Louis Charles Lynch (also known as Lucy) is sixty years old and has lived in Thomaston, New York, his entire life. He and Sarah, his wife of forty years, are about to embark on a vacation to Italy. Lucy's oldest friend, once a rival for his wife's affection, leads a life in Venice far removed from Thomaston. Perhaps for this reason Lucy is writing the story of his town, his family, and his own life that makes up this rich and mesmerizing novel, interspersed with that of the native son who left so long ago and has never looked back. Bridge of Sighs, from the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls, is a moving novel about small-town America that expands Russo's widely heralded achievement in ways both familiar and astonishing.
Amazon Significant Seven, November 2007: Richard Russo's first book since the Pulitzer Prize-winning Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs is a typically stunning portrait of three small town families struggling--like the town itself--to strike a balance between obsessively embracing their own history or shunning it entirely, with devastating consequences along both paths. Bridge of Sighs is pure Russo: funny, heartbreaking, and ringing completely true. --Jon Foro
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Bridge of Sighs:
Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries)
Once again Richard Russo works his magic here, creating a world and peopling it with characters who are so alive that it's sometimes painful to feel what they are feeling. More melancholy than "Nobody's Fool" or "Empire Falls," but worth every minute.
I loved this book:
This book was so good that I think it has ruined me for other books. It may be the best book I have ever read.
Haunting:
As a Richard Russo fan (I've read everything he's written), I was dumbfounded by this book at times. Unlike Empire Falls, the Bridge of Sighs takes long, rambling detours through story and emotion. I found myself at times saying, "Okay, already. Get on with it." I also found myself absolutely intrigued by Russo's descriptions of the characters' interior lives and his incisive connections between the seemingly disconnected and mundane goings on in everyone's lives. I finished the book a week ago... more info
I loved this book:
This is the best book I have read in a long time. I think I liked it better than "Empire Falls." It is a book that leaves you examining the pattern on the carpet of your own life.
