Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries) Reviews

• In Defense of Richard Russo and a Superb, if Flawed, Novel

  
  By AAIL33CYCT47J on 2007-10-24
  I don't think that anyone could dispute that there are countless advantages to achieving literary success, but the flip side of that coin is that that there are disadvantages as well, some of which are born of those aforementioned perks. Winning a prestigious award like, say, the Pulitzer Prize, which Richard Russo did in 2002 for his previous novel, Empire Falls, gives an author freedom to explore the range of their talents without the interference of an editor. This is a blessing, no doubt, but can also be a hindrance for a writer like Russo, who has a tendency to get so caught up in his lush storytelling that it may come across as endless rambling to the casual reader. That he actually has a firm grasp on the plot no longer matters, because that impatient reader will already be lost to the story. And that's quite a shame when it comes to "Bridge of Sighs" since it's actually quite a good novel despite the fact that a good editor could have pruned some passages here and tightened a few plot-points there. The first hundred pages in particular are a little slow, but stick with it. Russo is one of the best storytellers in current fiction, and trusting him a little will be well worth the early effort.
  
  After winning the Pulitzer Prize Russo took a gamble on a different format with a short story collection entitled The Whore's Child: Stories, which was an unfortunate misfire for him, an author who truly shines when he sticks to what he knows best, and in that regard "Sighs" is a glorious return to form. What Russo really understands are middle-aged characters (especially men) with seemingly simple ambitions and quiet lifestyles - in short, the average American citizen. Like Marilynn Robinson (another Pulitzer winner, she for her novel Gilead: A Novel), his talents lie in making ordinary lives extraordinary. He did it for Miles Roby, the college dropout and proprietor of the Empire Grill in "Empire Falls," and he does it again for Lou `Lucy' Lynch, the college dropout and owner of Ikey Lubins Corner Market at the epicenter of "Sighs" (you probably noticed how similar those character descriptions sound, but don't be fooled - Russo is an expert at playing off the tried-and-true without making it feel redundant for a second).
  
  What "Sighs" is ostensibly about is the relationship between Lynch and Robert Noonan, his childhood friend who is now a successful artist living in Venice while Lynch remains (stagnates?) in their old hometown of Thomaston, NY. The two men are polar opposites: Lynch timid and needy, prone to `spells' when he feels stressed and can't handle it, Noonan aggressive and independent, prone to lashing out with his fists when someone tries to cross him; Lynch comfortable living in the past and fearing tomorrow while Noonan actively tries to escape his past and runs headlong into the future. Their dueling narratives flesh out the complexities of their on-and-off friendship, culminating with their recollections of their fateful senior year of high school, a year that proved to be the catalyst for the rest of their lives. At the end of that year, as we know from the very beginning of the novel, Lynch will have won the hand of Sarah, the girl they both fell in love with and who was torn between them for an agonizing year and, perhaps, beyond, and Noonan will have run away to find his destiny in the wider world. As in "Empire Falls," Russo manages to seamlessly blend predictability with some genuine surprises for a heartfelt and multi-layered climax. Seeing how they all ended up where they are is all part of the superb ending, so anyone who doesn't make it through to the end will be missing out. Big time.
  
  But the deeper theme of the novel has to do with our families and how they shape who we are - whether we want them to or not. For Lynch, a nervous and needy person, looking at his parents there was never any question which one he would rather be like: his (foolishly?) optimistic father easily won out over his sensible, grounded mother because what Lynch desires more than anything else is for his father's simple, good-hearted vision of how the world works to be true. The possibility that life can be senseless and cruel is terrifying to him, therefore he rejects it outright. And yet, he is his mother's son, so his optimism represents a choice rather than an inclination, and somehow he must strike a balance between his reality and his desire. Noonan hates both of his parents equally - his father for being a domineering and abusive presence and his mother for being a weak-willed depressive too damaged to get out of her own way. And though he rejects both of them, it terrifies him to know that he is more like them than he would care to admit. Sarah, meanwhile, is literally torn between her parent's disparate world's thanks to their separation and subsequent divorce: summers with her free-spirited, alcoholic mother and school years with her eccentric, rigorously intellectual father. Through them, Russo explores the holds our parents have on us and how, whether we want them to or not, our families mold our lives, and neither Lynch, Noonan or Sarah will ever truly be at peace until they come to terms with the parts of their parents that reside in their own selves. "Do you think we'll end up like them?" Sarah asks at one point. "What if it isn't up to us? What if we're going to end up like them and there's nothing we can do about it?" It's brilliant stuff, deftly handled by Russo, whose acuity for his leads and how they behave and why is nothing short of revelatory. He also scores big with his bit players - his affection for the mischievous Uncle Dec and embittered Gabriel Mock Jr. is palpable.
  
  But as I said earlier, Russo is best at dealing with what he understands, and while he brings 98% of the cast to vibrant life, he seems uncertain of how to handle characters like Hugh, an effete Manhattan intellectual, or Kayla, an African-American preteen living in poverty on Long Island. Lucky for Russo, those misfires are few and far between.
  
  They say that still waters run deep, and this novel, despite looking like a creek, is a veritable ocean. Despite its flaws, "Bridge of Sighs" is a thrilling and enjoyable read once it's had time to get going. Reading this book was a truly effecting experience for me; I can't stop thinking about it, and that, in my humble opinion, is the true test of what makes a great novel.
  
  Grade: A-
  
  

• Great great great

  
  By A2619L8IW2VL0R on 2007-09-25
  Russo once said: "When a favorite author of mine comes out with a new book, I always hope for two contradictory things: first, I hope it's like all the other books of his or hers that I love, and second, I hope he's not going to repeat himself. Sure, it's a paradox, but I suspect I'm not alone in my desires."
  
  Bridge of Sighs is exactly that--a great book that'll feel both familiar and fresh to Russo readers. I'm a long-time fan of his books and Bridge of Sighs is everything I hoped it would be; it's also a book I'd press on anyone who hasn't read his previous work. Highly recommended.
  
  

• A guy named Lucy

  
  By A1T1B6KFGFJNSG on 2007-09-27
  Russo seems to be one of the last truly American writers. A Norman Rockwell painting with a distinct and necessary twist. And I was anxious to get my hands on his latest. After EMPIRE FALLS, six years seemed a long wait.
  
  Following along the lines of Russo's signature offerings, we have Smalltown America, the deterioration of a lifestyle, and middle aged people coming to terms. Except these middle-agers were the young people back in the forever-young, don't-trust-anyone-over-30 `60s. And I think this shadow of declining youth and a sagging industry town that once bustled with prosperity gives this novel its melancholy feel. Nonethless, it's enjoyable reading, not to forget the droll touches that are so uniquely Russo. One important aspect, as in Russo's previous work, is the interplay between father and son.
  
  These touches and more all make for a solid read, but I have to say, I don't believe it's Russo's best.(I so much prefer EMPIRE FALLS and NOBODY'S FOOL).
  
  
  
  

• Sighs

  
  By A3NLJZI5NEOT0K on 2008-04-27
  Let me begin by stating that I enjoyed this novel. Characters that you care about and can understand, living in a recognizable place and time, rich prose - Bridge of Sighs has everything I look for in a novel -and then some. And some more. Too much coming of age, not enough grappling with the here and now - that's what dragged down the pace of the novel until it stimulated impatience. It would have been great to know more about Lou and Sarah now. After they had lived through all those momentous, while at the same time ordinary, events. Years after. Bobby, on the other hand, receives better treatment - we know where he is, who he is, and why he is the way he is. It's the length and the author's maudlin compulsion to keep going over the same old ground that prevents this novel from becoming more. Nevertheless, what's good about it makes it worthwhile, if not great.
  
  

• Another fine novel from America's master storyteller

  
  By A1J2LQPDI4NKRG on 2007-10-09
  Richard Russo is one of a half-dozen authors whose books I buy sight unseen. I have laughed and cried reading his novels, especially my favorite, Nobody's Fool, but also the chilling Empire Falls and the burlesque Straight Man.
  
  So I was delighted to get yet another novel from an author who doesn't write as much as I'd like, and it's a big meaty one. As one of the other reviewers pointed out, you want your favorite authors' books to be like his or her other books, but you want them to be different. And Bridge of Sighs is about as different as possible from Russo's other books, yet at the same time his depth of character, humanism and touching details are ever-present.
  
  The story tells the tale of Lou C. Lynch (nicknamed Lucy), and his relationship with his family, his only friend, and eventually his girlfriend who will later become his wife. It's vintage Russo in his characterization and portrayal of small-town America, a tiny slice of life of a small town in upstate New York. This is what's called a "character-driven novel", where the plot itself is dependent on the characters and their actions, and that explains why some reviewers found the book "slow" or "wordy". Russo weaves a tapestry of the events in his characters' lives, their feelings, and their thoughts.
  
  I won't deny that I was a bit thrown by this book after a while. But I trusted Russo to bring this story to a moving conclusion, and had tears in my eyes during the final chapter. If you don't have patience to read a true stylist and, in my opinion, on of America's finest character authors, you'd best avoid this book. But if you are willing to give yourself up to Russo's world for more than 500 pages, you'll be much the richer. As always, Russo gives a great story, with moving, real people in events that you can imagine occurring to you. A great read indeed.
  
  
• Worth the wait...
  By A39ABKRS1MKFTW on 2007-11-09
  Richard Russo has not only become one of my favorite two authors (along with Pat Conroy), but the Bridge of Sighs is one of the best books that I've read this year. Russo is not as prolific as other authors, but his books are worth the wait.
  
  The Bridge of Sighs is told in two voices--Louis C. Lynch (Lucy) and Robert Noonan.
  The book starts with the boys as neighbors and elementary schoolmates in the dying fictional tannery town in upstate New York, Thomaston. Most of the story belongs to 60 year old Lucy, who is writing the story of his life. Lucy was never popular and while intelligent, he was more of a plodder. His best and only friend Bobby was brash, over-confident and a fighter. He would also disappear for periods of Lucy's life. During high school, Lucy and Bobby teamed up with Sarah Berg, who becomes Lucy's wife and also figures prominently in the story. Lucy comes from the most stable family, and their family grocery store, Ikey Lubin's, becomes a home for them all. "It was clear that she [Sarah] loved not only the Lynches but also Ikey Lubin's, as if the store satisfied some deep craving, and everything she could ever imagine was right there on the shelves."
  
  While writing his life's story, Lucy and wife Sara are planning a trip to Venice. Lucy's childhood friend is now a famous artist living in this enchanting city. But Lucy does not like leaving Thomaston and his family suspects that he will do something to sabotage the trip. Little does anyone know the scars they all carry from childhood and how that baggage still affects their lives. Also, there are still unresolved issues between Lucy, Sarah and Bobby that need to be addressed.
  
  Nobody writes small town dramas like Russo, and Bridge of Sighs is filled with wonderfully fleshed-out characters (and I mean characters), bullying, racism, unrequited love and the trauma of adolescence. It is also filled with heroes. There's Big Lou (Lucy's sweet, overly optimistic father), Tessa (Lucy's realistic but good-hearted mother), Sarah (Lucy's lovely, long-suffering wife), and Lucy himself. Despite the fact that these are fictional characters, I came to love them and care about what happened to them. But where Russo really moved me was his expertly-woven plot and how everything came together at the end. In fact, it's a book that I didn't want to end.
  
  Bridge of Sighs is definitely worthy to stand along with Russo's other masterpieces including Empire Falls, Mohawk, and Nobody's Fool.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Enjoyable, Overly Sentimental
  By A2CDMCG1Z84A51 on 2007-11-24
  Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors; I've read everything he has written. But while I did fall under the spell of "Bridge of Sighs," I must confess also to being a little disappointed by it. It is a big ambitious book, toggling back and forth between the first-person narration of Lou C. Lynch (aka "Lucy"), a great-hearted nervous fellow who runs the family business, a group of corner groceries, in Thomaston, NY; and third-person description of the lives of his childhood friend, Robert Noonan (earlier known as Bobby Marconi), a distinguished artist long lost to Thomaston and living in Venice, and Lucy's wife Sarah, who loves both men and is desired in a different way by each.
  
  While other characters have left small-town life in Russo's earlier books, this is the first time (to my memory) that the author actually follows them when and where they go. I'm glad that Russo is branching out in this way, and the shifts in perspective also permit him to make the interesting point that different characters remember the same events in different ways. There are several gripping moments in the book when Russo's narrative method suddenly illuminates childhood trauma, by revealing what memories Lucy has repressed. At the same time, Russo's characterization of life in Venice, Italy, and later in Manhattan just don't ring as true as his trademark rendering of small-town life, whose secrets he has clearly penetrated, and the movement back and forth between narrators and locations is an awkward complexity over which he does not have complete control.
  
  Another problem is that Lucy is a verbose and sentimental character, so that when he mimics Lucy's voice Russo himself, quite understandably, becomes verbose and sentimental too. That sentimentality then leaks into the rest of the book, which takes the position that certain epiphanies in adolescence (especially falling in love), when leavened with the influence of our parents, have the power to dictate a person's entire character and later personal history. This is finally Lucy's perspective on what makes people who they become, not Russo's, and it's too simplistic a view of the formation of character for the more complex and occasionally even cynical author. Like the descriptions of place, it rings false.
  
  Then, and again like his narrator Lucy, Russo reduces all the characters in the book, especially the parents of the main characters, to stock figures that must "stand for" something. Lucy's father is the optimist, always putting the best face on things and speaking in an annoyingly childish and oafish way. His mother is the realist, beaten down by life and therefore willing to compromise her principles. Noonan's father is the archetypal bully whose commitment to stay true to his own mean-spirited nature brings him into an inevitable Oedipal conflict with his son, while the mother in this family is the eternal passive victim. Sarah's parents inhabit similar dichotomies (curious, sexy, vibrant, alcoholic mother vs. embittered, impotent, overly intellectual father).
  
  Stereotypes like these just aren't enough to sustain this very long book (544 pages), and they aren't worthy of Russo's talent. People may tell themselves stories about how their lives turned on a glance or a word, about how they fell in love fatally at 16, but these stories are insufficient, and it's the novelist's job to indulge them while simultaneously showing us what they leave out. Russo was better at that balance in his other novels. Still, there are some wonderful moments and turns of plot in this book. Noonan's father's attempt to start a new family in order to escape himself is one of these.
  
  Even when he is a little off his game, as he is here, Russo is still a terrific writer, and "Bridge of Sighs" is an interesting performance of some new techniques. One has to admire Russo's attempts to reinvent himself, even as one senses that he himself knew he was having trouble with the book's structure -- Sarah's father, a high school teacher, seems a figure of his creator when he flogs himself through the composition a long novel on which he works every summer, only finally to burn it page by page. If this character, as I suspect, represents Russo's own feelings about the book he had to write under the pressure of following up his Pulitzer Prize-winning "Empire Falls," we can only be glad he didn't succumb to the character's temptation. And also to hope that he will use the lessons of this book to help him write an even better one next time.
  
  
• The sigh you hear is coming from me ...
  By A3N6UM9I1YD2C6 on 2007-10-19
  Life is too short to get trapped in a crappy book, especially a looooong, crappy book. After Empire Falls, which I loved, I went out and got the rest of Russo's ouevre, and started this, his newest. This has got to be one of the slowest books I have ever read, rivaling John Irving's "Until I Find You". But the real painful thing is that there is absolutely no writing style - strange, coming from a man who teaches writing.
  
  
• Bridge of Sighs
  By A3KLPIN8IJWZNH on 2007-10-19
  This book started well enough and while I was compelled to finish it, the longer it went on the more it deteriorated--and it went on for a long time; I didn't have a problem with him being wordy as much as being repetitious. The shifting time sequences and perspectives was annoying. The main character was vapid; the supporting cast, caricatures. Rarely does a book contain so many stereotypes and cliches. Was this really written by Richard Russo; where was his editor?
  
  
• Been A Long Time Crossing Bridge of Sighs
  By A1TPW86OHXTXFC on 2007-10-13
  "The sun don't shine
  The moon don't move the tides,
  to wash me clean
  Sun don't shine
  The moon don't move the tides,
  to wash me clean
  Why so unforgiving and why so cold
  Been a long time
  crossing Bridge of Sighs"
  Robin Trower, 'Bridge of Sighs'
  
  Richard Russo has written a novel of a small town, Thomaston, NY, and the lives of three main characters that intertwine throughout. The story is told from the outlook of Lou C Lynch or Lucy as he is called. He begins the story by writing a novel of his life as he sees it. There is Lucy, from a loving family but with differing opinions from each parent; Bobby from an abusive family that shapes his life, and Sarah, the only child of a divorced family. Characters enter and leave and give us their perspectives of life in small town NY to Long Island to Venice. We are privy to class strata in each vicinity, racism and societal images. The shape of our future we come to believe may focus on our optimism or pessimism and how we view life. Do we leave small town America and strike out on our own, or do we live our lives in the same town of which we are born? In either locale, Richard Russo tells us, "This, is "the narrative of our family, its small, significant journey. Is this not an American tale?"
  
  This is a long involved novel, overwhelming at times. As the story moves along, Bobby takes over the narrative and at age 60, as a successful artist living in Venice, he reviews the time of his adolescence and how the memory shaped or mis-shaped the views he held. Sarah, after being married for 40 years takes time of reflection to tell her tale. She says, "Odd, how our view of human destiny changes over the course of a lifetime. In youth we believe what the young believe, that life is all choice. We stand before a hundred doors, choose to enter one, where we're faced with a hundred more and then choose again. We choose not just what we'll do, but who we'll be."
  
  Richard Russo has given us much insight with these characters, and it is up to us to make of it what we will. The view of Bobby, as the artist brings us to 'The Bridge of Sighs'. Does our view of life impede us, bring us down before we can move on? It depends, I think from our personal view on the bridge.
  
  "The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells." Wikipedia
  
  This novel left me with a feeling of sensibility and ease. We may leave our home and traverse the world, but in the end most of us can return to the place we know and the people we love the best. As Lucy says, "We will leave this small, good world behind us with the comfort of knowing it'll be here when we return."
  
  Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 10-13-07
  
  Straight Man: A Novel
  
  Empire Falls
  
  
  
• Extremely slow and highly unlikeable human beings ...
  By A2NNEQOJQ8VDW3 on 2007-10-08
  I gave up reading this novel at 200+ pages. I tried to plug through just because I spent the $30.00 on the hardcover. Wow, what an enormous disappointment from an author I usually LOVE, back from even his Risk Pool and Mohawk days. Mainly, it is just incredibly boring, although there are some interesting reflections here and there. The thing that struck me with this book, is the how patently unlikeable and pathetic everyone is. Lucy is so ho-hum (time and time again he talks about being a coward, unmemorable, boring - I have to agree), his mother is supposed to be whipsmart and funny (and constantly we are told how much smarter she is than his father, grows very old), but she just comes across as shallow and terse. The father is supposed to be a likeable simpleton, but that never quite happened for me. I never once cared to find out about the son Owen and his wife; and Bobby is the most unlikeable of all. I just endured the chapters on him, until I could not any longer. Yuck. Russo is usually so classicly about the human condition, but this one felt so flat to me. Maybe it was just THESE people I did not like. I also thought the locale was uninteresting. No one can deny Russo is an exceptionally skilled writer, with language, grammar and expression of thought. However, he needs a more engaging and likeable set of folks to carry off his skills. Very sorry I wasted the money on this one.
  
  
• A Real Disappointment
  By A3AV9JDEL8OBJ5 on 2007-10-20
  I have loved Richard Russo's books in the past, but I was very disappointed in this book. It is slow and plodding with unlikeable and one dimensional characters. For me, the final blow was Sarah returning to her mother's apartment and what ensues from there through the end of the book. It seems like he didn't know how to pull the book together and opted for a "chick flick" ending. I cannot believe this was the same author who wrote "Empire Falls" - it does not compute. Richard Russo has lost his way - I hope he finds himself and his genius again.
  
  
• INDIVIDUAL MOMENTS THAT CREATE OUR DESTINY
  By AN3D3M8MJ07BQ on 2008-04-12
  Ask what "Bridge of Sighs" is about and you're confronted with a myriad of potential answers. It's about life in a small town you say, or perhaps the pursuit of the American dream. Maybe it's really about realism versus idealism, or family dynamics, or the class, racial and economic division within a community. Truth be told it's about all of these, but ultimately it's a story of despair and unresolved emotional attachments.
  
  Richard Russo has liberally peppered his narrative with fascinating characters, and taken a perceptive look at the anxieties, doubts and situations experienced in youth that are the stone from which the identity of each character is carved. We have our protagonist Lou (Lucy) Lynch filled with naïve idealism and ever present optimism, a trait that he inherited from his father. Tessa, his mother, is the unfaltering realist with a pragmatic approach to living life. Tommy Marconi (Noonan) - is a man Lucy considers to be his friend.....a man who uses his artistic talent as an outlet for his rage and for who control is a requisite for living.
  
  Other characters, wives, lovers, parents, sons, and friends are intricately woven through this multi-faceted story creating depth and adding dimension to a tale that, like Russo's Empire Falls, can barely be contained between the covers of this novel.
  
  Bridge of Sighs makes one unmistakable point----- we are all an amalgamation of the parental input, life experiences and insights that have brought us to a metaphorical bridge. We can choose to cross the proffered bridge or fall into the chasm of memories (some of which may be clouded by time and age).
  
  
• Overlong Contrived Manipulative
  By AHZB6T4C1R6DT on 2007-10-18
  I write as a devoted fan of Mr. Russo. Just not this book. First of all, unlike Sully in Nobody's Fool, the Lacey men (excepting Dec - who should have demanded a bigger part) are too often fools, too seldom charming. Secondly, the endless tear-jerking manipulations, like the picture of Sarah's mother, leave a sour taste in one's mouth. Thirdly, the book is extremely dark and depressing; the attempt at an up-beat ending is a pastiche. If you want depression, today's news (any paper or network) do a better job than Mr. Russo.
  
  
• 90% great.
  By A39CVZBFWM61T6 on 2007-10-05
  For about 460 pages, this is classic Russo, deftly managing a balancing act between his knowingly unreliable narrator Lucy Lynch, and Bobby Noonan, his 'friend' turned painter who would forever be somewhat out of reach as a constant in his life. But once the focus shifts to Sarah, Lucy's wife and Noonan's love, the book nearly unravels completely with events that well may be within character, but a legimitate stretch narratively considering what has come before, and frankly a bit of a cop-out to distill the symbolic threads of roads not taken into a messy and unnecessary resolution. It's a frustrating end to an otherwise remarkable work that often rings uncomfortably true. While I can appreciate the intent of the focus shift to shed light on the character that was only seen through the eyes of the men for most of the narrative, it's simply an unsatisfying exploration given that it comes so late and, as a reader, I felt as though I was being dragged away from the main story to rehash events through her eyes. And in this case, I feel like less would have been more. But still highly recommended on the whole, as Russo remains a writer whose characters are highly engaging and whose stories are worth following.
  
  
• More sighs than bridges
  By A2V593Q8T23J58 on 2007-11-03
  After having this book on my shopping list, waiting for its release, I was excited when I opened the package to see the cover of Bridge of Sighs. I sat down immediately to begin this big book. Richard Russo KNOWS small towns, and how they work, and how the people interact and love and hate and exist. Empire Falls has intrigued me each of the times I have read it, and the movie is wonderful as well, being superbly cast.
  
  Bridge of Sighs falls short. Way short. I put it back on the shelf twice, having given up on it. Yet, I kept wondering what happens when they all get to Italy, so I retrieved it and started in once again. Well, you who have read it know what happens so I won't divulge that here. Suffice it to say I was disappointed.
  
  And bored. I hate to admit it but yes, I was bored by this book. This small town was somehow less relevant, and the relationships were all strained and unhappy. Weird, even. I was bored by the people and bored by their problems. I felt that conclusions about causation were wrong, and weakened the book.
  
  I will always run right out and buy a Richard Russo book, but I hope next time I will be more richly rewarded.
  
  
• A Big Disappointment
  By A12I1VGKJHNEXO on 2007-10-02
  I see no purpose for this book having been published other than the author is famous. Slow moving,
  wordy, convoluted yet simple. Wives who are smarter than their husbands seem to be very popular
  in current fiction. Although I am somewhat familiar with the Capitol district of New York state, I
  couldn't relate to his descriptions as in his previous books.
  Ellie
  
  
• Not his best ...
  By A24PEA5ZQA6EW9 on 2007-10-08
  but still pretty good. I agree with other reviewers' observation that the chapters written from Sarah's point of view were a bit clumsy, but I didn't think that those chapters caused the narrative to unravel. Rather, the book's weakest point is the disconnect between Sarah, Lucy and Bobby we come to know as teenagers and the adult Sarah, Lucy and Bobby. I had a hard time buying Bobby's transformation into a world-renowned painter and an even harder time reconciling Lucy's introspective voice with the gullible boy that he supposedly was. Maybe, however, these drastic changes are the point ...
  
  Regardless of those weaknesses, it was still a good read and the characters Russo created are, as always, engaging and seem to be ripped right out of our daily lives. I'm looking forward to his next book -- whenever that may be.
  
  
• Wow, this is not good
  By A2F589AW7VANIN on 2007-10-10
  This book is slow, very slow, husbands are dumb, characters are stale and boring. I really liked Nobody's Fool (my Favorite), and Empire Falls is good, but this is just a terrible book. Where is the editor when you need them? This does not feel like New York, I'm just not buying it. What a waste of Money.
  
  
• Go to Italy, Russo!
  By A2Z9L0JK0XRS61 on 2007-10-16
  Like many other readers, I am an admirer of Russo's books. I love Straight Man for its humor, succintness, and uplifting ending. Empire Falls clearly shows Russo's ability to build character--layers upon layers of memories, experiences, feelings, regrets, and idiomatic expressions. As you read the book, you feel that you know the characters as if they were your spouses, parents, friends, or neighbors. This is an astonishing quarry of the human soul; in fact, Empire Falls has the depth (although perhaps not the drama) of a Dostoyevsky. Since I am a writer myself, I can say that I have learned most from Empire Falls, which sent me back to the drawing board. But I must say that it is difficult to top a Pulitzer prize book, even for Russo. A prize is a wonderful thing, but I think that it must also be a scary thing. Can I top this? Will my readers be disappointed if I don't? These thoughts must cross the mind of a prestigious prize winner. But there is something else in the novel which indicates, I think, a failure of nerve. The first half of the book prepares us rigorously for the trip to Italy. Was it Chekov who said that if there is a gun in the first act, it must shoot in the last? (Perhaps Ibsen said that.) Well, I was waiting breathlessly for that trip to Italy. Suddenly, midway it is canceled. Why? No good reason is given. There are also hints in the first half of the book that Sara was attracted to Bobby (and for good reason). The fate of the characters' growth, recognition, and truth hangs on this trip to Italy. And suddenly it is canceled. Instead, we go back through many a tedious page to high school days, to the store (I don't mind a restaurant in one book, but stores and the activities around them in another is difficult to get excited about), and to the elusive triangle that is never really put to the test. I feel that this is a betrayal of the characters and of the book itself. Did Russo get cold feet? That is understandable. But in that case, why publish the book? Bobby also remains a shadowy character, and the most important thing about him--his art--is obscure and lifeless.
  Still, I'll be looking forward to Russo's next book, and I bet it will be much better than this one.
  Respectfully,
  S. Spilka
  
  
• deadly dull
  By A29WB1TXJKMDJ on 2007-10-28
  this novel is overstuffed with b.s.....any plot which is less interesting than 99% of the average person's lives deserves to stay in the desk drawer....dull, dull, dull
  
  
• A great story-teller tells a mediocre tale
  By A1EC15VFUK90KE on 2007-12-25
  "Bridge of Sighs," I regret to report, is a deeply flawed novel. Where do I begin? For a start, so many of the characters undergo implausible transformations. Perry Kozlowski, a lout and a thug, with an IQ of around 30, miraculously morphs into a well-respected professor. Bobby Marconi---a boy who feels no pain, is interested in nothing but football, stealing his only friend's girlfriend, and hating his father, whom he very nearly kills with his bare hands---magically becomes Robert Noonan, an internationally acclaimed artist. Sarah Berg starts the summer as a flat-chested young girl, but ends it as a fully developed woman.
  
  The book goes on way too long, as so many other readers have noted. For the first 250 pages, I found myself in awe of Russo's story-telling abilities. Another "Empire Falls," I thought---how wonderful. But as the tale wore on, and on, and the characters became either more and more predictable, or more and more outlandish, I found myself losing patience with it all. If Big Lou tried explaining himself one more time to Tessa, knowing full well that she would poke holes in whatever argument he made, and come out the winner, as she always did; if Lucy (young Lou) lionized Bobby yet again, in spite of the mountains of evidence that his "friend" was really a turncoat, a Judas; if Mr. Berg indulged in one more outrageous insult to his high school students, who just sit there and take it, as though there is nothing out of the ordinary about a teacher who smokes in class, moves their meeting place to an out-building so the principal won't catch him smoking, offers cigarettes to his students, and calls them all a bunch of morons; well, I think you get the picture.
  
  And yet, in the end, I'm giving this book three stars. Why? Five stars for the first half, one star for the second half, divided by two equals three.
  
  
• Every writer has a loser now and then...
  By A2OZ0W13EU43ZI on 2007-10-31
  The thing I always love about Russo's books are the marvelous characters he develops. I think of Sully from "Nobody's Fool," probably my favorite Russo novel. There's no Sully in "Bridge of Sighs." Dec shows promise, but Russo just doesn't give him enough ink.
  One reviewer said that Russo seemed to lose his way somewhere after the midpoint of the book. For me the story really began to go out of focus when Sarah returned to the Sundry Arms. A trip back to Sarah's mother's old apartment building for some sort of self-evaluation just seemed mushy and not necessary. And where did Miss Rosa come from? She sounds more like a character who stepped out of "Gone with the Wind" than the battle-hardened denizen of the urban world of drugs and gangstas she is supposed to be.
  Every writer has a loser now and then. I just didn't want to believe Richard Russo was vulnerable. I've read every book he's published and enjoyed every one, but I have to agree with a number of others who have commented in this forum that Russo has produced a flop with "Bridge of Sighs."
  
  
• I wanted SO badly to love it . . .
  By A1IHUPM1GQQ8GW on 2007-10-14
  . . . but I didn't--not like Empire Falls or Straight Man. My main problem, I think, was that I didn't find one character I could really cheer for. Most of them were just exasperating. Do all boys really love their fathers this way, as one character remarks? Lord, I hope not. Lucy made me want to scream. At times it felt like Russo was trying to rescue certain characters by giving them sections of the narrative that might flesh them out a bit, or provide insights into who they were (or could have been) when they weren't trapped in their small town, but it felt too random. Nor will I ever understand why Sarah, having gotten out of tiny town and into Cooper Union, and who had some spunk along with her talent, could go back and marry Lucy. Just to be part of the Lynch/Ikey's family? Well, maybe I'm wrong about the spunk. At the end of the book, Russo credits his editor for saving the book. Well, maybe--but honestly I think there was a lot more editing to do. I don't know what to emerge from this book thinking; don't know what Russo is telling me about these people. I got tangled in all the plot threads. What is the reason for Lucy's spells? Is this all about parallel lives and the hopelessness of dying towns? If you're determined to read it, wait for the paperback that you know is coming, and find a couple of erudite readers to hash it out with. Probably a great book club book!
  
  
• Bridge of Sighs
  By A1YFLYBJDFCFZK on 2007-10-29
  This book was a great disappointment. I really liked previous Russo books, Nobody's Fool, Straight Man, and Empire Falls. This one is extremely wordy, and, unlike previous books, lacks any characters that I liked or found interesting. It also jumps frequently between narrators and time periods, which makes it confusing at times. The primary character and narrator is Lou(Lucy)Lynch, an amiable but extremely dull person, who has inherited what amounts convenience store, and lives in an equally dull fictional upper New York town, Thomaston. His narration jumps around between being bullied as a kid to his inheritance of the store, his marriage, and his family. The most interesting character is Bobby Marconi who, for some reason, changed his name to Noonan. He was a childhood neighbor of Lucy and has become a famous artist living abroad. Lucy's wife, Sarah, has tried to keep in touch with Bobby, but never gets a response to any of her letters. Sarah, who is also an artist, and Bobby were once greatly attracted to one another, and regret the fact that Sarah chose to marry Lucy rather than Bobby. One of Sarah's painting is of a Stone Bridge in Venice, called the Bridge of Sighs, so named because the prisoners who crossed this bridge realized that all hope was lost and their sighs would echo to the neighboring canals.
  Bobby eventually decides to return to Thomaston, but never quite gets there. Various members of the Lynch family wander in and out of scences in the book, and there are several dramatic events including a fire and several fights, one of which is between Bobby and his thoroughly rotten father just before Bobby leaves Thomaston. There are several African American characters who Russo treats sympathetically but gives dialog that sounds as if it was borrowed from an early twentieth century minstral show.
  If this sounds a bit jumbled, that's the way the book is.
  
  
  
• Where have all the great stories gone?
  By A3ICZC1V68NX54 on 2007-11-06
  I have immensely enjoyed this author's works, especially, EMPIRE FALLS, but here I am left with one big sigh as to the general lack of story here. Maybe if the novel were a bit shorter, it might have worked better. But we have seen all this before. Russo is a wonderful writer when he is in love with his characters, but that just does not come off here and the story itself seems so lackluster. (And I really wanted to like it). Russo is so good at getting readers invoved with his rich and complicated characters, but somehow, the magic is missing. And I am wondering: what happened to story?
  
  I suggest picking up Russo's previous novels to this.
  
  
• Needs editing
  By A2TWBMSMBXFJKE on 2007-11-30
  I've been reading Mr. Russo for years and have reviewed him ecstatically on amazon, but felt let down by this latest book. He is treading old ground here without expanding on his promise. It isn't an awful book, just not up to his usual level. And far too long for the story it tells.
  
  
• Thoroughly enjoyed this book!
  By A3LA7DJKC9G3HR on 2007-10-09
  As I am a huge Richard Russo fan, and have read all his books, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this new one and bought it as soon as it came out (and I usually get my books from the library--but I'll buy anything Russo writes). I was not disappointed. I love and appreciate Russo's wonderful writing so much (especially compared with some of the new books out there today--garbage!). I was glad it was such a huge book, since whenever I read Russo's writing, I don't want it to end. I enjoyed very much the warm & charming story of this small town family over the years and will read it again after some time has passed, just to enjoy Russo's writing. Hope he doesn't wait so long to write another one!
  
  
• A quietly astounding novel
  By A2F6N60Z96CAJI on 2007-10-18
  Readers of Pulitzer-Prize winning author Richard Russo (EMPIRE FALLS) might do a double take when they see the title of his latest work, BRIDGE OF SIGHS. After all, Russo has earned his acclaim writing about contemporary life in small-town upstate New York. The Bridge of Sighs, located in Venice, Italy, is several thousand miles from his favorite haunts.
  
  Constructed in the 16th century, the Bridge of Sighs crossed the Rio di Palazzo and connected the interrogation rooms of Venetian police with the prisons. In the 19th century Lord Byron gave the bridge its famous name by suggesting that inmates walking across the pathway to imprisonment would sigh as they had their final view of beautiful Venice before being taken to their cells. Legend also suggests that eternal love awaits those who kiss at sunset in a gondola under the bridge.
  
  The title of the novel refers to a painting of the famous bridge crafted by one of the main characters, Bobby Marconi, who is now an accomplished artist residing in Venice. BRIDGE OF SIGHS is the story of Marconi, Louis C. Lynch (whose middle initial creates the unfortunate moniker of Lucy that will follow Lynch throughout his life) and Sarah Berg, who becomes his wife while retaining a long-distance connection with Bobby.
  
  Russo was raised in Gloversville, New York, a town named for the primary product manufactured in the community. His novels often have focused on the post-World War II communities of the northeast that thrived in a booming economy and then began to suffer a slow death as the trades and industries that supported them moved to other locales in the United States and the world. In BRIDGE OF SIGHS, the town portrayed is Thomaston, New York, where a highly successful tannery once provided jobs and livelihoods for the town's residents. But the business came with costs. The tannery poured toxic chemicals into Thomaston's water supply, ultimately bringing disease and death to its residents. When the tannery was forced to close its doors, the resulting economic depression made the once-thriving community a hollowed-out shell of a town.
  
  The story is told primarily through the lives of the Lynch, Berg and Marconi families, with Lynch serving as the primary narrator. Through his eyes we watch his father struggle as technology and big business make obsolescent his job as the community milkman. The family opens a small neighborhood grocery store that will serve as the backdrop and foundation for their lives for nearly one-half century. Through the corner store comes the individuals who populate the pages of BRIDGE OF SIGHS and make it an endearing and poignant story. The events, so expertly chronicled by Russo, cannot help but remind readers of similar experiences and travails in their own lives.
  
  It is ironic that a major theme of BRIDGE OF SIGHS is painting. Bobby Marconi and Sarah Berg are accomplished artists. While Russo works in an altogether different medium, the characters he portrays and the events he depicts are as vivid and beautiful as any great work of art. His heartbreaking narrative of the calamities of life that all of us confront is touching without being maudlin, and his characters are sympathetic and unforgettable. As you reach the end, you want to turn back to the opening pages and start once again. Russo's ability to present individuals with dignity and grace make this a quietly astounding novel that should be on everyone's fall reading list.
  
  --- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
  
  
• I know Richard Russo
  By AOMSAXQPJABIQ on 2007-10-26
  I've enjoyed all of Richard Russo's books (the best, I think, is "Nobody's Fool"), and "Bridge of Sighs" is another excellent addition to his amazing work. I too grew up in a decaying small town in New York state, so I can relate to Thomaston and its denizens. No other author writes about the highs and lows of life like Russo does. While I'm not 100% keen on how this book ended, I loved most of it. As someone whose life hasn't turned out like I thought/hoped it would, I could easily sympathize with the characters and the story.
  
  On a different note, I live less than a mile from Rick Russo and I see him often around town. I have also twice interviewed him for articles in our local paper. Thus, I can share some insights into this book that other reviewers can't. I met with him just before "Bridge of Sighs" was released. He said that of course he felt pressure about following up on a Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, but that the pressure was good because he felt compelled to do his best work. Some reviewers have claimed that the novel needed better editing. Rick told me that at one point the manuscript reached almost 1,000 pages and that he knew he required help from his longtime editor. He followed his editor's suggestions, made massive revisions, and was happy with the finished product, which of course is complex; Russo's novels aren't short page-turners. For those who say the novel is too dark, Rick told me that this is definitely his darkest novel. (News flash for those who think it's too depressing: for many people life is full of despair.)
  
  Sure, this book is long and complex; Rick said it's his most ambitious book yet. And this powerful novel succeeds as an insightful examination of life, both good and bad. If you want easy reading, don't look here. If it's not a masterpiece, it's damn close.
  
  Two final notes... First, Richard Russo is an incredibly amiable, witty, brilliant (but private) man. Second, he hinted that his next novel will revisit characters from "Nobody's Fool."
  
  This is a great book. The criticisms and the one-star reviews are absurd.
  
  

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