as a kind of prop. Bobby and Sarah's dysfunctional families are featured and serve as sharp contrasts to the loving Lynch family.
I'll spare the rest of the plot details, but the various stories and subplots unwind slowly as the years pass. People age, bad things happen, some good things happen, people die, and people reunite. This book is an unsatisfying saga that drags unbearably at times. It contains an odd mix of fully, developed characters and caricatures. As the characters age, they seem to lose any spark and personality that they once had (either that or they die). Grim.
Lucy loves Thomaston and never wants to leave. I wanted to leave very much. I felt trapped in that town and in that book. The book conveys a strong theme of loyalty - to friends, to family, to your spouse, and to your town. The book seemed to suggest, through various relationships it portrayed, that following your heart is too risky and it is best to play it safe.
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Great Read
“I picked up this book after it was recommended by a co-worker. It was the first book I read by Richard Russo and it will not be my last. The amount of detail the author put into the story was impeccable which allowed me to be able to visualize and understand the characters and their motives. The plot at times moved slowly, but don't get discouraged because it only benefits the character study which in my mind was the crux of the book. By the end of the book, the characters became like family.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-30.
P.S. Those who read this book based on my recommendation loved it as well. ” -
Another great Russo book.
“Thanks for your prompt service. This book was recommended by a friend in book club and was so easy to find this way. I do most of my book shopping on Amazon.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-18. -
Better every book
“I have read several of Russo's earlier works, and while I often found them witty and insightful, there were always aspects that seemed to ring false. The women characters were either elderly and authoritive, flirty and stupid, or intellectually pretentious and slutty. There seemed no place in his fiction for women who were complex, intelligent,sensual human beings, or, for that matter, for men who valued these traits in women. His women characters were all cartoons, and his men character seemed to prefer them like that.This made his books entertaining, but little more. The Bridge of Sighs finally has real men and women in it. This time, all the characters are drawn with compassion, insight, and awareness.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-17.
I recognize these people. I grew up among them.
I also like the fact that all the ends of the plot are not neatly and artifically tied up, as in his earlier work. In this novel, we never learn the identity of the adulterous couple whom Lou overhears when he is shut up in the trunk. We don't learn it because at the end of the book, Lou is involved in the present, the adoption of Kayla, rather than obsessed with the past. This feels absoluately right, since he has now worked thorugh enough of the past to understand what matters and what doesn't. Sarah's unexpected departure and return also makes perfect sense, and helps to create a parallel between the two characters as people who seek to understand the past and find a future free of its worst misunderstandings.
Bridge of Sighs is an excellent book, Russo's best so far. In a way, it is too bad he received a Pulitzer for Empire Falls, since Bridge of Sighs certainly deserves it. Nobel? I suppose it not trendy enough for that, nor probably are the politics right for an American writer. This is a pity. It's a world-class novel.
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Wonderfully Structured Novel
“Read this book one Saturday morning at a time. And every Saturday I looked forward to diving back in and picking up the story. If you're looking for a book to tune out with - this is not that book. But if you're looking for a book filled with precise and honest observation, and you don't mind a structure that pushes what a novel can be -- this is your reading material. Can a book be dark and inspiring at the same time? I guess Russo shows that it can.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-08.
