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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you've ever really been in love you'll "GET" this book,
This review is from: The Bridges of Madison County (Hardcover)
If you're a miserable cynic, you'll hate it. I am not a fiction reader. I am purely a lover of non-fiction. But a friend pleaded with me to read this book. When I finally broke down and picked up the book, I could not put it down. I finished it in about 5 hours.People can say whatever they want about it being contrived romance, but this book puts you inside of what it feels like to be in a very intense romance that some (real) people really experience. I've been there, I know the anguish and intensity of the love this book describes. There really are people who love, speak and act this way. People who don't get this book are bitter and angry that they can not concieve of such intense loving and living. If you love to love, and love an incredible quick read, this book is for you. I wept for a good half hour when I finished this book despite myself. Enjoy! -- A non-fiction loving, non-sap from New Jersey
35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Botched Opportunity Revealed by Film,
By
This review is from: The Bridges of Madison County (Hardcover)
Robert J Waller botched his opportunity to make "The Bridges of Madison County" an interesting novel. The book contains fascinating themes of conflict including the struggle of choosing between passion and loyalty, and the difficulty of coming to terms with a mother's secret love affair. Unfortunately, rather than exploring these themes, Waller makes them the vehicle for a cardboard love story.The hero, Robert Kinkaid might have been believable if Waller had endowed him with human qualities. Instead, Waller portrays him as a middle-aged superman: lover, artist, pacifist yet war hero, impoverished, yet glamorous, lovable but unavailable. His discourse is sometimes witty and often cheesy, but never quite believable. I know that Waller wanted to make Kinkaid engaging and appealing, but the resulting character is a two dimensional fantasy. The Heroine Francesca is a bit more believable when she expresses her erotic feelings for Kinkaid and works through the dilemma over whether to run away with him or to dutifully remain with her husband. Unfortunately, Waller renders her character meaningless with vapid remarks about how Kinkaid should go on without her because she'll only cramp his style. The condescending manner in which she posthumously explains her love affair to her children comes across as artificial, and insulting. I think the film version of "Bridges of Madison County" starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep succeeds where the book fails. Contrary to the book, Francesca angrily accuses Kinkaid of being selfish and egotistical-a flaw which he admits. Her objection and his subsequent admission provide the relationship with more dramatic tension and make it more believable. The fact that Kinkaid has his flaws makes him more believable and more appealing. Instead of being insipid characters that introduce the story, Francesca's children experience emotional conflict and character development of their own. The revelation of their mother's infidelity comes when each of them is experiencing a crisis in their lives. At first, the shock and shame of their mother's affair adds to their troubles. But slowly they come to terms with her affair and subsequently derive the courage and inspiration from it needed to repair their own lives. I might not have given "Bridges of Madison County" a second thought and certainly would not have wasted time reviewing it if the film version had not revealed its failed potential to be a decent novel.
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Bridges Of Madison County,
By "cheryl@gbadfed.com" (Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bridges of Madison County (Mass Market Paperback)
I could not even finish reading the last 20 pages of this book because of the offensive content. This book is a glorified romance novel; hiding behind pretentious, contrived, Hemingway-esque descriptive passages: "With her face buried in his neck and her skin against his, she could smell rivers and woodsmoke, could hear steaming trains chuffing out of winter stations in long-ago nightimes, could see travelers in black robes moving steadily along frozen rivers and through summer meadows, beating their way toward the end of things. The leopard swept over her again, and again and yet again, like a long prairie wind, and rolling beneath him, she rode on that wind like some temple virgin toward the sweet, compliant fires marking the soft curve of oblivion." Drivel! I have read so many books of this nature lately and it is increasingly offensive to me that storylines dealing with the romanticism of marital infidelity become best sellers. It's the same old story of the poor, neglected, lonely mother/housewife who is trapped in a boring marriage to your average hard-working "good-Joe" type husband. Who could blame this poor woman for giving into temptation when this exciting, good looking, worldly man comes into her life and makes her feel beautiful, intelligent and desirable again? After 24 hours they are in the sack and after four days of lust, they both know they have finally found their soulmate! Give me a break! The final insult is that the reader is supposed to respect her for choosing her family over "true" love, out of guilt and responsibility? The truly touching love stories are those that are based upon two people who have committed themselves completely to one another, standing together through the good and bad times, the exciting and boring times; raising children and making a life together. All of these "ordinary" moments combined over a lifetime, create a shared history, a friendship, a partnership, a romance. Now, that's a love story.
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