Customer Reviews

A Thousand Country Roads (Thorndike Paperback Bestsellers)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

It has been a long time since we've heard these all-too familiar names: Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid. A decade ago, it was impossible to enter a movie theatre or abookstore without being bombarded with images of the world's all-time bestselling hardcover novel: The Bridges of Madison County. Now, we hear those names again...

A Thousand Country Roads is aptly described on the book jacket as an epilogue to Bridges. It is exactly that. This new book shows us some of the inbetween spaces in the lives of Robert and Francesca. A Thousand Country Roads aims to answer some questions about what happened to the two lovers after their affair at Roseman Bridge. What it does, and does well, is give us more insight into how the events in Bridges affected both Francesca and Robert and how they deal with it. Interestingly, for both people, a nostalgic journey is in the works.

Adding some excellent new characters and a few very clever twists, Robert Waller has recreated a lot of the magic of Bridges in this new tale. Readers who loved Bridges will anxiously follow the paths of Robert and Francesca as they explore what happened over those stolen four days, and examine what their lives have become Because of its nature though (it is an epilogue), it is certainly not going to be enjoyed by anyone who hasn't already read Bridges of Maisdon County.

The magic of Bridges is sustained in A Thousand Country Roads, and, a decade later, Robert Waller is back on the map. An execllent way to complete the picture for anyone who read and loved The Bridges of Madison County.

In this sequel to Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller takes us back to the story of the great love affair between Robert Kincaid & Francesca Johnson. Though we know the ultimate outcome from the Bridges of Madison County, in A Thousand Country Roads, we get to go back into Robert Kincaid's life and see what roads he travelled after his life changing experience in Madison County, Iowa. Did Robert Kincaid ever get
over his love for Francesca & find happiness? Was his life one fulfilled or one left with unrealized dreams?

Waller warns the reader in the beginning, that A Thousand Country Roads is a book that most likely cannot stand on it's own, but should be read as an epilogue to Bridges of Madison County. Going forward and backward in time throughout the novella, we get to see both a Robert Kincaid pre-Francesca as well as what happened to the post-Francesca man who left the woman he loved to stay with her husband and family. Waller takes us through some interesting events in Kincaids life, but at times the story got too bogged down with details of Kincaids photographs instead of focusing on the feelings and thoughts of Kincaid. I wanted more of who this character was, what his heart and mind were thinking, and less about the ins and
outs of his photography. Perhaps it was intentional on the author's part, as photography was who Robert
Kincaid was. A man of few words, who kept to himself and enjoyed being out in the great wide open. For fans who enjoyed Bridges of Madison County, A Thousand Country Roads provides a nice rounding out to some unanswered questions, but it wasn't quite as satisfying as I'd hoped.

Before writing this I first read the ten reviews presented here. Perhaps I've become too long in the tooth to relate to the lack of heart in these spiritless opinions. For example, "I didn't look at the book for a week," wrote one. By contrast, I couldn't wait to tear the Amazon package apart and start reading. It's the first book in recent memory that I've read in one sitting. I'll not embellish those hackneyed expressions: riveting and page turner but I couldn't leave my chair.

I don't believe I yawned once; my wife returned from opera at midnight to find me just as I was closing the book. I told her, "it was one of the most fascinating books I've read in the past five years [I very much liked "James Adams" but I used two weeks to read it. Not so with Thousand Country Roads.

No mention of other reviewers is made of the inclusion of Carlisle McMillan or his mother. Of the electricity generated when Kincaid peered through the window of her Mendicino shop, when Francesca discovered Highway's dog tag. And I suppose the others have no great interest in geography and the routes Kincaid covered because none of this, the trip to Big Sur, was ever mentioned.

This is not made in the deprecatory sense toward other reviewers but somehow I don't believe that any of them have lived long enough to feel the innate essence of what traveled through Kincaid's thoughts. For example, they found nothing remarkable re Blackhawk when Waller wrote: "Old men worry about each other..." When Waller wrote: "At one time, Robert Kincaid would have jumped down from the truck box, but now he sat on the tailgate and gently slid off." Those were very perspicacious observations but it takes someone over 45 with the experience to even notice they had been written.

I thought it was a helluva fine story. Very tasteful, even better than "Bridges" and I salute Waller for having written it. Unfortunately,there were possibly too many of the reviewers who didn't fully feel or understand the brisance of its many impelling nuances.

...but I don't believe that's reason enough to trash the book. Waller states clearly enough in his beginning author's note that people clamored for more after "Bridges." Here he's given you more, and you're not satisfied. Hmmm. Guess the old adage about not being able to please everyone still holds true.

Why not look at this slender volume as an interesting twist to a previous tale? Or as a wonderful lesson in writing and in characterization? To be able to create a _Who's Who_ citation of one of your characters: how cool is that? To be able to write fiction as if it were true -- and the occasional footnotes used here *still* make you wonder -- how marvelous is that? Do you know how many people looked up the original _National Geographic_ article after "Bridges" and were severely disappointed to discover that there never was a photospread about Madison County, Iowa? (Can you imagine how many others will follow the citations in "Thousand Country Roads" to the same result?) What a wonderful compliment to the author! Have you ever driven across Iowa on the interstate and followed the signs and seen the actual farmhouse where the "Bridges" movie was shot? To be sure, there is magic surrounding both the storyline and the place. Waller has simply extended the spell to include the West Coast and South Dakota. And that's real life for you, that's how it works. It rarely stays in one place, and not everyone lives happily ever after.

...

Called an epilogue, "A Thousand Country Roads" reveals the separate pathways of Robert Kincaid and Fransesca Johnson since their torrid four day love affair in "The Bridges of Madison County". The primary focus is on Kincaid as the complexity of his background and character is explored. As he contemplates the end of his life, Kincaid is anxious about his past, concerned about leaving this earth with a broken heart and no legacy. The reader will be surprised with what he discovers. Fransesca has a minor role. Her affair with Kincaid strengthened her. While she lives with its memories, she never regrets their brief relationship.

Robert James Waller is a gifted writer with poetic prose and a creative use of settings. His weakness is how he designed the story - more like an engineer than an artist. To add drama and suspense he engineers a number of coincidences and close encounters between Kincaid and some key characters throughout the story. Unfortunately, it isn't natural or realistic. The reader often loses one's suspension of disbelief. Otherwise, Waller delivers a fine story about aging and dealing with a haunted past.

As one of the zillions that read "Bridges", I am curious if "A Thousand Country Roads" will appeal to someone that is clueless about the Roseman Bridge. Probably a mute point - only a fraction of us zillions need to try it for Mr. Waller pave quite a few roads with gold.

I had no intention of reading the book, but my best friend absolutely hated it and convinced me to read it to see if I shared her opinion. I didn't hate it at all...it's a wonderful tale about growing old, and Kinkaid's wandering life drawing to a close. But it really isn't the epilogue to the love story in Bridges. I think a lot of the bad feeling about this book would have been alleviated if it had been touted as Kinkaid's epilogue. For me at least, I would have been able to appreciate the other characters a bit more, instead of rushing through their chapters trying to find out if Kinkaid and Francesca would somehow,someway,reunite on the bridge (I will admit, I wanted to throw the book through the window after what doesn't happen when Kinkaid finally makes it back to Roseman Bridge. Call me a romantic, but I wouldn't drive half way across the country to be at the spot where I met the love of my life, knowing that person was possibly a couple of miles away, and not try to see them one last time.) This book simply elaborates on the loneliness of their separate lives, teases us with the hope of reunion and a chance at happiness, and in the end leaves us pretty much where we were at the end of Bridges. Bridges was such a wonderful, lovely, heartwrenching tale...I don't think it should have been revisited.

I actually liked this book quite a bit. Now I will say, when I read Bridges I was so overcome with emotion, it also was an easy read, but it really struck a chord (I find this true with my friends also) I was thrilled to see the second book, and it has also hit paperback (a nice, inexpensive option) for you tote with you.

I loved that the book stayed true to the characters, just kind of taking you inside their lives and minds and souls a little bit more. Kincaid, such a loner and wandereer... but a nice twist is thrown in to this book ( I am not giving it away) that helps you realize his tender side.... Francesca, always the loyal submissive housewife (except for her time with Robert) shows us how these memories both sustained and haunted her after her goodbye to Robert. It's an interesting peak into their lives after the fact.

You know from reading the first book, that these two do not ever come in contact again, but a for some reason a little part of me thought maybe this book would try to defy it in one small way. I actually think I was hoping for it, but don't worry, Waller doesn't give in so easy.... he stays true to the plot, meanwhile giving you a satisfying look at the ends of these lives.

If you are looking for a light, easy read, with just enough emotion to touch you (though this is not the kind of book that will ROCK your world or anything) especially if you enjoyed the first book, don't pass this little one up. Even if you haven't read the first one, I think you could still find this one enjoyable. It is always interesting to be pushed into that thought of wondering..... what chances have we missed ??????

A Thousand Country Roads is the epilogue to one of the great romantic novels of our time. Mr. Waller should have left well enough alone. Lacking originality, A Thousand Country Roads merely plays on the popularity of the original story and the fact that we are all interested to know what happened in those intervening years to Francesca and Robert Kincaid. Two vivid conclusions shine forth from a reading of Country Roads.

First, not only does this epilogue lack depth or intimacy, it also reveals the fact that in retrospect the original work-though moving-lacked depth as well. The prose is stilted, the actions contrived and we are left with the empty musings of an old man. We wait and wait, and yet there is no emotional payoff in this novel, nothing to move us. And so the author leaves us empty.

Second, during the time between these two novels, male authors such as Nicholas Sparks in The Notebook and Kirk Martin in Shade of the Maple have taken relationship dramas to a new level, gracing us with great depth and meaning. And we are moved deeply. I wish I had not ruined Bridges by reading A Thousand Country Roads. I will stick with Sparks and Martin from now on.

For readers who were mesmerized by the poignant whirlwind affair between National Geographic photojournalist Robert Kincaid and Iowa common housewife Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County and hoping to get a glimpse of their reunion, they will be sorely disappointed in the conclusive epilogue A Thousand Country Roads. It focuses instead on the impact of their torrid affair as Kincaid and Francesca wallow in the emptiness of their lives as they revive memories. It is a cutting miasma of depression as Waller explores the fragile humanity through Kincaid's isolation and his unexpected legacy while Francesca continues to speculate the what ifs. The starkly heartbreaking landscape Waller paints through poems and details at Big Sur in 1945 as well as a short-lived affair renders this trip back to Madison County a frutiful one. Its lack of drama makes it quietly affecting and recognisably real.

Sixteen years after meeting Francesca Johnson at the covered bridge in Madison Country, Robert Kincaid is in semi-retirement and looking wistfully back on his life of chances taken and opportunities missed. He decides to hit the road one more time in his aging pickup truck with his dog named Highway and visit the scene in Iowa where he met the love of his life.

This nostalgic journey, written in Waller's distinctive spare and concise style covers a lot of ground figuratively and literally as Kincaid reminisces about some of the great experiences he has had, stops on his trip to visit old friends from previous trips and makes some startling discoveries about his past.

Since I'm usually a proponent of happy endings, this epilogue wasn't completely satisfying in that the conclusion was bittersweet. Without giving away the ending, I will state only that Kincaid discovers something about his past that he finds deeply satisfying, but ultimately the true happiness that he had sought for so long evades him.

I was totally engaged by this sad, poignant tale of the twilight of a lonesome adventurer's life and kept thinking of the Socrates' quote "the unexamined life is not worth living". Kincaid's life has been thoroughly examined and was well worth living.