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227th out of 233 books
—
259 voters
The Broken Bridge
At 16, Ginny finds that her love of painting connects her to the artistic Haitian mother she never knew and eases the isolation she feels as the only mixed-race teen in her Welsh village. When she learns she has a half-brother by her father's first marriage, her world is shattered. Ginny embarks on a quest for the truth that will allow her to claim her artistic heritage--a...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
November 15th 1994
by Laurel Leaf
(first published 1990)
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I really liked the book becuase it is very realistic and I personly love realistic stories. It talks about racism. There was a girl that was black like her mother who died when she was still a bay, her father is white. She discovers that a her father has aanother white kid and most importantly she discovers that her mother is still alive!
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Dear Authors Who Still Refuse to Write a Main Character of Color for Whatever Lame Reason du Jour: In case you've been living under a rock, this is the year 2011. The demographics of the world are changing. You might want to change with it. You also might want to pick up The Broken Bridge by Philip Pullman (the author of The Golden Compass and other brilliant works of YA literature) to see how easy it is to do without turning said character into a stereotype. He wrote about a character he obviou...more
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Three word review: Gripping, dramatic, touching.
When I chose this book, I had no idea what it was about. After the first few chapters, I was confused and nearly gave up. I’m so glad I stuck with it! It was such an interesting read and completely different from anything else I’ve read, while still being considered Young Adult.
The whole setting and plot was very down to earth and let’s just say, not particularly happy. This may have been increased because I was listening to the audiobook, but I re...more
When I chose this book, I had no idea what it was about. After the first few chapters, I was confused and nearly gave up. I’m so glad I stuck with it! It was such an interesting read and completely different from anything else I’ve read, while still being considered Young Adult.
The whole setting and plot was very down to earth and let’s just say, not particularly happy. This may have been increased because I was listening to the audiobook, but I re...more
"Coming-of-age", "teenage-angst", "identity-crisis" -- yes, these are all appropriate labels to pin on this novel but they only convey part of what Pullman is about. This is also about a sense of place: the northern coast of Cardigan Bay, somewhere around Harlech perhaps, with its mix of Welsh speakers and incomers set in a picturesque but haunting landscape. This too is about what it is to be an artist, with your peculiar personal viewpoint to express, somehow, in an unspoken language that not...more
Aug 15, 2009
Eden
rated it
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review of another edition
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This book is about a 16 year old girl named Ginny Howard. Ginny lives with her widowed dad in north wales. Ginny and her dad get along very well, it's almost like they have their own little private world just for them, but one day things change. Ginny finds out that her dad has another child, a son. Now she has a half brother, and she soon learns that her dad wasn't really married to her mom, but he was married to her half brother's mom. Ginny is confused, has no idea what is going on. Her dad h...more
The very first young adult novel I have read so far. A pretty disappointing experience, as a number of psychological interesting themes are touched upon, but they are never fully explored. Moreover, the novel shows a lack of coherence, too many characters, and can easily be reduced to a 'coming of age-novel', a true Bildungsroman.
Starring Ginny, a 16-year-old girl who lives with her father (Dad). She believes her mother, a black Haitian artist, to be dead. Her life is turned upside down when she...more
Starring Ginny, a 16-year-old girl who lives with her father (Dad). She believes her mother, a black Haitian artist, to be dead. Her life is turned upside down when she...more
Refreshingly different from the mad, steam-punk surreal worlds that Pullman normally pulls together with aplomb.
The Broken Bridge introduces us to an incredibly well fleshed-out teenager: Ginny, of mixed descent. It's a coming of age tale, which reminded me of my Judy Blume days, except that the scenarios are slightly more adult and dealt with a greater attention to detail, namely the introspection on Ginny's part...she can't figure out why the world is the way it is, and is determined that no o...more
The Broken Bridge introduces us to an incredibly well fleshed-out teenager: Ginny, of mixed descent. It's a coming of age tale, which reminded me of my Judy Blume days, except that the scenarios are slightly more adult and dealt with a greater attention to detail, namely the introspection on Ginny's part...she can't figure out why the world is the way it is, and is determined that no o...more
An early young adult novel by Philip Pullman, it is similar in character to his The White Mercedes. Although no where nearly as good as that one, it is still worth reading.
The novel is about a sixteen year old girl Ginny who grows up with a single father father in a coastal village in Wales. Her mother, she is told, is a Haitian artist. Over the course of the novel she learns that a number of her most deeply held truths are anything but. A half brother she never knew about moves in with her and...more
The novel is about a sixteen year old girl Ginny who grows up with a single father father in a coastal village in Wales. Her mother, she is told, is a Haitian artist. Over the course of the novel she learns that a number of her most deeply held truths are anything but. A half brother she never knew about moves in with her and...more
ho scoperto stamattina che pullman ha scritto anche il rubino di fumo (ok non c'entra con questo libro ma volevo rendere partecipe anche il mondo della mia scoperta).. comunque..questo libro mi è piaciuto proprio tanto! I temi che tratta sono vari e nessuno di questi è facile da affrontare.. morte, amicizia, separazione, ricerca.. segreti. Ginny mi piace, sarà per la sua passione per l'arte, sarà per quella sua aria un po' snob (anche se inconscia) o semplicemente perchè non si fa scoraggiare da...more
The Broken Bridge by: Phillip Pullman is an enjoyable read that will stay in your heart forever. It tells of Ginny's experiences when a foreign foot steps into the picture. Her first reaction is that her half-brother is intruding on her life. She doesn't understand the situation. Her life turns upside-down. No longer is she her father's only child, but now she has to share the attention with her "brother." The boy just lost his mother, and was plunged into a family he never even heard of; Ginny...more
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Publicado en http://historias-imaginarias.blogspot...
Había leído anteriormente la saga La Materia Oscura, del mismo autor. En este caso descubrí este libro por casualidad, en la librería y me llamo la atención la portada y el autor.
Ginny es una chica mestiza, por decirlo así. Su padre es blanco, y su madre en morena, proveniente de Haití. Actualmente vive con su padre, y no se siente para nada cómoda entre las personas del pueblo. Ella es la única de color…
Ella es definitivamente un rol ejemplar...more
Había leído anteriormente la saga La Materia Oscura, del mismo autor. En este caso descubrí este libro por casualidad, en la librería y me llamo la atención la portada y el autor.
Ginny es una chica mestiza, por decirlo así. Su padre es blanco, y su madre en morena, proveniente de Haití. Actualmente vive con su padre, y no se siente para nada cómoda entre las personas del pueblo. Ella es la única de color…
Ella es definitivamente un rol ejemplar...more
Splendida prova di Pullman. Questo libro mi ha molto sorpreso, � un libro normale, che parla di una normale quanto complicata storia familiare. E' un libro che narra quasi del niente, ma che lo fa con leggiadria, sensibilit� e nonchalance, concentrandosi sui sentimenti e sui flussi mentali della piccola protagonista, mentre svela nebbiosi passati della propria famiglia. Si legge tutto d'un fiato, da quant'� semplice e lineare, nonostante le tematiche psicologiche.
When I read Pullman's Dark Materials, I never thought he could write something so different from it like The Broken Bridge or The Butterfly Tattoo. The reader can still feel his fantasy - in The Broken Bridge, there's the voodoo - but there's a real story before it. Ginny's problems are that of every teenager who's looking for their place in the world: school, friends, school, family... Ginny's story is a story about us teenagers trying to learn who we are.
Great book.
Great book.
Philip Pullman is an excellent writer. The story is a bit bizarre and the content may not be appropriate for younger teenagers, but it is well-written and reminds me of the type of books I enjoyed reading years ago. It's nice to know Wales isn't so different from the U.S. If it weren't for the Welsh references I wouldn't have noticed that the story isn't set in the U.S.
Note to self: Learn more about the history of Wales and surrounding areas. When did they abolished slavery over there anyway?
Note to self: Learn more about the history of Wales and surrounding areas. When did they abolished slavery over there anyway?
Don't really have much to say about the book. It was an easy read, and an interesting coming-of-age search for identity novel.
Some parts weren't as developed as others, but it was still enjoyable.
I might use it for my English self selected text.. it fits into the whole teenage sense of belonging, search for identity and feeling different theme.
OOh just remembered one tinsy thing. It would have been nice to know what the Welsh slang meant.. might search it up.
Some parts weren't as developed as others, but it was still enjoyable.
I might use it for my English self selected text.. it fits into the whole teenage sense of belonging, search for identity and feeling different theme.
OOh just remembered one tinsy thing. It would have been nice to know what the Welsh slang meant.. might search it up.
Really enjoyed reading this book, didn't know anything about the story, but found it to interest me from start to finish. Easy to read, but did ask some interesting questions, about peoples character, how much truth to tell/conceal, portrayed really well this problem most of us have with being pre-occupied with our own problems. Will have to read some more Phillip Pullman.
I really enjoyed Pullman's 'Dark Material's' Trilogy, and this was almost as good as they were, but didn't quite have the zing that those did. Overall an enjoyable story, but at times all I wanted to know was when it was going to end...not that the story lagged, it just....hmm, not exactly sure how to put it. Slightly unsatisfying, but still good, to be contradictory!
fresh, original characters and settings in Wales, a spellbinding yarn of the mysterious past of a teenage girl trying to discover who she really is and where she comes from... this hardly read like fiction... couldn't put down
not one of Pullman's best works but compelling
not one of Pullman's best works but compelling
This is kind of a peculiar one for those who are used to His Dark Materials and Sally Lockhart (and why do I know so many people who have read the former but not the latter?!), but I've yet to read anything by Pullman that wasn't good.
Because my husband and daughter are reading Pullman's The Golden Compass for the first time, I decided to look up some of his other stuff. Didn't get very far, unfortunately. This book might have worked for me in another frame of mind but I was sorely disappointed in its lack of motion. It just drifts along a bit aimlessly--not enough conflict and tension early enough to really get me hooked. Plus I checked out his edited volume of Grimm's fairy tales and his notes at the end of each story are L...more
EL PUENTE ROTO, de Philip Pullman.
Fácil, accesible y rápido, aunque con muchas salidas convenientes, sin tanto clímax, y algunos giros rebuscados. Aún así, es buenísimo para niños y adolescentes.
Fácil, accesible y rápido, aunque con muchas salidas convenientes, sin tanto clímax, y algunos giros rebuscados. Aún así, es buenísimo para niños y adolescentes.
Good start but talk about an anticlimax. So much of the build up is never addressed and the conclusion is disappointing. Really didn't like how many of the issues regarding her dad are excused.
there was a girl whos mother is black and whos father is white and she thinks that her mother is dead but she isnt and her father has another child from another woman! this is called rascism! but i likes the subject of this book!
Not as good as the His Dark Materials series but not bad. I really like His Dark Materials so thought that I would give some of his other books a chance.
Couldn't put it down!
It's a coming of age book and one if my first young adult novels. An intresting Book with a unique story line!
Well written coming of age story. With a pinch of fantasy.
A heroine, Ginny (16) is likeable, realistic and strong female character.
A heroine, Ginny (16) is likeable, realistic and strong female character.
i enjoyed this book tremendously and just could not put it down. it grips you right till the end.
I enjoyed it being set in Wales - and enjoyed the story and the characters.
Another one to reread. I think I checked this one out because it was signed?
very different from his other series. well done, but not my favorite.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Life Comparison | 2 | 11 | May 26, 2009 04:43pm | |
| Welsh Slang | 1 | 19 | May 26, 2009 07:00am | |
| Comparison Categories | 13 | 16 | May 21, 2009 09:27am |
from his official website:
"I was born in Norwich in 1946, and educated in England, Zimbabwe, and Australia, before my family settled in North Wales. I received my secondary education at the excellent Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, and then went to Exeter College, Oxford, to read English, though I never learned to read it very well.
"I found my way into the teaching profession at the age of 25, and taught...more
More about Philip Pullman...
"I was born in Norwich in 1946, and educated in England, Zimbabwe, and Australia, before my family settled in North Wales. I received my secondary education at the excellent Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, and then went to Exeter College, Oxford, to read English, though I never learned to read it very well.
"I found my way into the teaching profession at the age of 25, and taught...more
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