The Bridge of San Luis Rey

A Novel

By: Thornton Wilder

Narrated by: Thom Rivera

""As close to perfect a moral fable as we are ever likely to get in American literature."" —Russell Banks

""There are books that haunt you down the years, books that seem to touch and stir something deep inside you. . . . Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey is of this kind."" —The Independent (London)

The authorized, original edition of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic with a foreword by acclaimed author Russell Banks and an afterword by Wilder's nephew, Tappan Wilder, with illuminating documentary material about the novel and its rich literary history

""On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below."" This immortal sentence opens The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of the towering achievements in American literature, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and a novel still read throughout the world.

Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk, witnesses the tragic event. Deeply moved, he embarks on a quest to prove that it was divine intervention, not chance, that led to the deaths of the five people crossing the bridge that day. Ultimately, his search leads to a timeless investigation into the nature of fate and love, and the meaning of the human condition.

Copyright (c) 1927 by Albert & Charles Boni, Inc. Copyright renewed (c) 1955 by Thornton Wilder. Copyright 2002 by the Wilder Family L.L.C. Foreword copyright (c) 2003 by Russell Banks. Afterword copyright (c) 2003, 2014 by Tappan Wilder.

powerful novel, mediocre narration

A story that is worth multiple readings, and may require more than one reading to fully appreciate. Unfortunately this narrator does not do the novel justice. His voices are not believable, and in many cases are lifeless. The afterword states that the novel has yet to be transformed into a compelling stage or film production. I would say this narration needs to be added to the list of disappointing performances.

Wisdom Literature

A classic from the 1920s, this novel presents the reader with philosophic questions regarding God, life and how to live a fulfilled life.

A Classic

What a great story!

Wilder remains one of my favorite American writers. I enjoyed reading the book that made him famous.

He loses all the most fundamental questions in this story.

Why do certain people face unexpected and tragic death?

Is it that they were evil and deserved the fate from God? Of were they rewarded in a way with an early pathway to heaven? Or is it all random?

Actually, I think the setup of the stories, which take up the vast majority of the book was by far the most interesting part. And the discussion of the existential questions was too short and a bit unsatisfying.

But it was well more than adequate. Indeed it was fine.

The reading was very good.

Excellently done

I have never had the class where this was read. It was sad, but each story was part of the village tragedy. Great for a rainy day.

The Metaphysics of Learning To Fly

On Friday, July 20, 1714, a century old rope bridge woven by Inca builders that spanned a gap on the road between Lima and Cusco, Peru suddenly collapsed, carrying five people to their death in the chasm hundreds of feet below. Witnessed by a priest, he became obsessed with trying to ascertain the ecclesiastical message to be derived from the claiming of these specific victims.

Such is the premise as Father Juniper sets about interviewing those who best knew those involved to determine why they happened to be at that specific time, a crossing Father Juniper himself would have been making just a few minutes later.

As Thornton Wilder's second novel, his poignant story was very short in comparison to contemporary novels but an immediate best seller which has been in continuous print since its premier in 1927. It earned him the Pulitzer in 1928 and found him on the short list for the Nobel Prize for years following.

The novel is often required reading for American Literature classes but many have come to love the work until they read it again in the full bloom of adulthood. It is included on the list of the Modern Library's Top 100 novels but has received a resurging interest in the 20th Century since 9/11 as the imagery of those who plunged to their deaths from the World Trade Center drew parallels to those in the story. In tributes following this and the Mississippi River Bridge Minnesota, speakers have referenced the novel specifically the last four lines, as particularly poignant.

It's an excellent novel, amazing in its sensitivity in an era when novels by male writers of the time were drenched in bravado.