The Bridge of San Luis Rey

In this Pulitzer Prize winner, a bridge collapses in eighteenth-century Peru; five die. Who were they? In the answer to that question lie numerous cosmic ironies, which are related in a melancholy narrative of great power, simplicity and beauty. Waterston, star of NBC's "Law and Order," never possessed a strong voice. Time has made it hoarse and scratchy. Nonetheless, he reads intelligently with just the right sombre tone. As is usual with HighBridge titles, the sound quality is pristine. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


A new audio version of this classic novel is good news; no matter at what age you read or reread it, it has something new to offer you. Wilder sets his iconic story in the eighteenth century in colonial Peru at the moment one of the astounding rope bridges that crisscrossed the Andean gorges of the Inca Empire collapses. The novel examines the lives of the five people who die together that day, tracing what exactly led each one to be there at that moment, and asking what, if anything, it meant. This edition includes a welcome afterword addressing the origins and long life of this enduring perennial. Thom Rivera's acting is fine, and his Spanish pronunciations lovely, though in other languages he's less reliable. B.G. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine