Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, Jr., Picador, 1987 (origin...

Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, Jr., Picador, 1987 (originally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1969)

 

A companion volume to Mrs. Bridge (see below), published ten years later in 1969.

Mr. Bridge is a much less pleasing book than Mrs. Bridge, mostly because Mr. Bridge is a much less sympathetic character.  And the book is a third longer than Mrs. Bridge, so one feels overexposed to Mr. Bridge, and grows tired of him long before the book ends.  Many of the incidents related are repetitive and Mr. Bridge is impervious to just about everything that happens to him, maintaining self-control and small-mindedness and bullying confidence until the very end.  It's written in the same style as Mrs. Bridge, in brief, glancing chapters capturing specific moments and encounters, but it lacks Mrs. Bridge's bonsai-like exquisiteness--it's somewhat lumpy and unpleasant.