The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

 

8/10

I waffled between giving this one a 7, and if I did decimals it would probably be more like a 7.5. It's basically an absolute floor of 7 based on the premise of the story alone. All Wilder had to do was not fumble it, have somewhat interesting characters at certain parts, and it's good enough for an 8. And that's what we had here. One of my favorite opening lines to a book that I've read in a long time: "On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below." I'm locked in after an opening line like that. The rest of the book deals with the lives of those five individuals and what led them to be on the bridge at that moment and a Priest's quest to determine whether those souls "deserved it" or if they were simply "called home early" depending on whether they were good or bad people. That's a simple generalization by me to the book dealing with the age-old question about the level of God's involvement in tragedies.  Apparently, Wilder drew on a biblical passage in writing this book, Luke 13:4, which reads, "Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?" Also, apparently, at the memorial service in New York for British victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, British Prime Minister Tony Blair chose to read the closing sentences of this book: "But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning." Interesting stuff. As for the five characters who precipitated into the gulf below, the first two victims were the least interesting to me, an older lady and her servant. The next victim was the most interesting, a twin who had recently lost his brother and was down in the dumps leading up to the tragedy. The final two victims were fairly interesting, an older guy and the young son who was just joining the old man as an apprentice of sorts. Like I said, because of the fantastic premise of this story, just have somewhat interesting characters and this book gets an 8 for me.

Thornton Wilder books I've read, ranked:

1. The Bridge of San Luis Rey
2. Three Plays 

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

 

6/10

I really wanted to love this book and I tried and convinced myself for a very long time to love it. But by the end there was no denying that this one is just flat out average. I think the first part of this book introducing Jude and his hopes and dreams, including his eventual unplanned marriage and separation, is the best part of the book. Unfortunately, not a whole lot transpires after he moves to Christminster where he always dreamed of living. His initial efforts there are interesting, but once he meets his cousin and love interest, Sue, it is all downhill from there. The book is pretty much one big long and harsh commentary about the institution of marriage. I still liked Hardy's writing which, along with the enjoyable first part of the story mentioned above, was enough to get this one a 6/10.

Thomas Hardy books I've read, ranked:

1. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
2. The Return of the Native
3. The Woodlanders
4. Jude the Obscure