<p>I see that Netflix has “The Golden Coach.” I’m putting it in my queue for when my son gets back on the 28th from his semester in Italy where he is studying commedia dell’arte! Thanks, buenavista.</p>
<p>I had overlooked the M</p>
<p>The Bridge reminded me, not so much of the Hedgehog, but of McCann’s book, Let the Great World Spin.
Interlocking characters, set against the “impending” World Trade Center collapse, even though we were focused on the tight rope walker, Sept 11 loomed ahead.
For some reason I kept thinking of that book.</p>
<p><a href=“It%20was%20written%20in%202001%20the%20day%20after%20Blair’s%20speech%20at%20the%20memorial%20service,%20not%202011,%20though.”>quote=ignatius</a>
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<p>typo – yes – thanks for catching that</p>
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<p>I agree. By knowing the characters’ fates from the outset, I could dissect the story without getting emotionally involved. Not that I created a Brother Juniper grid or anything :), but I absorbed the removed tone of the narrator and didn’t shed any tears over the outcome.</p>
<p>As for The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I also felt betrayed. Not because there was an unexpected death, but because that death didn’t fit in with the style, tone, etc. of all that went before. There are many novels whose tragic endings are not given away on page one, but you have a sense from the start of what you’re in for. Nonetheless, you take a deep breath and walk that journey with the characters, knowing deep down that somehow, in some way, this is not going to end well. With Elegance, however, the ending—to borrow from DonnaL’s Hudson Review article—“doesn’t feel quite earned.”</p>
<p>Even though Bridge of San Luis Rey was much shorter than Let the Great World Spin, I felt that the depth and complexity of a number of its characters was greater.</p>
<p>Let the Great World Spin was so terribly sad. McCann’s approach was rather heavy handed and unsubtle, I thought. It kind of gives me a knot in my stomach even to think about that book.</p>
<p>Talk about unexpected deaths of characters hitting you like a sledgehammer…that traffic accident!</p>
<p>The end of Bridge of San Luis Rey is beautiful enough to mitigate its sadness.</p>
<p>^ Ah yes, the traffic accident. But again, that would be a story where you just knew that everybody wasn’t going to walk off happily into the sunset. So it was shocking, but it was earned.</p>
<p>I agree that there’s a difference in the level of sadness between The Bridge and Let the Great World Spin. For me, with The Bridge it was like, “This is the way we live and die and our love for each other brings a certain beauty to it.” With Great World, the feeling (for me) was more, “This is the way we live and die and it is bleak, despite our attempts to reach out for love.”</p>
<p>There was some unevenness in the character development in Great World, but Corrigan, among others, has stuck with me for a long time. I enjoyed our discussion of that book (although the details get fuzzy as time passes :(): <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/950434-let-great-world-spin-august-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/950434-let-great-world-spin-august-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p>I did look through that old Let the Great World Spin thread today, though I missed participating in it. </p>
<p>The Father Corrigan/Adelita story was moving, as was the part about his ministry to the prostitutes, but somehow neither struck me as altogether believable. </p>
<p>More to my taste was how two of the characters came together at the end in a way that would have been hard to predict. A man and a woman…probably you can guess who I mean.</p>
<p>Wilder used the detached tone of a moral fable, so the things that are far fetched about his characters didn’t seem absurd. McCann’s writing was grittier and more modern, so it seemed to me that some of his characters should have been less idealized.</p>
<p>NJTM: I agree with every single word you’ve typed comparing The Bridge of San Luis Rey and *Let the Great World Spin<a href=“though%20I%20only%20faintly%20remember%20the%20man%20and%20woman%20who%20came%20together%20at%20the%20end.”>/i</a> Truthfully, Let the Great World Spin had to be my least favorite CC Book Club choice. :P</p>
<p>Mary13 wrote regarding Let the Great World Spin— “This is the way we live and die and our love for each other brings a certain beauty to it.” With Great World, the feeling (for me) was more, “This is the way we live and die and it is bleak, despite our attempts to reach out for love.” </p>
<p>But, I remember the moments of “grace”-the bonding of two women from completely different worlds-society,wealthy woman and African American woman from the projects, both had sons in Vietnam. </p>
<p>I remember that the wealthy woman (the judge’s wife) befriending and helping raise the young children from the projects.
Love bonds …</p>
<p>SJCM: I liked both parts you just mention. I wish McCann had left it at that rather than ending with that somewhat strange epilogue … but I think I said that already on that thread. (And maybe I shouldn’t say that book occupies least favorite selection but rather maybe or close to it.)</p>
<p>SJCM, if I had read about those same love bonds in a nonfiction work, they would have struck me as truly inspiring.</p>
<p>In Let the Great World spin, the love bridges you mention did not seem plausible to me. Sorry, maybe I’m too much of a cynic…but I felt I was being manipulated. If I recall correctly, the woman from the projects was written as a stock, clich</p>
<p>^ And on that nice closing note, should we start to think about our June selection?</p>
<p>Of course, continuing commentary on The Bridge of San Luis Rey is more than welcome. QuantMech may reappear after April 15th ;). (And shout out to CBBBlinker, I remember you bought The Bridge from Amazon. Did you ever get a chance to read it?)</p>
<p>I’ve been incubating some ideas about the next selection. :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It would be wonderful to read another short classic. It was so pleasurable to discuss Bridge of San Luis Rey because of its depth. But what? “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin is one title I’ve found that might possibly appeal. There must be others. Help!</p></li>
<li><p>On the CC book recommendation thread, somebody said their whole book club loved a nonfiction book called “Destiny of the Republic” by Candice Millard. Igantius said her husband read it and liked it too. It’s gotten 162 five-star reviews on Amazon, and not a single review of less than four stars!!</p></li>
<li><p>The novel “Clould Atlas” by David Mitchell. It is a bit long, but one attraction of it is that it is being made into a major motion picture (with Tom Hanks and others) that is coming out later this year – reportedly in October. I read it about three years ago and loved it (and recommended it to my son who was then 20, who also read it and loved it). I intend to reread it before the movie comes out, and I think it would be a terrific book for discussion here.</p></li>
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<p>“Cloud Atlas” is arranged into different sections set in different historical time periods, including an imagined future. The sections are loosely linked thematically, and some people think there is a slight similarity to Bridge of San Luis Rey. I’m not so sure about that; however, one of the main characters in the book is named Luisa Rey!</p>
<p>In addition to my suggestions above --</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I’m posting selections from a list of short classics I found. I’m offering it in case any of these titles are known to any of you guys and might possibly be of interest. They are not “official recommendations” by me! I have not read any of them and a couple I had never heard of before, but they all look good.</p>
<p>“The Human Comedy” by William Saroyan.</p>
<p>“Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” by Katherine Anne Porter.</p>
<p>“The Pilgrim Hawk,” by Glenway Wescott.</p>
<p>“The Return of the Soldier,” by Rebecca West.</p>
<p>“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” by Muriel Sparks.</p>
<p>One that I have actually read, and that may or may not be a classic but is short and literary and very worthwhile: “A Severed Head” by Iris Murdoch. It was recommended to me way back in the 70s by a friend who was pursuing a graduate degree in literature. I read it and found it extraordinary, and it started me on a whole Iris Murdoch kick!</p>
<p>I loved Let the Great World Spin–I wasn’t here for the discussion, so I’ll have to read the back thread.</p>
<p>And if we haven’t closed the discussion yet on Bridge of San Luis Rey:</p>
<p>Has anybody here been to Lima, Peru?</p>
<p>I was looking up information on the real people who were characters in the book, and found that the Viceroy, Manuel de Amat y Junient, built something called Paseo de Aguas. From Wikipedia:</p>
<p>*Tradition says the Paseo de Aguas was built in honor of Amat’s mistress, the actress Micaela Villegas, better known as La Perricholi, a Mestiza woman. The story is that when the viceroy asked her to become his mistress, she replied that she would when he laid the moon at her feet. Amat y Junient then ordered the construction of the Paseo de Aguas in front of her house. It is an aqueduct from the R</p>
<p>Wonderful, buenavista! It looks like Paseo de Aquas was inspired by some of the places in Moorish Spain that use water so beautifully. </p>
<p>The historical and literary research that our members have done in connection with Bridge of San Luis Rey has been just the best.</p>
<p>I had somehow overlooked the fact that La Perricholi/La P</p>
<p>NJTM, here are a few lists to browse through: [Short</a> Classics](<a href=“http://www.duluth.lib.mn.us/PopLib/Classics.html]Short”>http://www.duluth.lib.mn.us/PopLib/Classics.html), <a href=“Short Classics Url Books”>Short Classics Lt A Gt Books, <a href=“Recent Activity | The Seattle Public Library | BiblioCommons”>Recent Activity | The Seattle Public Library | BiblioCommons. Naturally, there’s some overlap of titles.</p>
<p>The Cloud Atlas sounds very appealing to me, but I’m pretty much open to anything except The Awakening, which I’ve already read (both on my own and vicariously through my high school children).</p>
<p>I’m off to work, but will explore your suggestions more thoroughly later. </p>
<p>buenavista, I’ve never been to Peru and hardly even knew what to picture in my head. Thanks for filling the gap!</p>
<p>I agree with NJTM: “Wonderful, buenavista!” and “The historical and literary research that our members have done in connection with Bridge of San Luis Rey has been just the best.”</p>
<p>I’ve gained something from each book discussion I’ve participated in. Each book brought something different to the table. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, in particular, begged group discussion. I liked the book from the beginning but gained something (indefinable) from this discussion - truly enriched it for me. I am curious Mary whether or not you like the book better now than you did before the discussion.</p>
<p>For the next discussion title, NJTM suggested:</p>
<p>1) Another short classic. Definitely … just not as our next book. We usually try to mix it up a bit and not follow like with like.</p>
<p>2) Nonfiction - perhaps Destiny of the Republic. We’ve never chosen a nonfiction book. I’m good with the idea. My husband reads nonfiction and more nonfiction and even more. I know he liked the book. He also liked Millard’s The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey. It could be fun to journey back to the Amazon, this time exploring with Roosevelt.</p>
<p>3) Cloud Atlas sounds good.</p>
<p>Usually I look back to see suggestions we’ve tossed about previously but just didn’t get chosen a particular time (i.e., The Cat’s Table). I’m tired … didn’t sleep well last night … so will leave that search till later or to someone else.</p>
<p>New suggestions from me:</p>
<p>The Hangman’s Daughter or perhaps The Fencing Master. A German author wrote the first book and a Spanish author wrote the second book. Each wrote the book for readers in his own country. It’s been a while since we chose a “book in translation” … earlier ones (off the top of my head), The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Shadow of the Wind</p>
<p>The Expats - spy fiction. (Well, we’ve never gone that route.) Starred reviews from Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus - starred reviews from all four doesn’t happen all the time. The Library Journal review:
</p>
<p>Watergate - Thomas Mallon. Come on, election year, right? Though truthfully, maybe closer to November might be fun (or not :p).</p>
<p>Ignatius, I hope you’re feeling better. I looked up some of your suggestions, and to me “The Expats” has the most appeal. Apparently it is quite interesting in its description of living in the foreign location.</p>
<p>You also mentioned the prior suggestion of “The Cat’s Table.” I wanted to say that if enough people were still interested in this book, I think it would be an excellent choice.</p>
<p>“Cat’s Table” is not just about a young boy on a ship, as descriptions might suggest. Although the book is rather short, the story spans a couple of continents and several decades. The writing is incredibly beautiful. New revelations about characters slowly emerge in a fascinating way. I think it would be good for discussion. Not to sound like a broken record, but I would be delighted to read it again and discuss it here.</p>
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<p>Yes, definitely. Many times, I went from “meh” to “hmmm” to “aha!” CC posters here led me to a much greater understanding and appreciation of the book. That said, if a friend asked me today for a recommendation, I would not be quick to suggest The Bridge of San Luis Rey because for me, “it took a village” (aka the CC Book Club) to truly appreciate the work.</p>
<p>I feel exactly the same as Mary about the book and the discussion.</p>