finally finished invisible bridge

[Alyce]

one of my childhood friends recommended this book to me. she and her family fled hungary hidden in the back of a truck in 1957. her parents (presently deceased) were concentration camp survivors. yes, this book is long and the beginning sections in paris took a long time to get through. i didn't relaly know much about hungary's part in WWII, so the second half of the book enlightened me. i loved the love story of andras and klara, but also loved the love story of andras and his brothers and friends. it is an outstanding book.

[Margaret]

I loved this book too. I love novels that teach me something about a time or place I know nothing about.

[Heather]

I might have to reconsider this one--I thought it was just too slow, and too long to be too slow...

[Janmeyers66]

Alyce wrote: "one of my childhood friends recommended this book to me. she and her family fled hungary hidden in the back of a truck in 1957. her parents (presently deceased) were concentration camp survivors...."

I loved this book, In fact it was one of my 2 favorite books in 2011! The other was "Cutting for Stone" which I believe was also a phenominal book.
Like you I learned more about Hungary and their part in WW11 than I had ever imagined. I loved the characters in this novel; they were well developed and very convincing "I smiled, I cried and it became a part of me" (just a paraphrase to make it fit!!) written by Jan Meyers

[Shannon]

I could not agree more. This book was very enlightening, but the story also captured me. It was one of those I did not want to finish because I was enjoying the characters.

I also really enjoyed Cutting for Stone! Another very interesting read and story.

[Janmeyers66]

Janmeyers66 wrote: "Shannon, Have you read "The Language of Flowers"...another good read! Read it for book club otherwise I might have over looked it. Very glad that did not happen...We seem to have similar likes in..."

[Gwenn]

I agree with the above comment about the book being enlightening and story captivating. I gave it 5 stars.

[Magen]

I felt the same, I didn't want it to end because I enjoyed the characters so much. You know it's a good book when you even care about characters with small roles. I learned quite a lot too. I didn't start a new book for a week, which is not normal for me, because I was left thinking about Andras and Klara.

[Michael]

This was satisfactory to me, not that great. I enjoyed the last chapters than the beginning, but some characters were memorable. I just felt that the author added way to many information that was not relevant to the story.

[Betsy]

is this a hard book to read

[Michael]

Not really hard to read, hard to get into.

[Mj]

Invisible Bridge is a terrific book and one of the best books that I read in 2012. I can see myself reading it again, which is unusual for me as I rarely reread books. Invisible Bridge is that powerful and inspirational.

Check out my review more details on why I would have liked to give this book even more than 5 stars.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/72...

[Nadine]

I finished this book last week. It was very thought provoking. I too learned a lot of history I hadn't known before. It also made me thankful that I'm not in a situation where so much of my life is beyond my control as Andras and his family's were.

It did take a little longer to get into and read, but well worth the effort. I like a book that makes me think about it after I'm done.

[Mj]

Nadine wrote: "I finished this book last week. It was very thought provoking. I too learned a lot of history I hadn't known before. It also made me thankful that I'm not in a situation where so much of my life..."

I glad in the end you thought it was a 4 star book well worth reading. Sometimes a book takes a bit longer for me to get into but when I persevere (particularly based on friend's high recommendations, in my experience, it usually turns out well worth it.

A month or so back I was stalled with Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks but perservered due to a GR friend's encouragement. It was about WW1. I learned lots, felt lots and found it very moving. While I haven't written my review yet......the book has stayed with me since finishing it and the book keeps percolating up in my thoughts - something that can't be said about a lot of books I read - while they are excellent reads and easy to finish, evoke emotion and keep my attention.....they don't often stick with me. Often I find, the so-called "tougher" reads do.

[LindaJ^]

It took me a few months to get through this book but I liked it. I knew the general story of what happened to the Hungarian Jews so I knew this novel would not be a happy one and suspected that Andras and Tibor would not get to live out the war in Paris and Italy, even as I hoped they would.

[Nicole]

Even though the author wrote with a sappy tone, I didn't find it hard to read at all. I was actually quite engrossed with the story like and characters, and I also learned quite a bit of history told from a perspective (Hungarian) on WWII that one hardly hears.

[LindaJ^]

Nicole wrote: "Even though the author wrote with a sappy tone, I didn't find it hard to read at all. I was actually quite engrossed with the story like and characters, and I also learned quite a bit of history to..."

I was lucky to spend some time in Budapest - a lovely city - about 10 years ago and have the opportunity to get some insight on what happened to the Hungarian Jews.