Customer Reviews

The Last Bridge: A Novel

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was nearly impossible to put down. I was hooked from the first sentence and never looked back. The premise is a young woman, Cat, who comes back to hometown after her mother commits suicide. Cat had left home ten years prior after having severed all contact with her parents. When she returns she is wasted, both literally and figuratively.

As Cat begins to investigate the circumstances surrounding her mother's suicide and attempts to interpret a cryptic note her mother left for her, her memories of her family and how they coped with a horrifically abusive father begin to surface in spite of her attempts to numb herself with alcohol. "He is not who you think he is," is all she has to go on to put the pieces of her shattered life back together.

The story alternates between Cat's memories, beginning in childhood, and the present until the two connect. Along the way, her relationship with her siblings, her parents, and her first love are revealed in all of their complexity. At many points in time you are left wondering who is villian or hero at any given point, including Cat herself. This is a psychological thriller/mystery at it's best. At the end of each chapter you want more, until suddenly you find yourself at the end of the book.

I appreciated that this book was fast-paced, and yet the characters were very well drawn. On the book cover, this author is compared to Jodi Picoult, but in fact, I found it better than the last few Picoults I've read. Picoult has a tendency to sacrifice character development for the sake of creating suspense in the storyline, but that is not the case with The Last Bridge. Another difference is the lack of a legal/trial component.

I gave the book 4 1/2 stars not because I thought the writing was so superior, but just because it is so rare that a book hooks me so deeply that it is almost unbearable to stop reading it until I find out what happens next.

"The Last Bridge" is not an easy book to read. In fact, I started several weeks ago and put it down. This novel which dealt with issues of alcoholism, domestic violence and physical and sexual abuse was too dark for me initially. But then I picked it up again and found it to be an interesting and fast read.

Kat is a twenty seven year old drunk. She has been running from her past for the last 10 years. She has cut off all contact with her family and lives a marginal existence whose only highlight is a bottle of Jack Daniels. Out of the blue, she gets the call that her mother has committed suicide. "The Last Bridge" is about Kat's journey to her hometown to face the demons that she tried to leave behind.

Kat isn't a heroine that is easy to like. She is extremely damaged. She is self destructive and more than a little rough around the edges. As a reader, you understand why she is the way she is, but that doesn't make it any easier to read. Most of the book dealt with Kat's rediscovery of herself and whether or not she was going to continue to run from the past.

There are a lot of family secrets in this book. In the hands of most authors they would have turned this book into a bad soap opera. But oddly enough, Terri Coyne weaved them so well into the story that they were not overly dramatic or just cheap gimmicks.

The supporting cast of family, friends and old lovers were well drawn. No one is perfect in this tale. Those imperfections gave this book a level of grit and depth that was needed in order for it to succeed. The setting was detailed and suitably bleak. The fact that this tale occurs in winter, when everything is buried under blankets of ice and snow (just like our heroine) was appropriate.

"The Last Bridge" is a portrait of a broken a fractured family, that deals with the power of forgiveness and redemption. It isn't the kind of book that I would read again, because the subject matter was so dark, but it was well done.

I really wanted to like this book. It started off with a bang (literally) and a bit of a mystery, and although I finished the book with a small feeling of reassurance, overall I found the writing to be pedestrian and the character development wanting.

Spoilers ahead so beware, but I'll try to keep them to a minimum...

The story focuses around Cat, the alcoholic victim of an abusive father and a generally loveless family. The story is written in the first person from Cat's perspective and generally alternates between current-day events and flashbacks to her past, which fill in many of the blanks in Cat's self-destructive behavior. In the opening pages we learn that Cat ran away from her family ten years ago and only returns to help take care of affairs when when a family friend tells her that her father had a debilitating stroke and her mother committed suicide, the latter leaving a mysteriously vague note addressed specifically to Cat.

The rest of the book largely develops around Cat's convoluted family tree and their emotional relationships. Everyone in the family has at least one secret. Some, like Cat's alcoholism, are more obvious than others and through the pages we learn those secrets and how they affected other people and at times other people's secrets. The story culminates with a more-or-less happy ending, which is to say that there's a general feeling of optimism in the final pages which wasn't there in the beginning.

That being said, I agree with several other reviewers here and with Karie Hoskins' review in specific: "It never felt like I was reading about people...it felt like I was reading a plot that the author, Teri Coyne, stuck people in." (Karie, sorry for copying your line but it's 100% accurate of how I feel about this book too.) There are scenes within this book which should be personally and emotionally distressing to the reader. There are events which occur which should make the reader wince or just want to put the book down and walk away for awhile. But this never happens.

The book reads like a cross between a police report and an unauthorized biography being read by the subject of the bio. The characters never seem to exhibit any real emotional impact, and there's not nearly enough character development to make you wonder why. Cat does a fair share of crying in this book, but it's all presented in a very matter-of-fact way which leaves the reader wondering if it's worth caring about the character at all.

An example: I was reading a passage in the book where, from my perspective, Cat is having a disagreement with another character as they trade lines back and forth. Several lines into this dialog Cat says something, and Coyne writes that Cat is shouting. At no point prior to this was there any indication that Cat was anything beyond annoyed at the person she was talking to, but it turns out Cat wasn't talking to anyone, she was angrily shouting. There's no indication ANYWHERE that this was happening until after it happened, and even then the fact is delivered in such an emotionally sterile manner that you find yourself completely ambivalent to Cat's emotional state. Worse, as the dispute-cum-argument cools down, there's no description of the emotional state of anyone involved, leading the reader to wonder what, if any, affect it will have on the characters in the book.

Another example: At one point in the book Cat's father tackles her, rapes her, then passes out on top of her. Cat crawls out from underneath him and drags herself under a bush to recover. In what is possibly one of the most understated events of the book, Cat then discovers that her leg was broken and that must have been what the cracking sound she heard was. Then, as quickly as the subject arose, it was dismissed just as quickly. I actually had to go back and reread the section, thinking I had missed the actual event of her leg breaking, but it turns out I didn't miss anything. It just wasn't there.

And that's the fundamental problem with most of this book. It is loaded with traumatic events - rape, brutal attacks, alcoholic stupors, abandonment, lies and more - but they're presented in such a matter-of-fact way that it's impossible to connect or sympathize with any of the characters. At times it's like reading a police or coroner's report. A coroner performing an autopsy lacks an emotional connection to his subject, and his report reflects that. This book reads in much the same way. There's no emotional involvement. "Just the facts, ma'am."

The book is an extremely easy read. It took less than four hours of casual reading spread over three days to finish it from cover to cover. Although I never found myself forcing myself to continue reading, I also never found myself utterly compelled to find out what happened next. At times I found myself reading the book and thinking it would be a decent screenplay, perhaps living actors could invoke the emotional attachment that the author failed to invoke. There is definitely potential here and I would like to see that potential explored, but I don't think the author has the tools or technique to fully evoke that potential.

I have been told that I am a lazy reader, of sorts. That one of my biggest faults as a reader (and, I suppose, as a reviewer) is that if the story doesn't have one character that I can like or sympathize with or even love to hate...I can't appreciate the story.

So - if you agree that makes me an unreliable reviewer, have a good day. If not, or if you are a better reader than I, then here's my review of "The Last Bridge".

It's a mystery about the past and about family secrets. LOTS of family secrets and several mysteries but one big one. It's no spoiler to give that one away - it's right there on the cover of my Early Reviewer copy. Alex's (Cat) mother kills herself, leaving a note that says "Cat, He isn't who you think he is. Mom xxxooo"

I wish I could feel any sympathy for Cat or her family or her mother or for anyone in this book. HORRIBLE things happen to most of them, especially to Cat. But, unfortunately, not only do I feel nothing for these people, I don't even believe in them.

I don't believe them as characters. I don't believe many of the actions they take or many of the things they say. And yes, I am aware that this is a work of fiction, but what I mean is that their words, their actions don't ring true. It never felt like I was reading about people...it felt like I was reading a plot that the author, Teri Coyne, stuck people in.

I feel awful writing this, especially since I just read Coyne's website and that she worked on the book for ten years and that Cat's voice was so strong in her head for that time. I wish Cat's voice came through that strongly for me.

The actions that the people in this book take are simply awful and they (the characters) aren't fleshed out enough for the reader to know what would cause them to do what they do. There is rampant physical abuse that no one seems to care about, not hospital workers, not boyfriends, certainly not mothers. There is a tangled web of children and siblings and parents that never really gets cleared up (and I'm not sure why that plot line was included with everything else that was going on). And the suicide note - I still don't know what it means...and I don't understand why a woman blowing her brains out would address it to only one of her children and then would sign it with hugs and kisses. That doesn't means there's not a good reason...it just means that there is no good reason in the book that I could find.

There is decent writing in this book; there are hints of what it could have been.

"I could still feel the warmth of a human hand on mine, still wiggle my toes, and still see what was in front of me. I could also still feel something - and listening to my mother as she spun her conversation away from the truth, away from me and toward her carefully manufactured view of the world, I felt the black oil of rage bubble up inside me."

Again, I want to care about Cat, especially in this horrific scene and the betrayal she experiences from both her father and mother...but there just wasn't enough of her there.

Maybe, in the end, it's a book of a wasted family, of shells of people, of too much of too little. Maybe it's a book about people who only connected to people in negative ways...and as Coyne writes, "If there was something more between us than genetics and time poorly spent."

There is so much to say about this novel that I'm having a hard time thinking of how to put it in words. I would have finished it in one sitting, except motherhood called me out of my revelry. So, I finished it in 2 sittings. I have read reviews where the reader didn't like the main character, Cat, but I did. She was hugely flawed and yes some of it she could have stopped but she was a product of her environment to a large extent. I am all for adults to quit blaming their parents for what's wrong with them and to take ownership for their lives, but in some circumstances it takes a bit longer. <span id="fullpost"> Cat is a drunk. She's a hard living drunk who travels from town to town doing jobs that give her enough cash for a hotel and booze. With one phone call she has to return to the house she left 10 years before without looking back. Her mom killed herself and her dad is in a coma. She comes back to the family farm to be confronted with the events that caused her to leave all those years ago.

There are some twists and turns in the book that I didn't see coming. There was one that I did see coming but I think most readers would as well. I think she alludes to it during most of the book. I had no respect for Cat's mom at all. Cat's sister Wendy hides behind a facade of being happy and her brother Jared is torn with guilt that he can't get over. So essentially they are one messed up family.

The note that is described is essential to the book but not in the way I thought it was be. "He" refers to many different men in Cat's life but for me it didn't stick to one more clearly than the other. What I think might have been more poignant is if the note said, "Cat - You aren't who you think you are." Either way it did lead Cat down the road to self-discovery.

I've never been abused and I can not imagine what it is like to be in a relationship like that. I do know from other reading and studying it in school, that when it's good it's so good and when it's bad, it's terrifying. Cat's dad was definitely a monster and I'm glad he finally got what he deserved. Karma has a way of being very vengeful.

This novel is dark, daring, brooding, honest and hopeful. During parts of the book I cried and recovered. At the end though I continuously cried. The journey that Ms. Coyne takes us on in this book is one that I will never forget. It will resonate with me for a very long time.

The Last Bridge of the title has many metaphorical interpretations. We use expressions about bridges over and over in our every day lives: - - "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it", or "Don't go burning all your bridges", the final bridge we cross when we leave our earthly plane for our heavenly one, or maybe like Simon & Garfunkel we want to build that "Bridge Over troubled Waters". Alexandra "Alley Cat" Rucker has crossed many bridges, both real and metaphorical and she's also burned quite a few. She and her siblings Wendy and Jared are products of a family that can't even be characterized as dysfunctional. Their behavior is light years beyond dysfunctional. Her mother is a closet alcoholic and battered wife, the father is a drunken physical and psychological abuser and molester.

When her mother's suicide brings her back to the town of Wilton, Cat is confronted by a past she has been desperately trying to escape for the past ten years. Unfortunately, her primary escape mechanism has been the self-destructive solace she has found at bottom of a bottle.

The book moves smoothly back and forth between the Cat's present and the past events that brought her to this juncture in her life, and although the subject matter makes this a somewhat uncomfortable read.......you do keep reading.

This book is ominous and edgy and reminiscent in some respects of Janet Fitch's book, White Oleander. Without inserting spoilers, which would ruin the impact of this book, let me just say that it is not for the faint hearted, but is most definitely an interesting and absorbing read.
3 1/2 stars

I was surprised to find myself so completely drawn in by this book, "The Last Bridge." The story begins when Alexandra "Cat" Rucker returns home after a ten year absence, after the suicide of her mother. Her mother leaves Cat a one sentence suicide note "He's not who you think he is." As you are introduced to other characters, you begin to learn more about Cat's past, her family, and the events that ultimately led to Cat leaving her hometown. The mystery of which character the suicide note "he" represents in the book is left to the reader to decide, although many different possibilities are revealed.

The author skillfully weaves Cat's memories of the past with scenes about her current struggles. The book has very heavy themes--abuse and addiction are prominent in Cat's story. While the author vividly describes, through Cat's own flashbacks, the many abuses she suffered as a child/ teenager, the reader is also allowed a compelling look at present-day Cat. The author is adept at character development, and the writing is engaging. I finished this book in a weekend!

As each chapter unfolds, the reader is provided more pieces to the puzzle that will ultimately answer the many questions that arise in the first few pages about who Cat is, where she came from, and ultimately, where she is going to end up.

Alexandra ("Cat") Rucker fled her Ohio town as a teenager and only returns now, ten years later, for a funeral after her mother's suicide. Though estranged, she wishes she could have asked her mother about her last moments: "I don't need her to say she saw me. I want to know she saw something. That she felt something. And that it felt like freedom. And then, if I could, I would ask her what that felt like."

Because Cat hasn't known freedom -- not during a childhood of paternal abuse, not in her alcoholic adulthood. Yet her wish does get a cryptic answer of sorts via her mother's suicide note: "Cat, He isn't who you think he is." There are many complicated "he's" in Cat's life that her mother could be referring to, each of whom is slowly introduced in the present time and effectively revealed through flashbacks.

Coyne's confident writing makes this short debut a very good read. The chapters mostly alternate between the period around the funeral and flashbacks to Cat as a teenager -- though the particulars of present and past are so similar (in terms of mood, setting, characters, events) that it took a couple extra beats at the beginning of each chapter to figure out where the story was. Cat's rough lifestyle and harsh dialogue sometimes bumped me; I couldn't reconcile them with the gentle internal voice of her first-person narration. And I've never read a book where the main character cries so often! Still, it's a page-turner ... a real immersion, and makes me look forward to Coyne's next work.

After reading all the recommendations and praise on the book's cover, I expected a good story with literary merit. I was not prepared to read a book which describes such awful child abuse and sexual abuse. The book should bear a warning label: Don't buy this if you don't want to read about graphic sexual abuse within a family.

I am a person who likes to watch suspense movies and novels. But the novel was not to the level that I expected. The beginning of the novel was very good and later on the author had written little less interesting.
There were too many descriptions of few of the scenes in the novel. I felt that there were certain characters which did not come into play for sometime during the novel. The scenes and the characters were well apart sometimes and they did not bind with each other well. The novel is well written regarding the prose but lacked the pace for it to get going with the same spirit until the end. At one stage I wanted to finish the novel as early as possible because I lost the enthusiasm to keep reading.