Rating: 
Summary: Robert James Waller should have left well enough alone.
Review: If ever there was a book that shouldn't have been written, this is it. This epilogue was terrible. The Bridges of Madison County was such a triumph. It was perfect. It left you wanting more, but in a good way. It made you wonder "what if" and allowed you to let your mind wander in a million different directions. Robert James Waller should have left well enough alone. It wish I had never read this epilogue. What a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Lived Bridges/understand thousand country roads
Review: For those of you who have not had the opportunity to live a real life Robert/Francesca love affair, you would not understand Thousand Country Roads.I do believe that Bridges was outstanding and I too am disappointed with and DID NOT need a sequel to the book.However, it is here and I did read it.The love of my life and I also made a decision to go our seperate ways based on the same reasons as Frannie!Although the remarks may sound corny to those not in my position, I found comfort in the Hallmark remarks that Waller made. "...in the end, there is nothing left except to shoulder whatever you have been handed and to go on."
This is how I feel after two years without my love and will more then likely feel this way in twenty years as well.(I am 42 and he is 46)We knew one another when we were 18 and 21! Love at first site and rekindled 22 years later-except both in marriages and families....doomed from the start...but in love forever.
The part about Robert's family just shows what Frannie did not know about him: he had and entire life aside from her-not that she would have minded-but still he also had a life.
Anyway, thank you Mr. Waller for the sequel...I laughed when I saw it because I did not need a sequel...real life is painful enough. You say that people needed a conclusion to the story..to know more about Robert and Francesca...not me...I knew them inside and out after reading it 20 or more times...one of my favorite reads.
I knew that they loved one another "endlessly" and that was all that mattered.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks inspiration
Review: I found the Bridges of Madison County to be full of emotions and uncommonly well written. Each word was important and each feeling rang true. I liked it so well that I then went on to read all Waller's other books and found them all to be good, not all excellent but certainly good.This sequel feels like it was written as a compromise, by someone who didn't feel at all like getting into this story. This book totally lacks inspiration. I always felt as if the writer was being careful to be clear, but did not feel at all the feelings he was giving his characters. As well, a lot of the typical Waller expressions, such as "last Cowboy" and such, don't come off at all. They sound dated and don't succeed in instilling a mood. It almost feels as if this was a group effort. Overall a very disappointing read.
Rating:
Summary: misled
Review: OK, HERE I WAS ALL EXCITED THAT A EPILOUGE WAS OUT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO FRANCESCA AND ROBERT. BUT, THE AUTHOR DECIDES TO THROW IN A BUNCH OF NEW CHARACTERS !!! IT LEFT ME FEELING SAD AND DEPRESSED. HE SHOULD OF SOMEHOW, LET THE TWO MEET. I FELT MISLED BY THE AUTHOR, BECAUSE HE MADE YOU BELIEVE THAT THE BOOK WOULD BE ABOUT FRANCESCA AND ROBERT. OH WELL !!
Rating:
Summary: A Thousand Country Roads
Review: I had high expectations for this book. I couldn't wait to read it. I am a true romantic, and was alittle disappointed with the ending of it. I will not spoil it for anyone, but I felt such a let down. It was written very well, but not as good as the first book, The Bridges of Madison County.
Rating: 
Summary: I waited ten years for this !
Review: Somethings seem to never change and authors writing about and making road trips have been popular with readers for a long time...And at the change of the millenium, seems like most of us have been thinking about the Last Time as Kincaid called this trip. Shades of Steinbeck's TRAVELING WITH CHARLIE..Just as in his other books the chapters are titled and read like a short story. It is worth reading just to see the chapter titles. And one more thing, Waller, the Texan might be writing a book about the Girl From the North Country.
Rating:
Summary: Not Too Big for His Bridges
Review: Hola! Bridges followers, As with the original Bridges, I read a Thousand Roads at one sitting. I could not put it down. Waller has done a magnificent job of connecting most of the important Bridges dots and produced a clear Thousand Roads picture. In connecting the dots he has brought closure to Bridges and left the door open for a sequel with Carlisle. In a few weeks, I will be traveling to Alpine, Texas, to visit the publisher's book store and hopefully obtain a signed copy of a Thousand Roads. Since, I was born and reared in Fort Stockton, Texas, I am familiar with the area. Maybe even have a chance encounter with the author who lives on a ranch near Alpine.
Rating:
Summary: Not enough ....
Review: I picked up the Bridges of Madison County before it was ever a best seller. It attracted my attention because I grew up in Madison county, a beautiful place but without too much to make it distinctive other than those old bridges, and I wondered what a novel about this area could hold. Although some reviewers turned up their noses, I found the book engrossed me, and I was not alone. The idea of giving up what was such a perfect love is antithetical to what is the usual decision, and I was intrigued with the moral resolution that Francesca came to. So it was with eagerness I learned that Mr. Waller had written another book about the same characters. Except he didn't. We get little glimpses of the woman Francesca, but then we already knew how she lived until her death. We get a better look at Robert Kincaid, but he has been diminished in this epilogue to just another road warrior kind of guy, a kind of a failure. We were titillated by the near miss at the bridge, but I couldn't figure out why Waller didn't let them meet again. The real heart of the book would have been deepened by this meeting. As it was, we were teased and disappointed. I really didn't care about Kincaid's son, or the shallow relationship with his son's mother. Nice that Kincaid didn't have to die alone, but then he always could have had Francesca. These were not very interesting or real characters. What I really felt was a bit used, and as though Mr. Waller was afraid to revisit his original ideas and revise them. Ah, well.
Rating: 
Summary: ~Just didn't have the "Bridges" magic~
Review: This was enjoyable to read, don't get me wrong.....but.....it just didn't hold a candle to Bridges of Madison County. There were some new twists and unexpected turns, and I do like Mr. Wallers style of writing. He has the potential to write such a wonderful love story but I think in trying to recapture the magic of "Bridges" it simply missed the mark.
Perhaps if this book were about different people it might have worked for me. Maybe my expectations were too high after falling in love with "Bridges".
I actually enjoyed reading Puerta Vallerta Squeeze a bit more than this book and that's probably because it's about new characters in a different type of love story.
Rating:
Summary: Bottom-of-the-barrel writing...ZERO STARS
Review: Maybe I'm being a little harsh. Maybe the fact that I had just read Ian McEwan's ATONEMENT prior to picking up a copy of A THOUSAND COUNTRY ROADS negatively influenced my opinion of the book. Like it or not however, when an author like Ian McEwan transports a reader in a way he hasn't been transported by fiction in the last 10 years, you tend to raise the bar for everyone else. And whereas ATONEMENT showing up on the New York Times bestseller list almost singlehandedly restored my faith in the reading tastes of the American public, A THOUSAND COUNTRY ROADS popularity will most likely vanquish it. Waller has been and always will be a bad writer. His over-the-top, hypersentimental prose reads like a bad Hallmark card that someone tried to awkwardly mold into a novel. An argument can be made that THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY was classic escapist literature--a book that juxtaposed the cold, austere mood of the time with something sweet, flighty and tragically romantic. You were lulled into buying him once America, DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN!!
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