The Bridges of Madison County

Rating:
Summary: Deadly Dull
Review: When this book first came out a friend of mine raved about it and told me I just HAD to read it. Well I picked it up and figuring it was a nice slim volume I'd finish it in no time. It started off very slow and I kept putting it down and trying to get back to it but it nearly put me to sleep a few times then I gave up entirely. How this book remained on the NY Times Bestseller list for a few years is beyond comprehension. Highly overrated garbage,and have no intention of renting the movie either.

Rating:
Summary: Marketing at its best!
Review: As a marketing professional, I envy Robert James Waller for having written this book, something so entirely calculated it could not fail to sell millions and make him and his publisher very, very rich. (Doesn't he teach business in Oklahoma?) Unfortunately, for serious readers, this is the state of today's publishing world. Their motto: "Target your market and attack! Appeal to the most common denominator. This is a business! We are not trying to change the world, we are trying to make a piece of change!" Can we blame their approach, with stockholders demanding the high returns? Well, Waller delivers handsomely with this extended greeting card, zeroing in on the heartstrings of America's sexually/emotionally/familially frustrated hordes looking for anything to take their minds off of reality, if only for a few hours, which just so happens to be the maximum length of time it takes to read the book -- another calculation for the attention deficit disorder! ed masses.) The Bridges of Madison County is not about good literature. It is not about dramatizing and bringing light to the social issues of our day. It is about marketing sexual escape. It is a romance novel of a different color, the old made new and respectable via a serious dust jacket. (Something to share at church!) Just look at the language used. No one on this earth speaks as the main characters do. A masculine hero who parts his wet hair down the middle and wears sandals? Don't make me throw up. (Even Clint Eastwood recognized this weakness in the "plot" and thus left it out of his script for the movie.)No serious person can say this is art, but that's not why books are published these days anyway. They are selected on their money-making merit. Witness the Bridges wannabe, The Note Book. Another piece of crap that keeps selling, satisfying both the author and printer. You'll have to excuse me now. I'm off to my typewriter and my sappy love let! ter to the lonely women of America. Thank you, Mr. Waller! for showing me the way. Let's see, what will I buy first?

Rating:
Summary: All the deep emotion and refined sensibility of Liberace
Review: ... and that's an insult to Liberace, whose maudlin treacle was at least technically competent. _Bridges_ is a stupendous failure on every conceivable level and probably some inconceivable ones. Its only redeeming value is its unintentional hilarity; otherwise, it's a sugar-frosted turd.

Rating:
Summary: Not credible.
Review: I just couldn't bring myself to feel sympathy for this woman who on a whim decided to cheat. She wasn't abused, neglected, ignored or any of the other reasons a person might be expected to experience before looking for an affair. She was just plain ole bored. Nothing worth wasting sympathy on. Can't believe these two people who only saw each other for a brief period could carry the torch the rest of their lives. The children reading the story and thinking that it was just wonderful without feeling even a little sorry for their father doesn't ring true. Sorry..can't recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't capture my heart ..
Review: Does that mean there is something wrong with me .. that I didn't understand how can this be a love stroy .. well .. as much as Francesca and Kincaid tried with me .. I just saw it as a wife cheating on her husband .. in a very bad way ! I didn't see the love .. the love never been given the chance to happen .. to convence me ! Thank you for giving me the space to say what I think !

Rating:
Summary: BOMC: A true romance novel!
Review: Why must the story be realistic? Why must the writing becreative? What does it matter if there are cliches? If you want realism, watch the news channel, if you want creative, read Dickens, Austin, Bronte.. BOMC is a romance, repeat a ROMANCE!!! Read all the 5-star reviews and find out what being in love is really all about!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully evocative and romantic -- AN ACCURATE REVIEW
Review: I picked this book up searching for inspiration to help me with writing my romantic fiction. I was very pleased with it.

The Bridges of Madison County tells the story of Francesca Johnson, an Italian World War II wife of an Iowa farmer, and Robert Kincaid, a nomadic photographer traveling through town on an assignment for National Geographic. Their chance meeting ignites a romantic four-day affair that stays with them for the rest of their lives.

This isn't a suspenseful novel; the plot is given away immediately in the book. It's a study of beauty, of wondering, of questioning why some things happen the way they do.

Robert James Waller tells the story slowly, and few could do better. Rather than dragging out each action and frustrating the reader, Waller savors each moment, allowing the reader to bask in the beauty of this romance.

Something unique that Waller does is tell the story as if it had been told to him by Francesca's children, and he includes an "author's note" and an "interview" with a jazz musician. He does it very well; in fact, I thought that they were real!

The characters are so well constructed. The reader sympathizes with both Robert and Francesca, in spite of her commiting adultery, Francesca's two children, and even Francesca's absent husband as well.

I highly recommend this book. In addition to being beautiful (there's that word again!) and a unique story, it's a quick read to boot (192 pages). This would be an excellent selection for a book group. Read this book, and you'll be swept up in a fleeting yet beautiful affair that was strong enough to last a lifetime.

Rating:
Summary: Bridges of Madison County
Review: I loved this book - the romance, sadness, tragedy, Iowa - everything. Yes, it deals with adultery - not the best thing in the world, but your heart just breaks for the lovers. Or at least mine did. And I saw some of the bridges, the countryside and even the house where the movie was made. I could just FEEL the story. And okay, I admit it, I asked where Francesca was buried. Guess the story had me so completely believing that it was real life - but it felt like it was real life! You just want so badly for them to have been together - and happy.

Rating:
Summary: Just one of the best !
Review: I live in Iran and I'm a Persian 28-year-old lady ... I've watched the DVD ... at first just to pass the time and to improve my English as well ( as I'm an English teacher here )... but I can tell you now that I have watched it 3 times ... and since the moment I heard the film is shot out of a novel with the same name , I have been looking for the novel as well ... but my search has had no result till now ... the novel is not sold here in Iran ... Can I read it online ? Is there any free site where I can find the novel and read it online ? ... please let me know ... my email is : [e-mail]
love ,
Moji


Rating:
Summary: An incredible love story
Review: I know that this story is too romantic and unrealistic for some people. However,I still think many people ever have experienced it.
In sum, everyone want to know what is "real love" should read it, and this book will help you to think it over.