Editorial Review
Six years after the best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning Empire Falls, Richard Russo returns with a novel that expands even further his widely heralded achievement.
Louis Charles (“Lucy”) Lynch has spent all his sixty years in upstate Thomaston, New York, married to the same woman, Sarah, for forty of them, their son now a grown man. Like his late, beloved father, Lucy is an optimist, though he’s had plenty of reasons not to be—chief among them his mother, still indomitably alive. Yet it was her shrewdness, combined with that Lynch optimism, that had propelled them years ago to the right side of the tracks and created an “empire” of convenience stores about to be passed on to the next generation.
Lucy and Sarah are also preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, where his oldest friend, a renowned painter, has exiled himself far from anything they’d known in childhood. In fact, the exact nature of their friendship is one of the many mysteries Lucy hopes to untangle in the “history” he’s writing of his hometown and family. And with his story interspersed with that of Noonan, the native son who’d fled so long ago, the destinies building up around both of them (and Sarah, too) are relentless, constantly surprising, and utterly revealing.
Bridge of Sighs is classic Russo, coursing with small-town rhythms and the claims of family, yet it is brilliantly enlarged by an expatriate whose motivations and experiences—often contrary, sometimes not—prove every bit as mesmerizing as they resonate through these richly different lives. Here is a town, as well as a world, defined by magnificent and nearly devastating contradictions.
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Customer Reviews
A long slog to read 
2008-09-02
Having thoroughly enjoyed Empire Falls, I was expecting this to be written in the same style. While reading Empire Falls, there were many times when I literally laughed out loud. The way Russo described his characters and their situations was often very comical. Additionally, every sentence was finely crafted and was written in exactly the right way to convey what he was trying to describe. The plot was almost irrelevant as the writing was just so perfect that it was a joy to read and a sorrow to have finished it.
In contrast, I found little if any humor in Bridge of Sighs. The writing style was tedious and dull. As other reviewers have noted, it takes a very long time to get to the actual plot points which have been telegraphed in not so subtle ways. Despite the length, he fails to devote enough space to how Bobby changed from a small town kid to a world class painter. He also resorts to using the tool of a 'deus ex machina' (that he himself criticizes) by introducing a new character near the end.
It is hard to believe that this was written by the same author as Empire Falls. I suppose a lesser author would have completed something totally unreadable as compared to this which, although readable, was disappointing.
Nostalgic novel with literary ambitions 
2008-08-21
Richard Russo's first novel since EMPIRE FALLS lists heavily toward nostalgia. BRIDGE OF SIGHS is set in Thomaston, New York. There is a working class neighborhood, the West Side; a middle class neighborhood, the East Side; and the Borough where the owner of the tannery lives.
Louis C. "Lucy" Lynch lives in all three at some point in his life. His father is a milkman who starts out working on "The Hill" the black neighborhood, then moves up to the East side when he gets a route serving the Borough. When the A&P moves into town, he sees the handwriting on the wall and buys the corner store, Ikey Lubin's, without his wife's permission. Tessa is not happy and refuses to have anything to do with the place, except working on the books. Ikey Lubin's is so significant in the story it's almost a character in its own right.
BRIDGE OF SIGHS has a Milton-esque flavor to it. Milton once wrote two poems, L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, asking who is better off, the contemplative man or the happy man. Lucy's father embodies the happy man. He has a good opinion of everybody and thinks everything will eventually turn out for the best. Russo juggles time throughout the novel. Lucy is telling the story as a sixty-year-old, looking back on his friendship with his neighbor Bobby Marconi, one of the popular boys who doesn`t always return Lucy`s friendship. Lucy takes after his father. He's happiest in Thomaston, running by now three convenience stores, one in each part of town. Bobby has become a famous painter, living in Italy, but he's not happy. He has sexual escapades with his friends' wives, his painting has lost its thrill until he paints Sarah, Lucy's future wife. As a girl Sarah was in love with both of them. Russo keeps you guessing as to what exactly went on in that relationship, as he does with Tessa and Big Lou's brother Dec, who works at Ikey Lubin's as a butcher.
Another compelling character is Sarah's father who works at the high school as an English teacher. He's working on a thousand-page, single-spaced novel during the summer when Sarah goes to live with her mother in Long Island. He smokes in class, handpicks his students for reasons other than academics, and seems to be begging to be fired.
If you don't like omniscient novels you may have a problem with BRIDGE OF SIGHS. There is a lot of narrative (telling). Russo gets inside the head of one of his characters and stays there for pages. But he's really good at it, so this may be a moot point. Russo also leaves several questions unanswered. For instance, why are Sarah (an excellent artist in her own right) and Bobby painting the same picture?
Empathetic characters, engaging story 
2008-08-19
I liked this book even better than Empire Falls, another of Russo's great books. Russo captures small-town life and small-town ambition perfectly and believably. The artist character (Bobby Noonan) is less believable than some of the other characters but still well drawn. Noonan's fate at the end of the book seems a bit like a cop-out, but the book is still engaging and well-written throughout. Russo is a master at creating empathetic characters.
The only Richard Russo book I haven't loved... 
2008-08-09
I've read and loved every one of Russo's books (except his book of short stories) - and could hardly wait to get my hands on this one. I enjoyed parts of it, but it dragged on and on, and after reading a short while I couldn't endure it anymore. It got to be more of a chore than a pleasure. I hate not finishing a book...so I scanned through as much as I could before seeing the rest was just more of the same. I still love you and your large volume of work though, Richard, and will certainly scoop up your next book and give it a try.
Not horrible but... 2008-08-01
This isn't a BAD novel. Russo knows what he's doing, does it well. But too much is too much. I too skimmed at the end and it still felt like forever getting there. All that teasing about Italy and "was it my mom on the bridge?" and "did they have an affair?" and on and on and none of it panned out. With the introduction of new characters at the 11th hour (and rather canned characters at that) the whole thing felt like an lovely, purposeless stroll down someone's memory lane. Makes me think of John Irving and Anne Tyler but without the tautness of their plots. Tyler in particular can plumb the depths of the human heart with small details. Bridge of Sighs is filled with detail but reveals little. From what I read, though, this is Russo's least popular with other reviewers -- so I'm looking forward to his other, more rewarding work!
Yes, it's too long, but it's Immersive anyway... 2008-07-24
Six years after the best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning Empire Falls, Richard Russo returns with a novel that expands even further his widely heralded achievement.
Louis Charles (“Lucy”) Lynch has spent all his sixty years in upstate Thomaston, New York, married to the same woman, Sarah, for forty of them, their son now a grown man. Like his late, beloved father, Lucy is an optimist, though he’s had plenty of reasons not to be—chief among them his mother, still indomitably alive. Yet it was her shrewdness, combined with that Lynch optimism, that had propelled them years ago to the right side of the tracks and created an “empire” of convenience stores about to be passed on to the next generation.
Lucy and Sarah are also preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, where his oldest friend, a renowned painter, has exiled himself far from anything they’d known in childhood. In fact, the exact nature of their friendship is one of the many mysteries Lucy hopes to untangle in the “history” he’s writing of his hometown and family. And with his story interspersed with that of Noonan, the native son who’d fled so long ago, the destinies building up around both of them (and Sarah, too) are relentless, constantly surprising, and utterly revealing.
Bridge of Sighs is classic Russo, coursing with small-town rhythms and the claims of family, yet it is brilliantly enlarged by an expatriate whose motivations and experiences—often contrary, sometimes not—prove every bit as mesmerizing as they resonate through these richly different lives. Here is a town, as well as a world, defined by magnificent and nearly devastating contradictions.
Great Characters 2008-07-17
I love Richard Russo's writing, so I wanted to read Bridge of Sighs. It is a nice, satisfying, long read and I enjoyed all the characters and learned to care about them. It is a story of family, love, loyalty, betrayal and all the good stuff that make up a good novel. I enjoyed Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool a bit more, but still a very enjoyable read. I'm always ready to pick up any book written by Russo. Give this one a try ! It will take you back to simpler times when the corner store was a mainstay in every neighborhood.
Maudlin, Gnawing, And Yes, Endearing -- Book of Sighs..... 2008-07-06
In many ways this book is a mess. Russo is very wordy. He can't resist telling us what he then proceeds to show us. A couple of hundred pages could have been cut without compromising his story or the characters.
"People don't change" is a common theme throughout the book. Would that Russo didn't keep repeating that, and then showing evidence to support himself. But then again, perhaps writers don't change either.
Russo writes about people who live in small towns who have small dreams, which can be very fulfilling. His characters are deeply affected, and oftentimes profoundly scarred, by events that took place forty or fifty years ago. Events that will be repeated, ad nauseam.
The main character in "Bridge Of Sighs" is actually a family. The Lynch family to be precise. Its patriarch is a kind-hearted, man who never met a verb he could conjugate properly. He saw the good in everything, while his wife saw what was. Try as she might, she knew people wouldn't change, and.....
Lou jr., or Lucy as he's called, is writing an autobiography. His life couldn't be duller, and yet it is fulfilling. He loves his family, job and town. Many people would be very happy with his existence. But it isn't interesting literature. Lucy was picked on in school, save when he was with his friend Bobby Marconi, who was really a friend to his family, and only after Lucy had a girlfriend Marconi would have stolen in a heartbeat. Marconi is interesting, and his absences are felt just as strongly as his presence in the unraveling of this story. But as a protagonist, Lucy is too needy, dull, and cloying to help propel a great story.
What didn't happen in this novel is more interesting than what did (for the most part).
You really feel as if you intimately know all the characters, and charachatures Russo creates. But the ones you know most intimately, might be people you'd avoid knowing well in your own life. These are people you'd wish well, but not want to have at a dinner party.
A Fabulous Book 2008-06-17
I loved this book! My first exposure to Russo was Straight Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found laugh-out-loud funny. I also read Empire Falls, and although I enjoyed it, I didn't as much as Straight Man. I was hesitant to pick up Bridge of Sighs, but I am so glad I did. It is one of the best books I have read in a long time.
A lot of the criticism of this book is that the plot is slow. This book is about characters, not about plot. If you want to read a plot-driven book, pick up something by Grisham. If you enjoy character study, this book is a treasure!
A Deep Sigh for Bridge of Sighs 2008-06-05
This novel is problematic on several levels, the most obvious perhaps being how difficult it is for a reader to care even a smidgen about the characters. The reason is straightforward, based on violation of a fundamental principle of fiction writing: The author failed to make them real. Most of the story relates the experiences the characters have as children and adolescents, but few of those experiences ring true. Yes, as junior high kids, the characters go to dances, but Russo never once mentions the kind of music that they listen to, even though there are hints that the period in question is the late 1950s through the 1960s, when rock-n-roll was at its peak. No even a town as small as Thomaston, NY, would have been so isolated that its young people would not be immersed in the music of those years.
The main characters--Lucy Lynch, Bobby Marconi, and Sara Berg--are all damaged in one way or another, but it will strike readers as being unrealistic that, given the times, they each seek solace in the Lynch family and the run-down convenience store, Ikey Lubin's. Just as Russo never mentioned rock-n-roll, he never wrote a word about the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, or the Anti-war Movement, as though the residents of Thomaston were living on a different planet from the rest of us growing up during those years. A minor character, Three Mock, is sent to Vietnam, where he is killed, but neither his conscription nor his death resonates with any of the cultural or counter-cultural currents of the time.
The character of Lucy (Louis C.) Lynch is especially problematic. Although he manages to get good grades in school, he is, like his father, slow witted, one might even say stupid, at least outside the classroom. His insight into others and himself is less than a micron deep. Nevertheless, this dullard somehow manages when writing his memoirs to produce remarkable understanding of the human condition, what Faulkner once characterized as the "eternal verities." This aspect of the story is about as believable as what we would expect had Russo put these words of wisdom in the barking of a dog.
Although many readers pay little attention to narrative structure, this important feature of any novel is so mishandled in Bridge of Sighs as to make one wonder whether Russo really spent four or five years on this work. The bulk of the novel is told as a first-person narrative as Lucy writes (and one must suppose reads) his memoirs. It then shifts perspective repeatedly from first-person to limited-omniscient and omniscient points of view. As a result, readers are constantly aware of the author, which further diminishes the reality of the characters.
In sum, this is a flawed book, one that I find difficult to recommend.
