The Bridge of San Luis Rey

By Thornton Wilder

1928 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by the man who wrote the play, Our Town.
It starts out with the collapse of the San Luis Rey bridge in which five people fall to their deaths; kind of a grim way to start a novel. The novel proceeds to look at the lives of these unfortunates, posing the question, why them? Were they terrible sinners who deserved to die? Or perhaps they were saints being called home to their reward in heaven?
One of them was a lonely woman whose whole life revolves around her daughter. Her daughter, however, lives in Europe and really would rather that her mother just leave her alone. The woman is accompanied by her maid, who also dies in the bridge collapse. The maid is a young orphan who is in training to take over the job of running the orphanage when she matures.
The third person in the group is a man who recently lost his beloved twin brother.
Next comes an elderly man who is accompanied by a young boy that he has recently undertaken to educate. The boy is the son of an accomplished actress that the man raised & trained.
So what do these people all have in common? They were loved better after they were dead than they were when they were alive. Each one shared their life with some person who failed to value them properly. The mother's daughter was contemptuous of her mother. The head of the orphanage was too impersonal to the young maid. The twin brother was jealous of his brother's love for a woman. The actress despised the man who was responsible for her great success and she was indifferent to her little son.
Only after these five people were gone did their friends & families realize how important they were and how very much they would be missed. Only then is their love realized and perfected.
This is not a happy story. It is a forerunner of Wilder's theme in
Our Town,which he wrote about ten years later, that people are blind to the true meaning of their lives. They go along being cruel or indifferent to the ones they should treat the best, the ones who should be held dear in their hearts. Just like the souls in Our Town, the survivors can only look back and wish they had lived their lives differently, more aware, more lovingly.
I can't say I liked this story. It makes you think, I guess, but I found it depressing to read about these five knowing that they end up smashed to death. I didn't like Our Town either. They are both too morbid and not my cup of tea.
However, the story is well written and very readable and interesting. It drew me in despite its sad beginning. If you like stories that delve into the meaning of life then you would probably enjoy this novel.
Review from The Pulitzer Prizes:  http://www.pulitzer.org/article/bridge-too-far-not-when-its-good-wilders-novel.