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Before Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique there was Mrs. Bridge, an inspired novel set in the years around World War II that testified to the sapping ennui of an unexamined suburban life. India Bridge, the title character, has three children and a meticulous workaholic husband. She defends her dainty, untouched guest towels from son Douglas, who has the gall to dry his hands on one, and earnestly attempts to control her daughters with pronouncements such as "Now see here, young lady ... in the morning one doesn't wear earrings that dangle." Though her life is increasingly filled with leisure and plenty, she can't shuffle off vague feelings of dissatisfaction, confusion, and futility. Evan S. Connell, who also wrote the twinned novel Mr. Bridge, builds a world with tiny brushstrokes and short, telling vignettes.
Book Description
Before Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique there was Mrs. Bridge, an inspired novel set in the years around World War II that testified to the sapping ennui of an unexamined suburban life. India Bridge, the title character, has three children and a meticulous workaholic husband. She defends her dainty, untouched guest towels from son Douglas, who has the gall to dry his hands on one, and earnestly attempts to control her daughters with pronouncements such as "Now see here, young lady ... in the morning one doesn't wear earrings that dangle." Though her life is increasingly filled with leisure and plenty, she can't shuffle off vague feelings of dissatisfaction, confusion, and futility. Evan S. Connell, who also wrote the twinned novel Mr. Bridge, builds a world with tiny brushstrokes and short, telling vignettes.
Customer Reviews:
The Kansas City Matron.......2003-01-29
Set in Kansas City of the 30's and 40's the author uses his mother as the basis of India Bridge. She lives in an upper-middle class home in middle America and views her times with detachment born of reliance on her husband -- the subject of a later parallel novel -- and her secure position in the local society. She is comfortable with, but slighly puzzled by the actions and motives of those arround her. She is certain that when all is said and done, everything will turn out all right. The calm and physical and emotional flatness of her surroundings and her life are beautifully developed by Mr. Connell. His precise, intimate but undramatic style is a perfect complement to his subject. I see a whole generation of my female relatives, all deceased, in Mrs Bridge. Satisified, well provided for, devoted to their families, but faintly aware of missing something. They are of a generation that begain to fade away during WWII and had completely disappeared by the Kennedy inaugration. More so than "Mr. Bridge" this novel is an insight into the life and times of an interesting, but nearly invisible segment of our society: the society matron of of urban middle America -- beautifully done and a pleasure to read. They don't make novels, or people, like "Mrs. Bridge" any more.
Brilliantly Wrought Fiction of Upper Middle Class Ennui.......2002-04-29
Evan S. Connell's "Mrs. Bridge" is one of the truly outstanding works of Twentieth century American literature, a restrained, yet brilliantly wrought fictional portrait of upper middle class married life in the decades surrounding World War II. Connell tells the story of India Bridge in 117 short chapters, each a spare vignette of her enervated life in the perfectly manicured "country-club district" of an affluent Kansas City suburb. Linear in its narrative and meticulously realistic in its style, "Mrs. Bridge" follows India's life from marriage, to the birth of three children, to the rejection by those children of the repressed life of their parents as they grow into adults, to lonely suburban widowhood. While it is, at its heart, a grim tale of one woman's life of repression and, ultimately, loneliness and resignation, Connell's flawless and restrained narrative ultimately leaves the reader feeling exhilarated at the sheer literary achievement of "Mrs. Bridge".
Ostensibly the story of a marriage, Mr. Bridge is noticeably absent from much of the narrative. A successful lawyer, he is a man who is unable to express love or affection for his wife or his children, a man who is focussed on becoming "rich and successful," the epitome of the status-conscious husband and father whose identity lies in material possessions. "The family saw very little of him. It was not unusual for an entire week to pass without any of the children seeing him. On Sunday morning they would come downstairs and he . . . greeted them pleasantly and they responded deferentially, and a little wistfully because they missed him. Sensing this, he would redouble his efforts at the office in order to give them everything they wanted."
Mrs. Bridge, too, is powerfully repressed, unable to articulate her feelings of dissatisfaction, a woman who is beholden to the expectations of respectability and obsessed with appearances. "She brought up her children very much as she herself had been brought up, and she hoped that when they were spoken of it would be in connection with their nice manners, their pleasant dispositions, and their cleanliness, for these were qualities she valued above all others." Thus, she ultimately drives all three of her children from her life, her unthinking obeisance to social convention destroying any thread of relationship that she might have had with them. Her oldest daughter, "curiously dark", flees to New York City, where she pursues her more unconventional dreams. Her second daughter, an accomplished golfer, enters an ill-fated marriage with a college dropout who cannot provide the country club life that she has been weaned to expect. Her son joins the army, asserting an act of individuality that Mrs. Bridge never seems able to accept or reconcile.
It is, most notably, however, in her relationships with her peers-with the other affluent housewives of the "country-club district"-that the grim and vapid nature of Mrs. Bridge's life becomes most apparent. In particular, her friend Grace Barron becomes a kind of outward manifestation of India Bridge's discontent, someone who lives a life of equal desperation, but not so quietly as Mrs. Bridge. Grace Barron "was a puzzle and was disturbing" to Mrs. Bridge. Why? Because she actually questioned the life she led, moving outside the banal, the conventional, if only in her discourse. As Grace once said to Mrs. Bridge: "India, I've never been anywhere or done anything or seen anything. I don't know how other people live, or think, even how they believe. Are we right? Do we believe the right things?"
Unlike Mrs. Bridge, who talked of "antique silver, Royal Doulton, Wedgwood, the price of margarine as compared to butter, or what the hemline was expected to do," Grace Barron talked of "art, politics, astronomy, literature." Ultimately, Grace cannot cope with the ennui, the claustrophobia of her life, and she does what Mrs. Bridge ultimately lacks the fortitude to do; in a sense, Grace is a sort of "double" who acts out the dark alternative to Mrs. Bridge's repression. And when Grace does act, all that comes to Mrs. Bridge's mind is something Grace once said to her: "Have you ever felt like those people in the Grimm fairy tale-the ones who were all hollowed out in the back?"
Great Book.......2002-01-16
This book is a sharply written work of literary realism, and paints a crisp portrait of the very prim and proper Mrs. Bridge. By the end of the book I was thankful that we all (hopefully) live in less repressed times -- a sentiment made possible because of Mr. Connell's excellent writing. Jonathan Franzen owes a large due to the books of the Bridge's for his in vogue novel "The Corrections" -- much of that family material is first seen in the Bridge books.
compelling portrait of Americana.......2001-12-25
Denounced in 1959 for not being a 'real' novel, Mrs. Bridge is judged differently these days--and rightly so. The novel is a compelling portrait of American suburban bourgeois life; reading it causes precisely the same claustrophobia Mrs. Bridge sometimes realizes she's suffering from. In a way, this is Sartre's La Nausee moved to Kansas City, but an easier read--almost deceptively so. Closing the book though doesn't really relieve the angst the reader shares with poor Mrs. Bridge in the final section (no I won't give it away)--this book is too real. Don't look for plot, don't look for cheap thrills, but do look for detail, look for the Real peeking into Mrs. Bridge's seemingly perfect life in the Imaginary.
I'll be brief: others have said plenty. Just one quick remark: Connell is a stylist of the highest order. His prose is crisp; style matches subject matter. Example: "It was necessary to be careful among people you did not know." Every sentence is carefully crafted to the point where grammar itself becomes a web of cleanliness, clear and transparent. It may seem nothing special, but Connell is a craftsman. All the more striking, both in grammar and in plot, are the few moments, aporia, where something else could have happened--such as when Mr. Bridge is breathlessly studying, in Paris, "a black lace brassiere with the tips cut off," a moment Mrs. Bridge returns to later with vague uneasiness.
I am glad I was recently introduced to Connell's work. It is a treasure trove, and it's a pity so few of his works are still in print. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more of his novels to read: Deus Lo Volt! is next.
A brilliant character sketch.......2001-09-28
Connell's extended character sketch is as close to perfect as novels come. His depiction of a mid-century St. Louis housewife haunted by the limitations placed her on society, but too timid to directly confront those limitations (even in her own mind) is both deeply touching and often wildly funny. Connell never lets his humor become mocking, however; he clearly has great love for the character he has developed here. Although the companion novel Mr. Bridge is excellent, this is the better of the two.
Book Description
Best-selling author Evan S. Connell is expert at sketching the banalities and trivialities of middle-class values, customs, and habits. Like Mr. Bridge, its counterpart, Mrs. Bridge is comprised of over one hundred titled chapters, containing vignettes, an image, a fragment of conversation, an event—all building powerfully toward the completed group portrait of a family, closely knit on the surface but deeply divided beneath by loneliness, boredom, misunderstandings, isolation, sexual longing, and terminal alienation. With a surgeon’s skill Connell cuts away the middle-class security blanket of uniformity to expose the arrested development beneath. Mrs. Bridge recedes more and more into doubt and confusion as her three children and husband become more remote and silent. The raised evening newspaper becomes almost a fire screen to deflect any possible spark of conversation. A fly caught unawares in amber for eternity is no more immobilized and exposed than Mrs. Bridge, trapped in her garage as her novel ends.
Customer Reviews:
the best.......2007-09-06
It took some time for me to get to this review for a simple reason: I so tremendously enjoyed both Mrs. and then Mr.Bridge. that I wanted to make sure I said the right thing to encourage everyone to also feast on these wonderful American novels.
Both these books are so beautifully written, so carefully honed, so excellently edited and are such remarkable windows into a past generation, they cannot be dismissed for any reason.
Do not hesitate to indulge yourself.
So much can be said about the emotions stirred (from anger and sadness to outright laughter) by this upper middle class couple, so typical for their generation, it would be frivolous to try to convince with more words. There are already multiple 5-star reviews here. Believe them.
On the Lincoln as Symbolic of Mrs. Bridge's Life.......2007-02-06
Hello? Does anyone hear Mrs. Bridge as she sits, stuck in her elegant Lincoln, the doors blocked by the garage partition (245-246). Indeed, no one can more hear her here, trapped in the car, than they can hear her quiet thoughts of desperation, blocked for years by the partitions of a properly lived life as the good wife, proper mother, and country club Matron.
Her husband provided a life of luxury for Mrs. Bridge and their children, but he was seldom home and never once asked his wife which she'd prefer: his being home more or a large house in the right neighborhood, a cook, a laundress, a country club membership, and, if even for a short while, a chauffeur. So it was no shock when her husband gave Mrs. Bridge an elegant Lincoln for her birthday for "he was determined to give her costly presents" including also an ermine coat and a diamond necklace (142).
While she loved these gifts, "she could not help being a little embarrassed by the opulence of her possessions" under the stares of passersby or of people watching her attempt to park the "altogether too long" car (142, 128). She wished she could stop and explain to people that these extravagances were birthday presents, not asked for, but given to her from her husband who "was still at work...though it was nine in the evening" and she would prefer he was home (143).
This desire to not attract attention to herself extended to her children. When Ruth appeared at the breakfast table dressed "in Mexican huaraches, Japanese silk pajamas...and for earrings a cluster of tiny golden bells that tinkled whenever she moved," Mrs. Bridge, "whose preference in earrings tended toward the inconspicuous," could not contain her displeasure (57). Mrs. Bridge asserted that one does not wear earrings that dangle in the morning since people "will think you're something from another world" (57). In typical teen fashion transcending time, Ruth asks "So who cares?" (58). Mrs. Bridge responds in a voice "suddenly very close to hysteria" saying, "I care, that's who!...I care very much" (58).
The Lincoln's cushions were as soft as Mrs. Bridge's life, and Mrs. Bridge being short "was obliged to sit erect" as she drove, just as she felt compelled to live a formal life that demanded an appropriate style of dress including the right jewelry and gloves (129). She always wore stockings, even in summer when it was hot and uncomfortable, "but it was the way things were, the way things had always been, and so she complied" (76).
The trappings of such a life were her burden, just as driving the cumbersome, frequently stalling Lincoln had become. But the Lincoln became as familiar to her as her own life; it was the way her life was, and, before she knew it, the way her life had been for a very long time.
"The Lincoln was...old...but she could not bear the thought of parting with it" (245). Indeed, Mrs. Bridge could no more part with her "occasionally recalcitrant" car than she could leave the life to which she had grown accustomed (128). Hence, as she sat alone tapping at the window with nothing but the snow to answer her "Hello? Hello out there?" so, too, she sat alone in life--a widow whose children had moved away--with no one to hear her thoughts of quiet desperation (246).
NOTE: This "review" is an annotation written as part of the Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing program. I have just devoured Connell's follow-up novel, MR. BRIDGE, and highly recommend it, as well. The Merchant Ivory film is next on my list, then more novels by Connell since I find his hauntingly bleak work to be, while pessimistic, positively mesmerizing.
Product Description
Mrs. Bridge is a totally delightful reading experience; it brings in turn the wry smile, the outright laug, and always the pang of a deep and willing sympathy.
Average customer rating:
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Mrs. Marsh's Novels, Volume I: The Triumphs of Time, Mount Sorel, Father Darcy, Norman's Bridge, Emilia Wyndham; Volume II: Lettice Arnold, Mordaunt Hall, The Wilmingtons, Time, The Avenger, Ravenscliffe, Castle Avon
Ann Marsh-Caldwell
Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RC245K |
Book Description
The art of Boris Vallejo is characterized by beautiful maidens, heroic men and fearsome monsters while the work of his wife Julie Bell is famous for a sense of color and dramatic composition which puts her paintings in a class by themselves.
As two of the most acclaimed fantasy artists working today, Boris and Julie have produced art for album covers, trading cards, posters and calendars for (in Boris' case) 30 years -- and have seen 15 books published celebrating their breathtaking work.
Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection brings together all their greatest pieces throughout their careers, while also including some unseen new work. The book is arranged chronologically and divided into three main sections: early, middle and recent art. A narrative accompanies the paintings with captions for many of the pieces. The pages are also punctuated by quotes from Boris and Julie's peers in the fantasy art field and fans of their work, who pay homage to their art and comment on how their work has inspired them to become better artists.
Customer Reviews:
Frazetta is so much better.......2007-09-06
Boris and Julie's anatomical renderings are stiff and woodenlike , you can see the photographed model in them right away, absolutely no sense of wonder and drama at all......absolute garbage with a polished finish.....buy Frank Frazettas ICON if you want to experience real art!
BORIS and JULIE.......2007-08-29
i am a huge fan of Boris Vallejo. Not so much of Julie Belle but the two of them go hand in hand. After all, they are married.
the only reason i purchased this book was to have a piece of memorobelia of the two in a hard-copy form.
the images are beautiful in this book. there are many examples from the two of them over their many years of fantasy art.
the only reason i gave this 4/5 was because i'd hope there's be a bit more in terms of text with the artists speaking about the individual pieces.
it's mainly a picture book but i'm sure you'll love it.
Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection.......2007-04-07
Superb art work by the greatest fantasy artists to walk the earth. A must have for all fantasty art fans!
Great Collection From Two Great Artists.......2006-04-02
This is a great collection, especially for people who do not have many of the two artists previously published art books. If you do, (as I do) it is still a nice collection with a few extras thrown in. It is a good book for anyone who likes either of these two artists.
Boris Vallejo - Julie Bell - The Ultimate Collection.......2006-03-26
This book is full of superb images (drawings) of mythology and fantasy to the absolute limit of creativity. It shall be valued extremely by all people that like this sort of art.
Best regard
George Constantinides
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BORIS VALLEJO AND JULIE BELL: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION
Julie and Boris Vallejo BELL
Manufacturer: Paper Tiger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Illustration | Commercial | Graphic Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1843403153 |
Average customer rating:
- Without a doubt A MUST READ!!!
- Beware of Puns and Lack of Structural Integrity
- A Hard-Boiled World Saver
- Wow!
- An excellent book
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Lady Slings the Booze
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Callahan's Lady
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Callahan's Key
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Callahan's Con (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon Series)
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The Callahan Touch
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Callahan's Legacy
ASIN: 0743435788 |
Customer Reviews:
Without a doubt A MUST READ!!!.......2007-02-13
Ahem.
Whilst reading this book, on page two, the TOP of page two, I laughed outloud so hard I sprayed milk outa my left nostral...which was kinda bad as I was in a Library at the time, but...
No kidding, it is simply THAT good! More than that though... When I read this book I was going through a lot of hard times, in fact, I was considering suicide. After reading it...
No, my problems didn't all disappear and I still needed a lot of help, but I FELT much better from all the laughing I had done and I was pleased that thanks to this author I had managed to Forget about my problems for awhile.
All I can say is if you want to have a read where you feel better after you put the book down and your problems seem to be (a little, anyway) lighter - pick this one up, you can't go wrong.
(Oh, ONE cavete' - There are a few loose ends and you might wish - As I Do - that Spider would write a direct sequel. Other than that, cool!)
Beware of Puns and Lack of Structural Integrity.......2005-03-03
My wife is a huge fan of all of Spider Robinson's books, so I have been reading them to see what all the fuss is about. Robinson is a master of language and a lover of puns and word games. Many of the puns are excruciating, and some take forever to set up. In fact, the entire second half of the book is basically a setup for a Dan Rather pun near the end.
The book suffers structurally from two flaws: the exposition lasts much longer than needed, and the second half of the book bears no relation to the first half. There are essentially two entirely separate stories. Much of Robinson's work first appeared serialized in magazines, so it's possible that these two stories were cobbled together to make a book.
Robinson does have some wonderful insights on human nature, but it takes some effort to sift through everything else.
A Hard-Boiled World Saver.......2004-05-13
Spider has always been known as a writer with a strong taste for slumming (sorry, I meant punning), coupled with outlandish situations and strong, personable characters that are easy to empathize with. For this book, he decided to pay homage to some of the great mystery/detective writers of yesterday, deliberately trying to emulate their styles, mannerisms, and at least for his protagonist, their characters. In doing so, he seemed to lose sight of the idea of telling a cohesive integrated story, as this book very much separates itself in to two separate plot lines that are really only marginally related to each other.
His protagonist is, naturally, a private eye, one who tries hard to imitate the role models defined by Chandler, MacDonald, Spillaine, and others. He is called on to investigate some strange goings on in the most incredible bordello ever devised, Lady Sally's Place, located just across the bridge from the UN. It's a place where the `artists' have `clients', where talking dogs and telepathic twins are considered normal, a place where everyone can satisfy their desires without guilt or fears. Our P.I. quickly accepts the impossibilities of this place, and by making consistent intuitive leaps (which will sometimes leave you gaping at the holes he jumps over), fairly quickly solves the original mystery, falls in love, and is accepted as being good enough to join the crowd at Lady Sally's. Most of this section is quite good, with puns flying, clues properly presented, and the scene well painted, although it will definitely help if you have read several other books in the Callahan series, as many of the characters introduced here are very much cameos, with their background buried in the those other stories. The concept of Lady Sally's place is one that should make you think, and might help give you completely different viewpoint on the `world's oldest profession' - but this item was covered better, with more grittiness and real-world activity, in Callahan's Lady.
But after solving the one mystery, the story takes off in a totally different direction, where the crowd of Lady Sally's is now engaged in a strong bit of world saving. The premise is good - nuclear weapons smuggled into the US and other countries by pacifists as the ultimate hammer to convince the world to abrogate war. Unfortunately, the solutions to finding these weapons and the plotters behind them is very far-fetched, from having Nichola Tesla (one of the early pioneers of electricity) whip up a super-duper circuit to pinpoint the weapon's location to the immediate acceptance by all concerned that this was really happening without any objective basis in known fact. This section is also much more serious than the first half, and the hard-boiled P.I. character that Robinson has so carefully constructed in the first half seems to get lost.
This book should probably have been published as two separate novelettes, given the disparity of plot line between the two halves. As it is, it makes for an enjoyable read, but is certainly not Spider's best, and not even one of the better Callahan series tales.
Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Wow!.......2004-03-19
This added feature to Callahan's Chronicles is truly a memorable and enjoyable read. The entertwining of the characters is only a feat that Robinson can pull off. Once again, Robinson has written a book that ever so slightly hits the political nerve to lighten one's mood- and quickly.
An excellent book.......2003-12-16
I personally enjoyed Robinson's books, but then again, they appeal to my somewhat immature personality. This book seemed, granted, to have been Robinsons attempts to intergrate a more direct line of plot into his story. While odd, it was very entertaining, and shocking, for this was the first "Lady Sally" novel I had read, and I read it 3 years ago, in 7th grade. My dad bought the books because he is a monster book freak. Soon after reading the second Lady Sally book, he dropped his interest in Robinson's work, which is unfortunate for me because there are still easily $100 of books I have to buy, in addition to a replacement for this particular book.
Please buy this book. Robinson wrote a very funny piece of literature. I urge you to buy the other books as well. You won't be sorry.
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Lady Slings the Booze
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GROXVY |
Book Description
For This Land, edited and with an introduction by James Treat, brings together over thirty years of the work of Vine Deloria, Jr., regarded as one of the most important living Native American figures.
For three decades, Deloria has offered substantive and persistent contributions to understanding the complexity of religion in America. In uis writings he recognizes the spiritual desperation and religious breakdown in the contemporary situation, and provides the groundwork to get people to examine what they actually believe and how they must put those beliefs into practice.
The essays in this collection express Deloria's concern for the religious dimensions and implications of human existence. His writings are engaged within a theoretical system of physical, not ideological, space, and ultimately give voice to this intellectual passion by calling into question our controversial religious institutions, commitments, worldviews, freedoms and experiences. For This Land offers a distinctive approach to comprehending human existence from one of the leading critics of mainstream American thought.
Books:
- Mrs. Ted Bliss (American Literature (Dalkey Archive))
- No One Writes to the Colonel: and Other Stories (Perennial Classics)
- Now And at the Hour of Our Death
- Oh What a Paradise It Seems
- On Being Told That Her Second Husband Has Taken His First Lover and Other Stories
- One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand (Eridanos Library, No 18)
- Oxherding Tale: A Novel
- Pafko at the Wall: A Novella
- Path of the Assassin
- Paul Marchand, F.M.C
Books Index
Books Home
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Mr. Bridge
Miss Lonelyhearts & the Day of the Locust
So Long, See You Tomorrow
A Handful of Dust
The Stories of John Cheever
