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Dec 16, 2009

S. added it

The Book, cough, cough: Called a novel, it's more a novella, barely over 170 pages--the better to save money on printing costs--set in large type on small pages. Set between a frame story (utterly forgettable) employed to give the reader a sense of being privy to a real event, voyeurism at it's best--one of my acquaintances actually tried to find the characters from the novel in the real world using the Internet, convinced Waller could never have made the story up. She was half right: Waller did More...

11 comments like (38 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2007

Kate rated it:

Recipe for Bridges of Madison County Firestarters

1. melt 20 oz. parafin in 4 1/2 quart slow cooker set on low--should take about 20 minutes.
2. set several sheets of newspaper on kitchen floor next to slow cooker.
3. Tear pages out of binding--I find about seven at a time works best. Discard binding.
4. Crumple each page individually--you can do it two or three at a time, but recipe will go farther if you take the time to crumple each page individually.
5. With to More...

7 comments like (40 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Gus rated it:

Some may look askance at my 5-star rating. Behold, from the chapter "The Highway and the Peregrine":

"Robert, when we were making love last night, you said something that I still remember. I kept whispering to you about your power -- and, my God, you have that. You said, 'I am the highway and a peregrine and all the sails that ever went to sea.' You were right. That's what you feel, you feel the road inside of you. No, more than that, in a way that I'm not certain I can More...

9 comments like (19 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Belinda rated it:

A friend sent me a copy a kajillion years ago, so I dutifully read it. I still adore the friend, and have liked plenty of other books she recommended, but I was actually ANGRY with her for WEEKS for causing me to have read this book. This was my all-time "worst book I ever read (to the end)" until I read "The Devil Wears Prada."

I wouldn't disparage anyone who DOES like this book, obviously, but to say it wasn't my cup of tea would be...WILDLY kind. How to descr More...

9 comments like (15 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

David rated it:

If I were a bridge, I would gather up an army of bridges from around the globe and arm them with all of the of R. J. Waller remainders we could find. I would then hook up with a willing metalsmith who would fashion sharp corners for every one of these books. No one deserves a Slow Waltz on Cedar Bend between the eyes more than Mr. Waller. Although if my bridge army can't locate him, Ann Coulter will do.

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2008

Molly rated it:

Sometimes I wish that negative stars were allowed...this book deserves the Anti-Star. I wanted to read this book because everyone I knew had read it and love it and wept over it. "The greatest love story of all time." blah blah blah.

~~Spoiler Alert~~

I have a serious pet peeve. A love story does NOT involve adultery. (Period!with a capital P) I have also started to question anyone who thinks that a "great" love story can only happen if you cheat on More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Ryan added it

This was a bestseller for 2 years when I first became a bookseller.

It is no coincidence that I started to hate most people with a deep and abiding passion around that time as well. Robert James Waller writes sex scenes that are so moronic you wonder if he's ever had it himself & If so the other party should be very very ashamed.

Bottom Line: I've read more romantic things on Craigslist.

6 comments like (17 people liked it)

May 10, 2011

K.D. rated it:

In 1993, this novel topped the Bestselling Novels List in the US. Why? Check the others in the lists around that time. They were novels by Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Daniel Steele and Robert Ludlum. It reminded me when in 2001, the soulful operatic voice of John Groban made his first waves in the music industry. The market was then dominated by the likes of Limkin Park, Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Nelly and Shakira. On that same year the simple, acoustic yet heartfelt song Pagdating ng More...

20 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2008

Debbie rated it:

If it were possible to rate a book in the negatives, this one would earn a negative 10. Truly one of the most terrible books ever. Maudlin, whiny and ridiculous. A woman whose husband and children are away has a brief affair with a photographer just passing through. Of course, the few days spent with this complete stranger prove that her marriage is a sham and the photographer is her true love...but wifey sacrifices herself in martyrlike fashion and suffers to allow her substandard husband to co More...

2 comments like (15 people liked it)

Dec 10, 2007

Dolly rated it:

In the introduction, the author spends a few paragraphs trying to suss out the difference between passionate and maudlin. Too bad he didn't come to a conclusion there.

The story is simple: disaffected woman who already thinks her husband is a bore (which begs one to wonder why the hell she married him in the first place) meets up with a hip artiste photographer whilst her husband and children are away and proceeds to boink said artiste on the family kitchen table (and other places). He More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2008

Sandy added it

This is easily the worst book ever written, but that's exactly why I love it. It's so appallingly, endearingly awful that the florid sappy phrases never fail to make me laugh until I cry. 'I am the highway and a peregrine and all the sails that ever went to sea.' You were right. That's what you feel, you feel the road inside of you. No, more than that, in a way that I'm not certain I can explain, you are the road. In the crack where illusion meets reality, that's where you are, out there on the road More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2008

Kayefex rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 23, 2007

David rated it:

The literary version of Thomas Kinkade.

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

*rob* rated it:

this book was dreadful. a saccharined promotion of the fairy-tale love myth, the cinderella complex. yep, true love exists and it is great, but your life is far from empty without it. the character's life, her real day-to-day existence and participation in this world, halts with the removal of that love and she condemns herself to live in the past. she is all but physically dead.

this is the only book that, upon finishing, i felt totally free to get rid of. not a single part More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2007

Caleb rated it:

It was phenomenally popular which pricked my interest. Many people have described Waller's prose as poetic - I found it rather repetetive and wooden. An attempt at the sparseness of Hemingway gone rather wrong. As for the story, the appeal probably lies in all the idea of middle aged passion, love conquering all, including apparently any immorality and guilt in what amounts to infidelity. Not that I am squeamish or moralistic - just that it amuses me somewhat to find this book so wildly popular More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2008

Deborah rated it:

What I learned from this book is that no matter how hard you throw a paperback, it will rarely dent the wall. Which is a good thing, because I threw this one more than once, as I was stubbornly determined to finish it despite my hatred of its flowery overblown writing, its misplaced glorification of the story, and its ridiculous pacing. That said, it somehow became a remarkably good film. I guess it's all a matter of giving the material to a decent screenwriter and some fabulous actors. The auth More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2008

Keith rated it:

The best line I ever saw concerning this book is from a reviewer of the Clint Eastwood movie of it, something about how amazing it was that Eastwood could made a silk purse out of such a sow's ear of a book. I thought that pretty much summed it up. The only thing I learned from this book is that there are covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa. I think I could have survived without that knowledge.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2008

Karen rated it:

This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I saw the movie and thought it was pretty good and figured that the book would be better (because it almost always is!) I was sadly mistaken. I wasn't sure if I was reading an entry in a bad Hemingway imitator's contest...blah. What I learned from this book is...if it's still bad by the time you get to the middle of the book, stop reading.

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2007

Jan rated it:

Some dialogue from this mushy crap bookclub hit:

"his eyes looked directly at her, and she felt something jump inside."
or...
He (male lead character) reminds her (female lead character) of a "gazelle," or, better yet, "some star creature who had drafted in on the tail of a comet."

Urg...I think I'm gonna puke...stand back you star creatures!

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Judy rated it:

This book was laughable. Francesca is a housewife living in Iowa where no one--not her children, her husband or her neighbors--see her for the beautiful, fascinating worldly woman she is. Until that fateful day when Robert Kinkaid, a handsome, fascinating worldly man shows up on her doorstep asking for directions. And talk about great timing! Her husband and teen-aged children just happen to be out of town for the next four days. How convenient.

Francesca and Robert have four crazy, More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

I always felt that this was one of those books written for women who are menapausal and in a marriage that dried up and need to hold on to a fantasy that they don't need to actually do anything in order to make their life better - it will just happen. It will just drive up to their house and hump them and it will be ok because their marriage sucks and they decide to stay in said crap marriage rather than run off - because running off would be cliche. Happiness is cliche and should be shunned.
More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2008

Erinoc rated it:

I did not expect to like this book. I didn't want to like this book. I haven't seen the movie and I don't think I every will. It looks painful.

I've never expected so little from a book and got so much. A friend encouraged me to read it and I guess the introduction kind of sparked my interest. I wanted to know why this brother and sister were so motivated and emotional about getting this story told.

I found some of the descriptions of love a little cringe worthy - but More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Megan rated it:

This book was absolutely beautiful.

I read it over the summer because I had just taken a photography class and I was interested in a lot of related stuff. I found the book on my mom's bookshelf and picked it up mainly because of the fact that the man is a photographer.

I read that book in a day, I couldn't put it down. It was probably one of the greatest works I have ever read and possibly will ever read.

I would recommend The Bridges of Madison County to anybod More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

daniella rated it:

I was too young to know this book when it was a huge to-do in the middle-class white "feminine mystique" set, but I just don't see it now. It was prettily written, maybe even the characters were pleasant, but I expected a little more to the whole romance. Four days' lust enough to subsist on for the rest of a life? Call me jaded, but the trite, therapeutic talk-show dialogue paired with an out-and-out plea for 'willing suspension of disbelief'? No, no, no, I prefer my love affairs More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Nikki rated it:

I'm embarrassed to have read this maudlin piece of shit.

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2008

Tanya rated it:

I really hated this book. The idea behind this book, is that if your husband is a jerk it is okay to cheat on him. And maybe if your lucky, the person that you cheat with may become the love of your life. Please!! What happened to the sanctity of marriage

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 23, 2008

Alisa rated it:

Robert James Waller is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. I love the America that he depicts, the dusty trails and weather-worn characters that can be found off the beaten path. This particular story makes for an interesting discussion, debating the morality of Francesca's decision. I understand why she chose to stay, out of a sense of duty and loyalty to her family. At the same time I wanted to scream at her "How could you let Robert get away?! Life is too short to live with More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2007

Lucy J rated it:

I read this on a plane so luckily I had an endless supply of sick bags handy. Truly one of the worst books I have ever read. Partly because it masquerades as a "proper novel". Bleargh. Retch.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 04, 2008

Jen rated it:

Hated it!

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2008

Suzanne rated it:

just dreadful

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

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