When a novel receives less than the full spectrum of star ratings - in this case - 60-70% five-star reviews and 30% one-stars - it's probably a remarkable read, one that has made the reader FEEL.
I read The Bridges of Madison County when it first came out, while I was still a student, and this is my first re-read. I was curious as to if its impact on me would be the same as when I was young and impressionable. Since then, I've finished my linguistic and literary studies, I work at a college, and I write books myself.
After I finished my re-read, I skimmed the reviews on Amazon. The negative reviews go in two main directions: 1) the story and the characters are not believable; 2) more specifically: how would any woman in a fabulous marriage like Francesca fall head over heels and make love to a man she'd only just met?
To 1) my response would be to quote from Los Angeles Times, June 20th, 1995:
"Susan Canby, the head librarian (of National Geographic, reviewer's insertion), went to her master index. The only Kincaid she found was a Don Kincaid who had done a story on ghost galleons in 1982. And never, since its founding in 1888 as a technical journal, had the National Geographic done a story on covered bridges--in Madison County, Iowa, or anywhere else.
The sad truth was that the Geographic's most famous photographer, Robert Kincaid--the subject of Robert James Waller's book "The Bridges of Madison County" and the character played by Clint Eastwood in a movie of the same name--didn't exist. The truth was so crushing to Kincaid's followers that many chose not to believe it.
'I still have eight or nine people a day coming in wanting to buy the magazine with Kincaid's bridges story," said Pat Tobin, a receptionist at Geographic's Washington headquarters. "When I tell them this is fiction, a novel, they say, 'I understand that. But I'd still like to see some of the things he's done.' "
This means that I'm not particularly gullible for having believed in these characters and their story while reading. They were so masterly executed that "everyone else" did too. Robert James Waller completed that feat with many techniques, but a few that stood out to me are as follows:
On page 180, Nighthawk Cummings says, "Complex things are easy to do. Simplicity's the real challenge." His statement describes Waller's writing style to a T. This novel could have been double its length, as thick and rich as the love between the main characters themselves. Instead, Waller narrowed the pages down to the most minimalistic style he could, and he still chocked it full of nostalgia, tragedy, and heart-wrenching, eternal love. His style is non-fiction-like, similar to old-fashioned travel literature. At the same time, it's cleverly broken up with flashes of poetic brushstrokes, both from Francesca and from Robert even when neither character is your run-of-the-mill romance novel protagonist.
Another stroke of genius is the black-and-white pictures of the bridges throughout the book. It adds to the realistic style. In the "About the Author" paragraph, he seals our belief in the story and the characters by saying about himself that "He is the author of 'A Thousand Country Roads, the epilogue to 'The Bridges of Madison County' (...)" By omission, he again uses his sparse style: by saying he wrote the epilogue, he leaves it to the reader to decide what they want to believe: either the story wrote itself - or the characters did.
All in all, the style and the characters applied to a simple storyline is what sets Bridges in Madison County apart from the genre I generally write: romance. It's the reason why Bridges of Madison County is literary fiction, a category breaker, and an international bestseller.
To reason 2) for giving Bridges of Madison County 1-star reviews, let's just agree that adultery happens. Sometimes, it's the man. Other times, it's the woman. I don't by any means condone infidelity, but as a reader, it enthralls me when an author makes me experience the pull the characters' feel.
Not all characters are written to be adored by the readers, and I enjoy getting mad, even sad sometimes. Such stories, like Bridges of Madison County, are written to show facets of human nature that aren't purely good.
I'm also grateful when a writer doesn't insult my intelligence by over explaining things. I want to approach my literary fiction with both brain and senses alert and at the ready: Robert James Waller did not hammer in the fact that Francesca was unhappy in her marriage. But between the lines, if you keep your eyes open, it's easy to read how unfulfilled she was.
This is a short, quick read. So worth the few hours. Once finished, you won't put it down and go, "Meh." You'll have opinions. Good and bad. And what else can an author wish for? And personally, I have stilled my curiosity: even after all this time, thousands of books later, I was still touched to tears.
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Natasha
Super recomendo!!!
Reviewed in Brazil on August 23, 2021
Natasha
Reviewed in Brazil on August 23, 2021
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