Editor's note: Please join us in our first attempt at having the monthly book group discussion right here in the Journal rather than in the Forum. We're looking forward to hearing some new voices and testing out a new format.
—kt
Richard Russo's latest novel, Bridge of Sighs, follows the lives of two men, childhood friends (of a sort) who've wound up in very different places — literally and figuratively. Russo is known for his intimate portraits of life in downtrodden northeastern towns. In this case, Lou Lynch and Bobby Marconi both come from Thomaston, NY, a town notable for a stream that runs different colors depending on what the local tannery is producing on any given day. Lou spends his whole life in Thomaston, following in his father's relatively unambitious footsteps, while Bobby reinvents himself as Noonan, an expatriate artist living in Venice. Now in their sixties, the two men are variously confronted with the choices and the lives they've made. Let's hear your thoughts! ... view comments
John Fowles was one of the most revered writers of the 20th century, if perhaps not one of its best-known. His most famous book by far is this, The French Lieutenant's Woman, though that's largely attributable to the Meryl Streep film of the same name, which takes some notable and intriguing departures from the book. We'll no doubt be talking about both, but let's start with the book. And with that, we're off! ... view comments
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