The Bridges of Madison County

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but contrived and trite
Review: Obviously this book has some redeeming qualities. Otherwise it wouldn't have sold so many copies or evoked so many reader responses here on this site. However, this book made it very hard to engage in "willing suspension of disbelief" and just enjoy the love story. As many others have said here, the circumstances of Francesca's and Robert's meeting seemed pretty contrived and their instantaneous love seemed even more so. I agree that Francesca seemed amazingly free of guilt over the whole affair. Also it's pretty hard to believe that someone as worldly as Robert could fall so completely in love with a woman who had lived in one place for 20 years and led a fairly sheltered life (as intelligent as passionate as she was supposed to be). Furthermore, the prose about their lovemaking was embarrassingly reminiscent of a Harlequin romance. Also I felt that I was continuously being bombarded with Waller's personal views. Obviously he's a vegetarian who's against overdevelopment. Sometimes I couldn't disengage from his political/sociological views enough to get back into the story. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the book. I'm just amazed that a book I consider average has garnered such a huge following.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is one of the most intense stories I have ever read. Don't let the small size fool you. The book is chock full of real-life emotions. I never cry at movies or stories I've read, but I have to admit--I felt like a fool reading the book on the subway with tears streaming down my face. It's a realistic story about realistic people. It conveys the feelings we've all felt at some time, and it will touch the hearts of anyone who reads it.

Rating:
Summary: What If The Scenario Were Reversed?
Review: So many women think this is a wonderful romance novel. Tell me, would you think the same if he had been married, and she had been single? I have posed this question to several women, and they have all said their view would have been different. What a double standard. This one way concept made me hate the book even worse, if that is possible. I read this book to see if it was as bad as the critics said it was (I also watched the movie Plan Nine From Outer Space to see if it was as awful as folks said it was). My conclusion: This book has no literary merit whatsoever. And mind you, I have no objection to romantic novels. Its just that this writer completely lacks talent. This view is vindicated when you note that each future novel by Mr. Waller has sold fewer and fewer copies. It appears that he is now finished with "writing." Hallelujah!

Rating:
Summary: It was so bad, I almost cried!
Review: The prose was weak, the situation clichéd and the positive hype. . .unforgivable. The most interesting part of the book was the epilogue, which did not involve Francesca.

Rating:
Summary: A book for people who have loved and lost...
Review: For people who have loved and lost, this book might give them some comfort. When you have to make decisions that are not favorable to your heart's whish, you'll find courage in reading this book. For those who never need to make such decision, let me just say "Don't think that it will never happen just because you don't know it!"

Rating:
Summary: work ethic
Review: A lesson of this book is not just that crap sells, but that hard work is not always rewarded. Tom Wolfe (a brilliant writer) has been working on his follow up novel to BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES for over 10 years. His new novel will probably sell well...but BRIDGES was written by Waller in TWO WEEKS, and it is THE BEST SELLING HARD COVER NOVEL IN HISTORY!! Two weeks of effort earned Waller tens of millions of dollars. (Justice comes when Waller-like crap goes out of print quick, whereas Wolfe's writing will be read long after he is dead).

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Romance of all Time
Review: I am appalled to see so many bad reviews of this book! Anyonewho didn't like it clearly has no sense of romance or passion. The love that Robert and Francesca shared in the beautiful Madison County, Iowa is an example of the strongest love there is-the kind that changes you forever. Francesca just happened to find it with someone other than her husband. Waller's lyrical prose transcends common writing, and transports the reader to the mystical bridges. I have never cried so much as I did when Francesca has to make the crucial choice that will change her life and Robert's forever. I truly believe that this story is the greatest love story ever written, and I challenge everyone to have the strength to let it into your heart.

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Romance of all Time
Review: I am appalled to see so many bad reviews of this book! Anyone who didn't like it clearly has no sense of romance or passion. The love that Robert and Francesca shared in the beautiful Madison County, Iowa is an example of the strongest love there is-the kind that changes you forever. Francesca just happened to find it with someone other than her husband. Waller's lyrical prose transcends common writing, and transports the reader to the mystical bridges. I have never cried so much as I did when Francesca has to make the crucial choice that will change her life and Robert's forever. I truly believe that this story is the greatest love story ever written, and I challenge everyone to have the strength to let it into your heart.

Rating:
Summary: Time travel in Romance Land?
Review: In her novel, "The Law of Love," Laura Esquival gives us a new-age tinged story of how two souls find each other and know that they are the ultimate combination for one another -- Mr. Right meets Ms. Right. Such are the two souls who meet in the farm country of Iowa in Mr. Waller's novel. And this would be okay if something else happened in the book. But it doesn't, and we are left wondering why the story is told at all. Another problem is that the characters have late-Twentieth Century outlooks, although the incident portrayed is supposedly one of adult behavior in 1965. They accept their love for each other, and the farm wife does NOT have a crisis of conscience. Indeed, in a letter that she writes to her children many years later, she asks them to accept the "reality" of the affair. "Reality?" What 80-year-old uses the word "reality" like that? And why are the two lovers so darn new-agey in their outlook on life (vegetarian, anti-war, etc.)? It would take an exceptional couple indeed who in 1965 would view their relationship as anything more than a sinful fling. The only things in the book that had any resonance for me were the images of the male character as the last of the cowboys and his simple statement that we were all becoming computerized geeks. But these were easy for a character to prophesy 30 years ago, since they were written by Waller well after they came to pass. Ho hum. So what we have here is a nice sensitive love story, a romance novel that is engaging and as short as it ought to be, but one that is ultimately innocuous.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth wasting time over.
Review: I sincerely hope that teenagers who have read this book have not been caught in a fantasy of undying romantic love. It's a nice enough story, but written in a trite overly-poetic manner. Gosh! Who speaks crap like "I am like a Peregrine...etc." And funny how Francesa gets over her guilt very fast. She is supposed to be a deep and sensitive person isn't she? Very few persons in their sane minds woud leave a legacy for their children detailing their extra-marital affairs. Robert Kincaid the macho man gets a chain bearing the name "Francesa" and pines for her till his death????? How much more unrealistic can you get? The only plus point is the description of the country that is vivid, you can picture locales very easily in your mind's-eye. This book is strictly for the "Use and throw" kind - like killing time on a short plane trip and the like.