The setting is in 18th-century Peru, and begins with a tragedy that kills five people. This book examines the questions of why things happen the way they do. Is there a reason behind them? Is there any meaning or reasoning in suffering? Do our lives connect in ways we can not see?

A monk asked himself these questions and pondered the reason the rope bridge broke at the time it did. He wonders about those who lost their lives, and that's when he begins his philosophical journey researching each one of their lives. He takes us into their relationships, hardships, hopes, and struggles. I like how the monk portrays the realities of love: messy, imperfect, often unspoken, but ultimately it's the beautiful, unseen thread that ties us all together.

The monk, who witnessed the fatal event, was determined to prove that the victims' lives and deaths were not random, but part of a divine plan.

We learn about Marquesa, her unhappy daughter, a young servant girl, an actor caught between ambition and love, and a kindly old twin and his brother.

This is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, written a hundred years ago. You'll want to take your time reading to ensure you catch all the surprising connections.

Those who like to dive into the philosophical rabbit hole, those who enjoy older works.

I wasn't a fan of the writing style. Even though the book won a Pulitzer, I found that in many areas it was a chore to hold my attention to the storyline.

Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) is an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works, exploring the connection between the commonplace and cosmic dimensions of human experience, continue to be read and produced around the world. His Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, as did two of his four full-length dramas, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). Wilder's Matchmaker was adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly! He also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them teaching, acting, opera, and film. His screenplay for Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) remains a classic psychological thriller to this day. Wilder's many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Committee's Medal for Literature.

Originally published in 1927
Pulitzer Prize Winner
#11 in Victorian Literary Criticism (Books)
4.2 Rating
116 Pages

398 WOrds

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Created Sep 30, 2025 at 9:09am • Submit your own review...