The Bridges of Madison County
by Robert James Waller
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert James WallerEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-09-01
ISBN: 0446364495
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of The Bridges of Madison County
Book Review: Why some hate it and some love it
Summary: 5 Stars
First I would like to say that although this book is fiction that I believe it is based on a true story, which I feel really makes a difference. If you are looking for a fast paced or even moderately paced book of action you won't find it here. But the depth of emotions and real to life decisions made within it are packed full. Those who have not encountered this type of emotional confusion or who are looking to be entertained will probably not like the book much and find it slow, unrewarding and frankly boring. HOWEVER, those who seek meaning in life, who wish to understand love, commitment and their own emotions will likely love it. This book, to the contrary of some reviewers, does not endorse adultry as evidenced in the final decision made by the characters. Though those seeking only to look on the surface may disagree with me. It is true that the book identifies the deep passion of the two main characters with great splendor and erotica. Nevertheless, it also shows the deep pain the characters contended with as a result. The main character waxes and wanes through a difficult choice. If the reader is reading the book quickly to reach the "excitement" he will fail to catch the real excitement in it. This book needs to be read like a slow sunday drive or a quiet walk through a park. Take your time, FEEL the characters emotions, and you will find the book very rewarding. Bridges of Madison County leaves the moral judgements up to you. Is this a book endorsing adultry or is this a book about love, commitment and in the end the sanctity of marriage? I was personally left with the feeling that one should not jump into marriage, but wait until the "certainty" is there. That the job of a parent does come before your own wants and needs. And finally that, although there is adultry displayed here, the truth is, it also makes clear that marriage is what YOU make it, and that no matter how great you think the new relationship would be it could never survive the guilt and betrayal it would take to possess it. Therefore, we ask ourselves, why go through all that pain for something that really could never be? Franchesca shows us that it isn't love alone that makes a marriage good. We learn how important and romantic life's details, such as laundry, are. I personally believe it helped me to better understand all the facets of marriage, outside of the romance novels. We are never led to believe that her marriage is a bad one, just that her affair was a paradise turned into an emotional hell (granted one she says saved her life, but that the reader can also clearly see destroyed her life). In the end we find ourselves yearning to bring the lovers together, yet we also find ourselves feeling admiration for her decision to stay and put her own feelings a side. In addition it even provides us with what would be a true to life emotion of feeling as if she were a fool to pass it up. Truely we learn about what absolute commitment is, and how with that, any marriage is solid as a rock. This book should shout volumes on the seriousness of marriage and family, something all too often taken much to lightly. It also creates in us a desire to recreate what the lovers share within the confines of our own relationships, hopefully inspiring us to spice up our own marriages. Those with deep sentimental emotions will find this book awakening, true to life's sins, and morally enlightening! I've read it and seen it many times. Scenes dealing with their emotional tug of wars still makes my heart race as if it were a car chase. As with everything in life, it's all in what you expect. Expect little in life and you will usually be pleasantly surprised!
Summary of The Bridges of Madison County
The legendary love story, the bestselling hardcover novel of all time, and the major motion picture starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. This is the story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for fulfillment of a girlhood dream. It shows readers what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.Probably the most irresistible love-story formula is that of true love lost, along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, Gone with the Wind, and Titanic. The Bridges of Madison County, a monster hit of the early 1990s, is that kind of torturous melodrama, writ small. Very small. Because lone wolf photographer Robert Kincaid has only four adulterous days to spend with shy Iowa farmhouse wife Francesca Johnson before her husband returns from the state fair with the kids in tow. The novella-sized affair feels much longer than it actually is, mostly because Francesca spends a lot of time gazing at her lover, who is described, by turns, as a "leopard," "peregrine," "shaman," and "star-creature." The worldly loner melts under this adoration and ends up begging her to run away with him to a safari-adventure life in exotic locales all over the world. "We'll make love in the desert sand and drink brandy on balconies in Mombasa, watching dhows from Arabia run up their sails in the first wind of morning. I'll show you lion country and an old French city on the Bay of Bengal." Alas, Francesca keeps fast to her Midwestern family values. She lets the love of her life (who will, as a result, stay true to her until he draws his last breath) drive away in his truck without her, while leaving it up to her diary to confess the affair to her children after her death. --Sumi Hahn Almquist
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