Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Bridge of Sighs
Book Review: Decent book with dreadful characters.
Summary: 3 Stars
I was a fan of Empire Falls, so decided to check this out. I was pleased to see its length, as I like a good, meaty book.
In some ways, it's similar to Empire Falls: weak-willed and complacent man grows up in a wretched, rundown small town, goes to college for a couple of years, and identical family circumstances call him home (to his relief), and he never goes anywhere else. For some reason, though, I was able to like the main character in Empire Falls. The main male characters in this book, however, were simply too awful to like.
The father Lou is an oafish buffoon, always grinning like an idiot, spouting moronic platitudes along the lines of "why can't we all just get along?" I hate stupid people, e.g., Homer Simpson annoys me to death. this guy is worse than Homer Simpson, because he's stupid without being funny. His wife is the sensible one, and even after reading this book, I still don't understand fully how she ended up with this cretin.
Then she bears his child, another simpleton, whining, sniffling, clinging to the one boy who deigns to speak to him. Afraid of his own shadow, always mewling to come back to his parents' convenience store. Pathetic.
His girlfriend and later wife, Sarah, is clearly far too talented and spirited to stay with this idiot, but because family events leave her needy and frightened, she does. Their marriage is dull, and the one time the wife wants to travel, he finds a way to stymie her.
I don't know if it was Russo's intent, but this book should scare any woman with an IQ of over 40 far away from marriage, because this book seems to say men will drag you down, crush your dreams, irritate you constantly with their never-ending stream of stupidity, and stifle you in a horrid, cancer-ridden small town.
Other than the fact that the two main male characters were awful, whining, sniveling buffoons, I actually did like this book. Russo transitions from character to character, and time to time, with ease. Even though he skips around to different points of time and different characters, it's very easy to follow. The characters are all well fleshed out and interesting (well, not Lucy and his father, they're mindnumbingly dull), the action moves fairly quickly.
The ending, however, seems rushed, like he was coming to the end of this lengthy tome and got frustrated and said "that's it! I'm sick of this book and I want to end it NOW."
All in all, a good book. My distaste for Lucy and his father aside, one I might read again.
Book Review: Definitely recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Russo's latest novel seems, at the outset, to be the story of Lou C. Lynch (known as Lucy), a good-natured, kind-hearted, loyal, unadventurous, play-it-safe family man who, at the age of 60, has taken to writing his memoirs and the history of the small town in which he grew up. While his childhood story is rich with the conflict that ripped through his hometown as a child, from poverty to racism to infidelity, Lucy's narrative is optimistic, nostalgic, and at times, naive. It's not until the reader gets a glimpse into the older Lucy's deepest thoughts, as well as the unexpected perspective of supporting characters, that the darker, more malevolent aspects of Lucy's childhood begin to emerge. What begins as a heartfelt reminiscence slowly becomes a captivating novel full of secrets, leaving the reader hungry to continue reading. Russo captures the heart and soul of his characters beautifully, and has created a novel well worth reading.Book Review: Devoured it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed Empire Falls, but absolutely devoured Bridge of Sighs. Of course, as I was reading it, I occasionally identified passages that I knew would drive many a reader straight to [...] to write an exasperated review. Yes, it could have been edited and still told the tale in full, but the meandering quality of all the narratives (even Lucy's) was my favorite aspect of this novel. The ways in which Lucy is revealed to be an unreliable narrator are subtle -- and sometimes surprising -- and perhaps speak about the nature of memoirs in general.
Maybe it's because I'm a product of years of sitting on the porch and listening to the grown-ups talk after supper, but redundancy is the core of oral tradition. While the novel is obviously not oral in form, there is the notion that these are the things that Lucy has repeated to himself for years on end, until he is finally able to put them on paper as he would prefer to remember them and have them remembered, truth be damned. Somehow, the repetition in this book -- all those things that might have been so efficiently excised -- supports the notion that we remember what we reinforce (and sometimes have to gently reconstruct our pasts to better suit our present circumstances, even if it's not always in our best interest to do so). And, yes: some of the conclusions to the long, drawn-out storylines were anticlimactic, but I felt as if the characters realized this, right alongside the reader, and found redemption in the process.
Does that means that everyone wants to trudge through this psychic excavation with this endearing, sometimes maddening, cast of characters? Obviously not. But I, for one, enjoyed the ride.
Book Review: Disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
Russo is one of my favorite writers--he pulls me right into his characters, who are generally very interesting. My disappointment usually comes because a Russo book has ended. However, my disappointment in Bridge of Sighs dealt with it's rather ponderous, plodding pace, and the feeling that the author tried very hard to make it work, but just didn't quite get there. It is a lovely big book, one that lasts a while--no large fonts and big spacing here, and I had hoped to enjoy going back to it each evening. If you've read Straight Man, you may understand my thoughts. If not, now there's a book!!!!Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Like others on this site, I agree that Bridge of Sighs would have benefitted greatly from extensive editing. My issue with the book is not so much that "nothing happens" (which can still make for gorgeous writing), but that its prose unrolls so unelegantly. Also, the last 100 pages or so ties up loose-end after loose-end in an amatuerish fashion unworthy of this author. The shifts in narrative perspective (from Lou to Bobby to Sarah,from present to past) felt forced and wooden. Disappointing.