The Bridge of San Luis Rey | 
pickThe Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (1927)
Premise: In the aftermath of a bridge collapse in 1700s Peru, a monk tries to understand why the victims were ‘chosen‘ to die.
Review: This early Pulitzer Prize winner explores evergreen themes of fate, free will, the justice of God, and meaning in a world where terrible things happen every day. Cont.
pickA Pulitzer Prize winner, Bridge explores the collapse of a fabled bridge in eighteenth-century Peru. It centers around Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk, who watched 5 people plunge into the water to their deaths. With deft prose, he ponders fate, love, and the interconnectedness of human lives. Beautifully done.
#Pantone2023 @Clwojick @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#RushAThon Day 23
Slowly making my way through the scratch off poster. #100essentialnovels
i joined the #wordytraveler bookclub on the Peru box. This is the fiction that came with it.
It was OK, a pulitzer prize winner written in the 1920‘s….. by a white american.
I‘m disappointed that the two books that came in the Peru box were both by white american men…
The tagged book wasn‘t even really about Peru. But hey it was short #peru #classic #subscriptionbox
I decided to watch one of the few Hitchcock movies I have yet to see, Shadow of a Doubt before it leaves Criterion tomorrow. Hitchcock said it was his favorite movie that he made. I was interested to see that Thornton Wilder was one of the screenwriters!
pickI liked the humor, which you wouldn‘t expect from a book about the five people who fell to their deaths when a bridge fell. But that‘s just the conceit. The book is really a wonderful character study, and a reminder that no one really knows everything about another human being.
“There was something in Lima that was wrapped up in yards of violet satin from which protruded a great dropsical head and two fat pearly hands; and that was its archbishop.”
@Cosmos_Moon #ThankfulThursday
Sorry for the late post!Thanks for the tag, genuinely thought provoking-I find this quote very moving and beautiful,from a really compelling book with memorable characters.Is it the first of its kind where a central event connects disparate characters?
1.Constant vigilance!Constant worry about my parents.
2.Being at my parents house and I am thankful everyday when all my loved ones are healthy.
so-soI have been thinking about how to rate this book a couple of days. I decided that what I mostly liked about it was the concept, describing the lives of the 5 people who fell off the bridge. Other than that, I did not particularly like the people (not wishing them to die) and did not feel that there was any closure. I‘ll leave it at that. Blah ⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickFive residents of Lima, Peru and its environs fall to their deaths when a bridge collapses on which they‘d been traveling. Brother Juniper of the Franciscan order, methodically analyzing each of their lives to determine why these particular souls should befall such a tragedy, encounters no such overriding reason for their fate. “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”
pickDid you read this one in high school? It‘s definitely worth a re-read, especially these days. Five people died in an “act of God.” Why them? Brother Juniper tries to use the scientific method to demonstrate God‘s plan, but as we read about each of the victims, we discover what the real meaning of life it. Written in 1927 (Pulitzer winner 1928), its message is timeless. https://cannonballread.com/2020/08/the-bridge-of-san-luis-rey-elcicco/
pickThis book is a masterpiece. It explores love in such a deep and meaningful way, exploring different types from mother-daughter love, to brotherly love, to romantic love. In every instance, deep characters are built to where you can really see why they do what they do. This book disguised itself as a theological pondering of death but is so much more than that simple preface. I highly recommend this book to anyone!
So I forgot I still had this to read for #lmpbc roind 3 and just saw it today - hope you don't mind if I send it back next week because I really want to read it! @Wannabe_Quijote But if you need it back, I'll drop it in the mail this week. 😀
pickWhat an interesting set of character vignettes to read. Really glad this one came my way to read.
For a journey into the psyche of each character leading to a thought provoking conclusion, I really enjoyed this classic that I missed in my college days! Well worth your time if you ever wonder why life turns out as it does...
April 17: #AprilBookishMadness— #BookishBirthdays; I couldn‘t remember any standouts from my books so I went with author/playwright Thornton Wilder...
When once we were just an "insane vision" #women #readingwomen #womenempowerment #classics
For today‘s #novemberbythenumbers I am choosing this book published in 1927. I have read this one twice and know I will read it again.
pickA book I wasn‘t sure how much I liked until the very end. The story of five people who die in a bridge collapse: who they are, how they got there, and how they‘re remembered afterward. A quick and easy read with lots to chew on.
pickThe writing is a bit more formal than I prefer but this one made me think. Planning to pick up some more Wilder!
Thornton Wilder would have been 120 years old today. Celebrate his birthday with his most famous novel:
https://readtheworld.org/2015/11/03/the-bridge-of-san-luis-rey-by-thornton-wilde...
#thorntonwilder #authorbirthday #happymonday #readingtime #oliveedition
For today's reading challenge, a book I know I read for a class, but about which I could tell you nothing. I do know there is a bridge. 😜
#lyricalapril @Cinfhen
pickThis was a really interesting book; as well as a, dare I say, fascinating look into tragedy, and how it affects people.
Decided to make The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder my first book of the year.
The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs.
pickFour stories in one that interconnect in several ways. Brother Juniper is trying to make sense of the tragedy of the bridge that fell and the five victims of it. He tells their stories beautifully, trying to figure out if there was some method or rhyme/reason why they died. A sad little story that breaks your heart in many ways. The writing was slow and thoughtful and melancholy. Beautiful book.
The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs.
There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.
There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.
Bookish Pair: For another brilliant take on theodicy, Mary Doria Russell‘s The Sparrow (1995)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3w