- Hardcover: 148 pages
- Publisher: Buccaneer Books (December 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0899668534
- ISBN-13: 978-0899668536
- Product Dimensions: 22.2 x 14.7 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 354 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,990,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From AudioFile
In this Pulitzer Prize winner, a bridge collapses in eighteenth-century Peru; five die. Who were they? In the answer to that question lie numerous cosmic ironies, which are related in a melancholy narrative of great power, simplicity and beauty. Waterston, star of NBC's "Law and Order," never possessed a strong voice. Time has made it hoarse and scratchy. Nonetheless, he reads intelligently with just the right sombre tone. As is usual with HighBridge titles, the sound quality is pristine. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
-- New York Herald Tribune
"A masterpiece"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fact or Fiction,
By
This review is from: The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (Paperback)
Could you imagine crossing a raging river by means of a bridge made from braided grass. Not a thought I am comfortable with. It could collapse beneath my feet.
Thornton Wilder was inspired by a such a collapse that occured in the 1890's in Peru over the Apurimac River. In his 1927 book he ponders the lives of the people who were lost in his fictional bridge collapse. Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk, witnesses this collapse and while most people thank God that they weren't on that bridge, he wonders why God choose that moment, when those specific people were on the bridge, to tumble the bridge into the river. He spends the next six years investigating the details of the lives of those five victims to try and find a scientific rational. Did these people know each other, were they tied together, were they good people or were they bad, was this a punishment or a reward that they died at that moment. Very quickly our narrator, Brother Juniper, delved into the life of the first victim Dona Maria the Marquesa de Montemayor. I was a bit confused as to why we were being told all these intimate details of her life, but figured if I kept listening all would be made clear. Perhaps I missed a detail as I was driving while listening and my attention was foremost on the road not the story. Turned out that I needed to know the true person to Dona Maria to understand her frame of mind and her relationship with her daughter so that I could later understand her death. The life of each victim of the diaster was equally presented; Pepita, the companion of Dona Maria; Esteban, the surviving orphan twin; Uncle Pio, man of all trades; and finally little Jaime, sickly young boy, nephew of sorts to Uncle Pio. Mr. Thornton had me convinced that this story was absolutely true. That he had travelled to Peru and searched out the documents of the Friar and presented a synopsis of that massive tome. So what did I get out of this? That we are put on this earth for a reason, to learn a lesson that perhaps we didn't learn in a previous life. Each of these five people had reached that point in their lives where they had to answer or face that final question and because they showed they had learned that lesson, they were granted the grace of dying. Next they could be reborn to a new life and a further lesson to be learned. I don't know what you will find when you read this book, but that's one of the great things about reading, we can all read the same words and we each can get something totally different from them. 1928 Pulitzer Prize winner
5.0 out of 5 stars
a book lover,
By A Customer
This review is from: Bridge Of San Luis Rey: A Novel (Hardcover)
one of the greatest books i will ever read. so deep and so beautifully written, everyone must read it!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three things about this book:exquisite, exquisite, exquisite,
By JackOfMostTrades "Jack" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (Paperback)
If you want to read a novel written in masterful, melodic prose with exquisite character development, an intriguing and beguiling plot structure, and a work of profound substance and meaning, read this book. It is a true work of art. Read it, then read any contemporary American novel, read any winner of the National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, etc., and see the dearth of talent that exists among even our most "distinguished" prose stylists. Read it aloud and hear how a master of the English language can construct a narrative that is as perfect to the ear as a piece of classical music.
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