review

[Nina]

bridges is one of my favorite books from the 90s.i really got into the characters minds.it was his best book and one of the best romantic novels written

[Tarran]

Quintessentially speaking, it was better than the movie... I really enjoyed this read as well. I also read it back in the 90s

[Pollopicu]

I loved it too. I know a lot of people hate this story, but I don't understand why. It's a beautiful romance.

[Gerd]

Didn't enjoy reading the book much, the characters (especially her children) appeared terrible selfish to me in the novel, I find the movie made the characters and their actions more relatable.

[Pollopicu]

Yes, I loved the movie too. It's actually a very complex film when you sit down and pay close attention.

[Tarran]

Complex is the word that best describes this book. I thought why not just leave with him, but I knew it was wrong-- how would this affect her children

[Prerna]

I did not like the book much. The plot was okay-ish and probably does pull at my heart strings a bit...but other than that, it didn't hold much for me.
Have yet to see the movie though.

[Ma. Lalaine]

I enjoyed reading the book. Just do not understand the technical aspect of a camera. Also wish they met earlier. Want to see the movie too. Which one is better, the book or movie?

[Exzetta]

the book is better.

[Ma. Lalaine]

Alright! I won't see the movie. Haha. Thank you Exzetta.

[Acey]

i vote for the book too!

[Robin]

The book was good. The movie was okay. Wish they found a much younger person than Clint Eastwood.

[Grammarbroad]

WORST book I ever read. I only finished it so that I could say that - otherwise I never would have finished it. It could have made a good movie - with Meryl Streep! I was stuck in the middle of a row, otherwise I would have walked out of the movie, too. Eastwood was stupid to cast himself in the role. With somebody like Robert Redford it would have been believable, at least.

[Robin]

Yes, My sentiments exactly. Bad Casting.

[[deleted user]]

tragic - her own body, soul and life a battlefield between forces that defy any label, like right or wrong. the movie enhances the physical strain of the character, which is perceptible in the pages already.
the beauty of her desire and love shines - this book tattooes itself on the reader's skin.
on mine it did - like a last kiss.

[Alondra]

I agree that she was tragic. The time period seems to dictate this; it was not about happiness. About duties as a woman, mother and wife. He treated her like a woman; whereas her family saw her as mother/wife. "did you cook?" "did you clean" "what about this thing I did?" The kids seemed to be concerned about themselves, which is typical. As adults, the kids thought there couldn't possibly be a problem in their perfect childhoods. She should have jumped out of the truck!

[[deleted user]]

hehe, yes, she should have done it.

[Gerd]

Alondra wrote: "She should have jumped out of the truck! ..."

True that, but her catholic upbringing as well as the knowledge that Kincaid was in inconstant lover likely hindered her, so she rather traded a uncertain future and possible freedom in for economic security and a little freedom.

[Joanne]

I thought it was contrived and annoying. The book, I didn't go to the movie.

[Grammarbroad]

Yes, I agree. And the reading public was totally manipulated by the booksellers who all got together and pre-ordered enough books to send it to the top of the lists with a bullet, so other people bought it, thinking there was something THERE. (And there isn't anything THERE!)

[Robin]

I was disappointed in the theme of the book, it seemed that the author was just writing a book so that they could quickly get it into a screenplay and star Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in the lead roles.

[Moulee]

i thought the heroine was a tad bit selfish and annoying...the guy was alright...dont know how...but the story just didnt warmed up to me that much...good but nothing stellar..picturesque but not memorable...

[Alondra]

I hear you Gerd; but I would rather be happy and poor than miserable and secure. I think there would have been happiness there. She was allowed to be who she truly was with him. Whereas with her family/religion/neighbors, she was stifled to conform. No price on freedom.

[Janet]

Not the sort of book I normally read, but just loved it. In fact i remember actually crying at some point! Thought the book was much better than the film. Will probably read it again sometime!

[LaSonya]

Pollopicu wrote: "I loved it too. I know a lot of people hate this story, but I don't understand why. It's a beautiful romance."

I did too. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie and have it as a keepsake!

[Pollopicu]

LaSonya wrote: "Pollopicu wrote: "I loved it too. I know a lot of people hate this story, but I don't understand why. It's a beautiful romance."

I did too. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie and have it as a keepsake!"

Same here. I just watched the move last week. I call it my bedtime movie, because it's so quiet and relaxing.

The soundtrack alone is brilliant.

[Kris]

I LOVED the film. I read the book after I'd watched it, and I didn't like it at all. The characters weren't as relateable and the long philosophical monologues didn't really do it for me either.

[Pollopicu]

There's another book by Robert Waller called:A Thousand Country Roads: An Epilogue to The Bridges of Madison County
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49...

I've been wanting to get it for the longest time but it's never in any bookstore I visit. I need to order it online.

[Robin]

In this instance, the movie is better than the book.

[LaSonya]

Yeah I agree.

[Kathryn]

I loved the book, hated the movie. A great romantic book.

[Joana]

I just re-read it and fell in love with it all over again.. Can't believe how good it is!

[Keira]

One of my most favorite books in my book collection! Very tragic, sad ending, but that is what makes it so great I think. It was very romantic, yet sustained a reality that moves you.

[Debie]

Brilliant story. I love this book! :)

[Michael]

At the risk of losing my man card, I have to say I loved this book, and the follow up, too.

[Joan]

I loved this sweet book! It's a fictional story. For those simple minded people who become angry while reviewing such a beautiful book -- I simply don't understand. I loved it

[LaSonya]

Me too, Joan.

[Phyllis]

I read it when it first came out and absolutely loved it. At the time I lived in the country. It made me want to go out by the road and give directions.

[Kim]

the book was good. read it in one sitting

[Michael]

You have got to read

[Kim]

is it any good or is it better than bridges of Madison county

[Teresa]

Threw the book in the trash after about 10 pages. Liked the movie, though (entirely because of Meryl Streep's performance). Just couldn't take that guy's writing.

[Judy]

Even the jerkiest of jerks can manage to be the Man of Your Dreams for four days. But it's a fantasy. In the real world, Kinkaid would have thanked Francesca for giving him directions and the glass of lemonade (water? iced tea?), gotten into his truck and driven off, daydreaming of the silk merchant's daughter.

[Judy]

So you'd give up your children for a guy you'd only known for four days?

[Gerd]

Judy wrote: "So you'd give up your children for a guy you'd only known for four days?"

Hey, the children grew into ungrateful brats anyway, and the four day love affaire was better than the married years afore... :)

[Hans]

Seems to me that the book is so much good, so touching, than the film based on the book, leaving you to imagine the beauty of the middle-aged lady ... but the film let me down.

"There are songs that come free from the blue-eyed grass, from the dust of a thousand country roads. This is one of them. In late afternoon, in the autumn of 1989, I'm at my desk, looking at a blinking cursor on the computer screen before me, and the telephone rings." // 从开满蝴蝶花的草丛里，从一千条乡村土路的灰尘中，常有关不住的歌逸出。这个故事，便是其中之一。

In the first translated Chinese version, they translated "a thousand country roads" into the meaning of "many country roads", which seems to me is not so good. I guess that a Western story-teller/writer may like a specific, vivid expression such as "a thousand country roads." So in my translation attempt, I kept the original style.

[Hans]

Judy wrote: "So you'd give up your children for a guy you'd only known for four days?"

I believe that Francesca does her best not let the affair actually hurt her family. That's what a good mother does, right?

[Judy]

There are lots of things I'd say a good mother does--read to her children, provide them with love and affection, teach them right from wrong. Somehow, I don't see "hiding your affair with a guy who showed up at the door asking for directions while the kids and Dad were out of town" as being on that list.

[Hans]

Judy wrote: "There are lots of things I'd say a good mother does--read to her children, provide them with love and affection, teach them right from wrong. Somehow, I don't see "hiding your affair with a guy who..."

Ok, Judy, got your point. No hard feelings :)

[Gerd]

Judy wrote: "Somehow, I don't see "hiding your affair with a guy who showed up at the door asking for directions while the kids and Dad were out of town" as being on that list."

The alternative to which would have been to tell them?
I don't really see that going over too well, either. :)