Review of The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004) by Tanya W — 02 Sep 2009

"The Bridge of San Luis Rey" was one of the first novels I read in AP English during my junior year of high school, and thus, one of the first pieces of literature that I had to try to decipher as "literature," and not just "entertainment," as many novels prior had been consumed. I didn't enjoy the experience, and I hated the book. Who cares about these people? I just kept thinking. No one was remotely interesting, or evoked even the slightest emotion. Even at 15 or 16, I was thinking about a writer's responsibility to his audience; these characters felt like his props, his puppets (yes, I know that this is sort of the point in the "free will" argument), created simply so that he could maneuver them in whatever way he saw would work best for his arguments.

So I watched the recent film version, hoping to be proved wrong, hoping to have my interest in Wilder's fiction reignited so that I might re-read the book with a fresh perspective.

Um. This movie was just as wooden and uninspired as the book that I remembered. Even De Niro didn't quite seem sure what he was doing, why he was there; Gabriel Byrne evoked no sympathy, even as he was sentenced to death. Occasionally, the characters shout or raise their voices, but all I did during those moments was turn down the volume. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is a dull production, and if I'm to believe that in any way captures the heart of the book, I'll never revisit Wilder.