Friday, May 6, 2011

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder


It has been a long time since I have wrote a review about a book I have read. I will start this year with The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. The novel starts with the 1714  fall of  San Luis Rey Bridge in Lima, Peru by which a dozen of people lost their life. This event makes friar Juníper to research the lifes of the victims in order to find a clue giving away the godly reason behind their tragedy. Were they not good enough, religous and so on? But the research of the friar does not tell their true secrets, passions and love. The writer tries to narrate this hidden story. So we read about a nobel women writing in vain passionate letters to her daughter in Spain who does not love her back and she can never let go any controll over her. Her letters did not conquer the heart of her daughter but  became a masterpiece of the Spanish literature. We read about the twins Manuel and Esteban whose brotherly love is broken by the love felt towards a woman. We read about the childish uncle Pío and  Camilla who we can call his adopted daughter. Juníper could not find the true answer.
His diligence is considered heresy by the Church and ends his life burned on the stake.
What is behind chance, death? One thing is sure death washes all away even any memory relating to us.
One thing is sure we are all going to die. But one who loves does not require to be remembered.

Why did I choose to read this book? Because I gave away this book in my childhood.

One wikipedia about The Bridge of San Luis

"The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) tells the story of several unrelated people who happen to be on a bridge in Peru when it collapses, killing them. Philosophically, the book explores the problem of evil, or the question, of why unfortunate events occur to people who seem “innocent” or "undeserving". It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and in 1998 it was selected by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century. The book was quoted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the memorial service for victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Since then its popularity has grown enormously. The book is the progenitor of the modern disaster epic in literature and film-making, where a single disaster intertwines the victims, whose lives are then explored by means of flashbacks to events before the disaster."