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I am a Richard Russo fan, and this book was no exception. His protagonists are always a bit of the underdog, and the same is true for this book. I just love the way the man weaves a story; his characters are richly developed and his writing always evokes strong emotions in me.

Someone gave this to me at work because she couldn't get through it. I love Russo so I am curious to find out why she didn't like it. Blasphemy! He's a great writer, for sure.

I just unpacked my copy of this book. I hope to be able to read it very soon; however, I have one other (The Last Waltz - a Goodreads giveaway - which I need to read and post a review for) to read first. So, I'll lurk on this discussion and read your reviews (I am of the minority for whom spoilers never spoil the story - I love reading too much for that to ever happen).

I just finished The Gargoyle last night and am looking forward to starting Bridge of Sighs later on today. I have been getting very little reading time in lately. Hopefully I can finish it before the next read!!

I'm looking forward to starting this book!

I just loved "Empire Falls". I watched the miniseries recently and I was pleasantly surprised- it was great! I VERY rarely like a movie after reading a book I like. My one critique is that the ending was all wrapped up rather quickly and of course there is the usual "things left out" ... but I was more impressed by how much was left in.

I think the reason it was so well done is that (a) It was 197 minutes. They took the time to pay attention to the story. (b) The author wrote the screenplay!

Of course the "Empire Falls" book was better, but the miniseries is certainly worth seeing.

Aylin wrote: "I'm looking forward to starting this book!

I just loved "Empire Falls". I watched the miniseries recently and I was pleasantly surprised- it was great! I VERY rarely like a movie after reading a..."


I actually own this miniseries (got it for $5.00) and have never watched it! I'm not a big tv/movie watcher, but maybe I'll have to try to find the time to watch it soon!

I plan on starting Empire Falls within the next week or so, then watching the miniseries. Empire Falls is on my group read list for Busy as a Bee Books group and I'm using it and the miniseries to complete a task for The Seasonal Reading Challenge group. I'll probably wait til I finish this before starting Bridge of Sighs.

I started Bridge of Sighs and am really enjoying it so far. I thought I was reading a story based on my father for the first few pages (I have to have him read this). Richard Russo ALWAYS hits so close to home for me. He's just so familiar. That's one of the big reasons I love him so much. I also enjoy his detailed character development. I really feel like I have a relationship with his characters. It's a welcome change from some of the books I've been reading lately!

I was disappointed with the miniseries, but it's one of my favorite books. The dialogue comes off as trite and too sentimental. It's as if Lifetime or Hallmark directed it. There were some good parts though... Ed Harris is great and so is Robin Wright Penn.
Lisa, post your thoughts on the miniseries, I want to know what you think! :-)

Just got Bridge of Sighs, so I'll be starting it soon.

Is it just me or did anyone else have problems reading this book? I liked it to start with, but it seems to have quite a few places where the book really dips into repeated, detailed stories of Lucy's life as a child without any idea of why I am hearing all this. I enjoy it somewhat, but it is getting to where I find the story dragging...too detailed. I find myself putting down the book a lot and picking up something else to read. I'm not sure if I like it or not at this point. Perhaps it gets better again later....I'm hoping.

Being too detailed is the biggest complaint I've heard about Russo's writing in talking to other people about his books. I am really enjoying the book, but I can definitely see your point. His first book, Mohawk, and, at times, Empire Falls, dragged for me. I have to be in the right mood and mind set to read his books, and I can never read two of his in a row. I was having a hard time getting into a book before I picked this one up. I think it is perfect for what I was looking for at this point.

I just downloaded Bridge of Sighs to my iPod. I'm going to try listening to this next weekend since I have a long car trip to make; but I'll probably check out the book too and alternate.

When I looked at the book in the library and saw its length, I couldn't quite talk myself into reading it yet. I finished Empire Falls a few days ago, liked it very much, but was put off in some parts because it was too wordy and detailed. I didn't think I could do both books back to back.

I watched the Empire Falls mini-series last week. I liked it, but felt some of the characters were a little flat. Paul Newman as Max had so much potential, but I don't think Max was fully developed on screen. I wasn't too crazy over Ed Harris. He never seemed to display any emotion, although part of that was in character; he just didn't strike the right chord with me. Parts of the movie were really good and other parts were just filler.

I really tried to get through this book, but about 2/3 the way in I started asking why I was reading it as it slogged along. It was okay, it just didn't catch my interest, I guess. I finally have given it up.

Just got my copy today from swaptree.com. Read the first few pages in Borders the other day -- looks good! I'm going to finish The Gargoyle first . . .

Kate, enjoy The Gargoyle. I loved that book!

Kate wrote: "Just got my copy today from swaptree.com. Read the first few pages in Borders the other day -- looks good! I'm going to finish The Gargoyle first . . ."

That's so funny! That's the book I had to finish up before I started Bridge of Sighs. They are very different books.

I am LOVING The Gargoyle -- (funny, Jaime -- first I read what you had read, then your post "hey, that's what I just read!). Gargoyle is a WONDERFUL book (just finished girl/dragon tattoo -- needed something quicker, spunkier and witty!)

I'm NOT familiar w/ Empire Falls at all! Should I read that too, eventually? Does it read the same way?

Kate wrote: "I'm NOT familiar w/ Empire Falls at all! Should I read that too, eventually? Does it read the same way?"

His books all basically read the same way- a small struggling- to -survive town in a post-industrial economy, very detailed character descriptions. Straight Man A Novel was a bit different as was his collection of short stories,The Whore's Child. Nobody's Fool was made into a movie starring Paul Newman and Empire Falls was made into a mini-series. My favorite book by Russo is Risk Pool, but I am really, really enjoying Bridge of Sighs so far. It may tie for my favorite. I know that's more info. than you asked for, Kate! I just thought I'd share. :)

I went out-of-town for the weekend and brought along Bridge of Sighs on my iPod. This is only my second attempt at audiobooks on iPod. Boy did I get lost while listening. I was paying close attention to a certain aspect of the story, then the next thing I know the narration was talking about something else. I thought, huh! What's going on? I think somehow it was forwarding to other parts of the book. After this happened on several occasions, I started trying to follow along in the book. Sure enough, for no reason, the story would jump to another chapter. I also noted that one part had narration that was completely misplaced. Has anyone else ever had this problem? I'll still try to listen to a little more of the book, but will probably end up reading most of it.

Also, I completely dislike this narrator. His voice is annoying. Sometimes he tries to change voices for different characters, sometimes he doesn't. He's not consistent. I also find his inflection inappropriate. It's like he doesn't have a feel for the characters. His voice makes the characters unlikable; whereas when I was reading from the book, the characters came across different to me. And as for his treatment of women's voices, ugh!

Hi Lisa-

I don't know about the audio version of this book but it sounds like one to avoid considering the narration style. I am almost done with the book and it is very good on paper!

I have had similar experiences with mp3's. Did you download your audiobook from your CD's to your ipod? If so, you have to be VERY careful about your disc and track titles or your ipod can (and will) "scramble" them. Of course in the utterly logical world of electronics, it is in logical sequence according to naming and numbers and heck with the story line.

FOr example, name the discs in order- i.e. BOS 1 of 12 (or whatever); BOS 2 of 12...

Make sure all the rest of the info is filled in identically for each CD and not left blank on one CD but not another (name of author, type= book, etc- or it may separate out a CD or track that does not match).

Also for each track under a CD, make sure it is in some type of logical order - i.e. for CD#1 fill out tracks as 1.2,1.2,1.3
for CD#2.... 2.1,2.2,2.3 etc

It doesn't matter HOW you name the tracks within each CD as long as they are in some type of numerical or alphabetical sequence for that particular CD (naming styles can range from CD to CD but must be logical for the particular CD itself) i.e. CD #1 tracks can be 1.A, 1.B, 1.C and CD#2 can be 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 (I say this because sometimes different CD's are numbered correctly but with different styles from CD to CD and it is not necessary to spend the time changing this).

When I do this, I use Windows media player to name and organize, then download to mp3 player.

Sorry if this is lengthy but I really had a time with this myself at first and it is worth it to get it exactly right from the first. For some odd reason CD's don't always have logical info encrypted to make the conversion to mp3 for your ipod easy.

If anyone else has a simpler way let me know!

Thanks for the info Aylin. I use the library's OverDrive system to download directly to my computer, then transfer it to my iPod. It is downloaded in order, but for some reason it was skipping over parts when playing. Each part is made up of 20 chapters and I noticed that a chapter was inserted into a part where it didn't belong. If I hadn't also checked out the book, I would have really been lost.

Hi, Lisa,

Aylin's explanation sounds more reasonable, and thanks Aylin for that. My first thought was maybe you had gotten an abridged version. Audios frequently are. I sometimes forget to look at that, and I've been listening to a story and had a sudden shift in scene. I then notice on the case that's its the abridged version.

A bad narrator really affects your ability to enjoy the story. I've been listening to a children's series, and I really enjoyed the reader for the first book, but the second one has a new reader and I don't like him as much. I think I'm just going to get the book and find something else for the drive.

Sorry you got a dud. This one isn't going to change your mind about audio books.

I FINALLY finished Bridge of Sighs a couple of days ago. Russo does a wonderful job of depicting small town life and making his characters real, but he goes overboard on the detail. While the detail enriches his story, it also gets repetitive, and I got bogged down in it. I felt like this book was 800 pages long rather than 500+pages.

Other than my complaint of being overly detailed, I liked the book and gave it 4 stars. I fell in love with the character of Big Lou. Sarah's dad, the teacher, made me laugh because he reminded me of one of my former teachers. I felt like I was part of the neighborhood. It actually made me long for the time when people hung out in the corner grocery store. I can easily visualize the people, places and events. This would make a great mini-series.

Having read Empire Falls recently, I noticed some similarities and wonder if anyone has noted them too. Both have a character who have some form of birthmark on his face, which Russo constantly brings attention to. They also both have rivers polluted by factories, which have brought devastation to their towns. These are the only Russo books I've read, but it makes me wonder about similarities in his other books.

Lisa wrote: "I FINALLY finished Bridge of Sighs a couple of days ago. Russo does a wonderful job of depicting small town life and making his characters real, but he goes overboard on the detail. While the det..."


There are definite similarities in all his books. Small, post-industrial towns with down-on-their-luck characters are big themes. He is very, very detailed. I love his writing, and can relate to his characters and small town descriptions, but have to be in the right mood for it and can never read two books of his in a row. His book of short stories, The Whore's Child, is great. If you like Russo, but want small doses, I'd recommend it.

I definitely think it was a problem for me reading two of his books within such a short time span. I kept having to put it down and pick up something lighter. I'd like to read more by him in the future.

I am a big fan of Russo, but not one right after the other. I read Bridge of Sighs on a road trip home from South Dakota. It was great to read it in one fell swoop, you know in a car with nothing else to do. I have his new book but haven't started it yet. Since it is snowing buckets here, maybe today is the day. Happy reading all!

Patti,

Where do you live that it's snowing?

Washington State-the eastern side. We are a lot drier than Seattle and it can get very hot here in the summer.

It's supposed to snow here in Upstate New York on Friday and Saturday, but that isn't unheard of for this time of year around here.

Patti wrote: "Washington State-the eastern side. We are a lot drier than Seattle and it can get very hot here in the summer. "

Hi Patti - Can I ask where you live? I'm in E'burg. We had a bit of wet snow today. Wish it was the normal dry stuff!

I lived in Ephrata for over 29 years but recently have moved to Cheney, which is about 10 minutes from Spokane.

Patti wrote: "I lived in Ephrata for over 29 years but recently have moved to Cheney, which is about 10 minutes from Spokane. "

Been to both! Now you have a great bookstore in Spokane at Aunties.