Rating: 
Summary: Interesting premise, poor execution, occasionally great
Review: The premise is frequently discussed in the other reviews. The execution on this premise is so-so. The characters he chooses are all very depressed people with calamitous lives that touch upon one another. The book is seriously depressing. In addition, the pace is at times glacially slow. It was difficult to finish. The one saving grace is that here and there Wilder writes an utterly brilliant passage. But invariably these passages are set in such dark and uninteresting contexts that you wonder if they weren't penned separately and sort of forced into the story at specific junctures.But even for these passages the dullness and moroseness of the characters' stories hardly makes reading this book worthwhile. I cannot recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: platitudinous
Review: When the Bridge of San Luis Rey collapses, in Peru in 1714, and five travellers plummett to their deaths, Brother Juniper asks, "Why did this happen to those five?" Wilder proceeds to tell us the stories of these travellers & we are asked to examine whether there is any reason that God would choose these specific people for this fate. I remember reading this book in Junior High or High School and not getting it; I'm afraid I still don't. I suppose the book's well written, but I just don't care that these people die and the ultimate lesson we're left with--there is a bridge of love that binds the living and the dead--just seems completely platitudinous. GRADE: C
Rating: 
Summary: Zzzzzz...
Review: Next to Great Expectations, this book was potentially the worst book I've ever read. The plot summary on the back of the book caught my interest but I was greatly disappointed. The characters were unbelievable, the writing was pointless. A horrible novel -- don't read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking...
Review: Thornton Wilder writes of a tragic bridge accident which takes the lives of 5 people; he then proceeds to delve into the stories of three of these victims. Reading their histories leading up to their inevitable deaths makes one ponder the meaning of fate - was it fate that these five die in this way, at this time? Was it just their time? Why these people? You finish this short read still pondering these questions, and more. Aside from making you think, the book is well-written and enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A slow but inevitable meeting with fate.
Review: Thorton Wilder explores chance and destiny in his classic novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. When a monk watches five people fall to their deaths due to a collapsed bridge he wonders why God picked those five. However the writer leads us through the detailed lives of three of the fallen we see that their entire lives were leading to that inevitable fall. A well thought out well paced book. It made me question fate and free choice.
Rating:
Summary: an okay book
Review: The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a classic book about a monk who observes the bridge fall and looks into why they were the ones on the bridge. You may be asking "What else?" but there is nothing else. The book goes into the lives of the different people and the theories behind their dying. I had to read this book for school, and I had a hard time reading it. The reason why is probably because I am a hard-core action/scifi/fantasy lover. This book had absolutely no excitement. I guess the book is made to make you think, but it seemed awfully boring to me, but HEY, if you like theoretics and classics, this book is definitely for you.
Rating:
Summary: Re-reading a favorite
Review: I first encountered this book over 50 years ago when required to read and review it for an advanced high school English class. It made a profound impression on me -- so profound, in fact, that I have always wanted to visit Peru. This wish will become a reality in June, when I'm going with a group to Machu Picchu -- in safety, let us hope. I have recommended this novel to my travel companions, and imagine that it will provoke much discussion along the way. I have also written to my high school best friend with instructions to write a sequel should our random group experience unforeseen travel problems! Cannot recommend too highly.
Rating:
Summary: What Is God's Will? in a Classic Tale
Review: One of the great spiritual conundrums we all face is why one person dies while another lives. Airplane crashes, violent public events, and unexpected heart attacks in young people draw our attention to this question. The Bridge of San Luis Rey is probably the most elegant and moving expression of that question. Anyone who wants to develop her/his spirituality will find it satisfying and heartwarming to think about this story. If you have never read this book, you are missing an opportunity to be able to discuss this story with others. Even people who have read relatively little great fiction have usually read The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The story has little wasted verbiage, and gives you plenty to think about. I encourage you to read this little, but mightly book. You should also recommend it to young people you know. They can begin to discover a love of great literature through this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Divine Little Literary Gem
Review: I was shocked to see that the average of the book reviews for this work was only a 4 stars. This is among the finest books I have ever read--somewhat comparative to Steinbeck's The Pearl and Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea in its brevity, lyricism, seeming simplicity and actual depth of both feeling and philosophy. The rhythmic beauty of Wilder's poetic prose would quite literally take my breath away at points and the story, with its intense sympathy for all mortal strivings and failings, touched me so deeply that I cry and laugh even in remembrance of many of the parts. I don't think there was a character in the book whom I didn't feel deeply empathetic with. The extended metaphor of the bridge which links fate and accident, love and loneliness, life and death was so flawlessly, yet subtly, present throughout that I am continually held in awe at the author's genius. More than anything though, the theme of the transcendence of the loneliness of mortality through love continues to affect my personal life every day.
Rating:
Summary: It's a poorly constructed jumble of useless information
Review: While I do think that the ideas of fate and divine intervention are interesting and worth investigation, this book failed to harness my curiosity on the subjects. A very basic outline of the book is this; 5 people die when a bridge collapses, and in the following chapters, their lives are picked apart and analyzed in a confusing and boring mess of nonsense. The conclusion in no way ties the book together, and leaves you wondering what the author was trying to prove. Did God play a part in this catastrophe? I'm not quite sure, but I do know that reading this book will put you to sleep in about 3.8 seconds.
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