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mr_snilloc's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Lionel Shriver's introduction hits the nail on the head when she says Connell has portrayed an archetype of American culture. Mr Bridge is an everyman who is reflected all across the US to this day. As markedly relevant today as it was in 1969.
schray32's review against another edition
4.0
An accurate account of how you can work your life away and not have a clue. I enjoyed the opposite perspective of this series, although I found myself feeling more sorry for his wife.
kategci's review against another edition
4.0
I had read Mrs. Bridge 4 years ago, and I wanted to read this companion novel. While I gave Mrs. Bridge 3 stars, the ending has stayed with me and reading this novel, my rating should have been 4 stars. Evan Connell has written a pair of novels set in the 1920s- 1940s, one told from the wife's point of view and this one from her husband's point of view. He is an attorney in Kansas City and part of the upper middle class, although he worries often about his money and seems to be extremely conservative- financially as well as politically and personally. He has a one man law office with one employee, Julia, a spinster who lives with her disabled sister. He thinks it unseemly to discuss his professional life with his wife and three children and as he has no real hobbies or interests (outside of reading several newspapers with a cocktail each evening), the struggle to connect with his family is real. Often late for dinner, he has a tendency to dismiss their problems and concerns. He believes his wife should deal with their children's lives; he is there to give them money and to allow them to borrow the car. The chapters are short and propel you through the story and while Mr. Bridge irritated me with his hyper-conservative views, the author seems to be true to the time and place. It was a perfect, fast summer read (it really did not take me 8 days; I had picked it up and started it and put it aside after 50 pages. I finished it in a day and a half).
isobel33's review against another edition
funny
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dewirijks's review against another edition
5.0
Een mooi vervolg op Mrs. Bridge, een fraaie aanvulling waarin de tijdgeest nog beter tot zijn recht komt. Ogenschijnlijk gemakkelijk en kabbelen geschreven. Niets is minder waar, een echte aanrader!
rosekk's review
4.0
I was a bit surprised when I picked this book up just after finishing the first one, and found the print was half the size. Usually books that are part of a set look the same within and without, but I guess it was done so that the two could be made to fit together. Still, it was a bit jarring.
As to the contents of the book, I remain impressed. There's a lot more politics in this one compared to the first (probably because Mr. Bridge moves around in the world a bit more, and is much more conscious of current affairs), but in spite of those differences it still feels like a companion to Mrs. Bridge. It's also a great example of the kind of double-think that allows people to possess and act on prejudices they refuse to be conscious of. Connell's skill at producing a multi-faceted character who is at once full of natural inconsistencies but always feels constant is more on show in this volume (simply because Mr. Bridge is more complex in that way). I was originally a bit concerned that this book would just be a re-hashing of the first one, with the focus on a different point of view, but I needn't have worried. There's enough variation and focus on different details and incidents to make this a separate story worth telling, which expands the view of the world while discussing a shared life.
As to the contents of the book, I remain impressed. There's a lot more politics in this one compared to the first (probably because Mr. Bridge moves around in the world a bit more, and is much more conscious of current affairs), but in spite of those differences it still feels like a companion to Mrs. Bridge. It's also a great example of the kind of double-think that allows people to possess and act on prejudices they refuse to be conscious of. Connell's skill at producing a multi-faceted character who is at once full of natural inconsistencies but always feels constant is more on show in this volume (simply because Mr. Bridge is more complex in that way). I was originally a bit concerned that this book would just be a re-hashing of the first one, with the focus on a different point of view, but I needn't have worried. There's enough variation and focus on different details and incidents to make this a separate story worth telling, which expands the view of the world while discussing a shared life.
leleroulant's review against another edition
3.0
This review id for both Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge. The following quotation is from Mr. Bridge:
"He wondered...if this is how they would end their lives, accompanying each other so closely, loving each other, touching one another with affection and sympathy, yet singularly alone."
To me this pretty much summed up both novels. A sad yet poignant look at the lives of a couple spanning from the 1920's to the 1940's.
"He wondered...if this is how they would end their lives, accompanying each other so closely, loving each other, touching one another with affection and sympathy, yet singularly alone."
To me this pretty much summed up both novels. A sad yet poignant look at the lives of a couple spanning from the 1920's to the 1940's.