The Bridge of San Luis Rey

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Summary: I loved this book.
Review: Anyone truly interested in life and the stories that life finds itself in, will like this book, I think. I thought it was beautiful and thought-provoking.

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Summary: Wonderful Reading!
Review: Wilder tackles an issue that haunts anyone who has taken a Philosophy course: Why? This masterpiece will make you ask this question the next time you read the headlines "Plane Crash Kills x", etc.

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Summary: Thornton Wilder's wonderful classic
Review: I, as with some of the following reviewers, am a little surprised this beautifully wrought little treasure left some readers cold. The book was amongst the '100' best of the century chosen by the Modern Library a while back, and it well deserves the honour. Don't expect a lot of sexy hijinks or melodrama. It's a simple slice of life about an arcane tragedy in Peru in 1714. It's a novel which will stay with me for a lifetime.

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Summary: A novel you will never forget.
Review: I was surprised by the first few negative reviews of Wilder's little classic. I read it some 25 years ago in high school and it has stayed with me since. I had forgotten it was Thornton Wilder, who wrote it. But, I was not surprised to discover that the author of OUR TOWN also authored this. They both address how ordinary and how extraordinary any one life is. Brilliant! I'm buying it for my high school kids to read and enjoy. And, as it is short, there is a good chance I can get them to read it!

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Summary: very unreasonable and dissapointing
Review: I did not like this book at all . It was assigned to me as a reading assignment over the summer. there was hardly a connection from the beginning to the end . It was very hard to understand and I am extremely dissapointed with Thornton. His books are expected to have higher potential than this.

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Summary: Interesting storyline rambles on pointlessly
Review: The first chapter of Thorton Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" was very interesting and absorbing. It tells of a monk who, after the collapsing of an historic bridge hurtles five people to their deaths, researches the personal lives of the dead and tries to discover if the tragedy was a coincidence or a sheer act of God. The next three, absolutely horrendous chapters, go on to describe the lives of the deceased. After reading three chapters filled with boring, gratuitous material, I hoped for an outstanding ending that would bring all the events together. But what I got was an ending that mocked me, seeming to ask, "Why did you read this book?"

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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I decided to read this book based on a number of great reviews I had read. Upon reading it, I was greatly disappointed. The ending of the book is weak. The characters never held my interest. The book starts out one way and ends another. Pass this classic up

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Summary: good, but not really a classic for all
Review: It would have been great to get even more of a historical perspective from the novel, which I found a little lacking. There seemed to be no real conclusion, which I thought was the goal of the monk's research into these people's lives. While it was certainly a good book, I don't think it was "pulitzer prize, e.g. the best book of the year (but then I wasn't reading back then)". The characters were only partly developed, I kept wondering what each of them was like.

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Summary: GOT ME A 100!!!!
Review: On a book report for my Talented and Gifted english class, I got the only 100 in the class! It waw very enjoyable and I thought that it was going to be boring, but boy was I shocked!!!

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Summary: A MUST READ full of the truth and beauty of life
Review: "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is a novel to which I have returned countless times since I first read it in high school years ago. Astonishingly modern, it is hard to believe it was published in 1927! Ideal for any lover of historical novels (or of history itself), Wilder's beautifully crafted tale interweaves the lives and fates of diverse characters and speaks eloquently to the universal human themes of grief, loss, love, friendship, compassion, and man's quest for the secrets of eternity. This is truly a book that grows with one - - returning to it at any given time of your life will yield new insights and passages to treasure. Truly one of the masterpieces of American Literature.