Bridge of San Louis Rey

By Thornton Wilder

“The Bridge of San Luis Rey is American author Thornton Wilder’s second novel, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. It tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope bridge in Peru, and the events that lead up to their being on the bridge. A friar who has witnessed the tragic accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928.”  (Wikipedia)

Here’s What Happened at Book Club…

A heavy book = a fun night!! Our host selected this book because :

1. The story looked interesting: a bridge collapses, 5 people die, Brother Jupiter (a witness to the incident) looks at the lives of the 5 to figure out whether they were fated to die or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

2. It was short – less than 200 pages

The joke was on us. It turns out this was much heavier reading than anticipated and all of us were a little confused by who was who and what was what by the end. Not exactly an enjoyable read for my of us.

Despite a very animated discussion we did not resolve the mystery of fate vs luck. Sorry Brother Juniper!

We did however do our best to make sense of fate, psychics, haunted houses, ghostly realtors and the Long Island Medium. We also learned the truth about a certain graveyard Robin Hood… who knew!

It was a fun night and yes, in case you’re wondering shrimp can be dessert. Right?