The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Thornton Wilder, 1927 Date Read: 3/19/22

Going forward, I am going to record the number of pages rather than the length of time it took me to read. Because obviously, I do other things, I don't just read. And sometimes, like right now, I spend a lot more of my time sewing or designing embroidery patterns. This gives a skewed view.

I am surprised how much I enjoyed this novel. It was an unusual setting and an unusual premise. Essentially, five people die in a freak accident near Lima, Peru. A local priest wants to use this accident to prove that God only takes people when it's "their time" - when all their Earthy life has been lived etc. The novel is his investigation into the lives of the victims.

Overall, it is a very sad novel. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it - I did. I related to parts despite it being set a long time ago in a place I'll never see. Wilder writes beautifully. The novel is enjoyable simply from his writing, regardless of anything else. He fit an awful lot of story and meaning and feeling and love into a rather short novel.

I spent the majority of my adult life in the church. I raised my kids in it. We were Southern Baptists. Because of reasons, we left the church. Because of even more reasons, I am now an atheist. That all said, I felt for the Abbess in the story particularly. She is clearly a loving, kind woman who is trying to do the best she can for God and the people around her. The events of this novel shake her faith and I felt that. I have been there, for different reasons and in a different way. I fell away. She didn't.

Length: 148 pages

Rereadability: yes, certainly

Classic: one of the most classic of all classic novels I've yet read