One-Way Bridge, The: A Novel (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
So, I didn't actually read the whole book. There was too much swearing and things were starting to get crude. The writing, when it wasn't in the voice of one of the characters, was beautiful. I wanted to be in the town where the book takes place so I could feel the peace of the nature, see the river, watch cars drive over the bridge and walk along the road to see the mailboxes. But there are so many good books out there that aren't ruined through swearing that I couldn't justify spending my time reading the F-word over and over, multiple times per page sometimes. I loved this book - I had the giggles so long and hard in one place that my husband said he had not heard me laugh like that since reading about a turtle latched on to an old guy in Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer." And at the end I found myself tearing up because I was leaving this little place and its people. They are so very real, so very frustrating, so very touching. You will find yourself growing fonder and fonder of one very unlikely person, and in the midst of humor, there is tenderness and poignancy. A mailman has an ongoing war with a moose mailbox, a somewhat shady newcomer with a foul mouth and a surprisingly soft heart has an ongoing war with his really shady "suppliers," the owner of the offensive mailbox has a continuing war in his nighttime dreams, and various females have simmering wars with their husbands and grown children. But in the midst of these wars, you find loneliness and connection, tolerance (of a sort) and charity, and love - not the sappy kind, but the needed kind. I may not be able to retire in Mattagash, Maine, but I will continue to visit there through Pelletier's other books.
What do You think about One-Way Bridge, The: A Novel (2013)?
I really enjoyed this book very much. I just wish the author hadn't used the F-word so much.
—luis
This was a nice little story about the quirky characters in a small town in Maine.
—annietyson
Really funny, and so true to what I know of life in northern Maine.
—franny1
Great view into small town life. Loved the last few pages!
—nicole
Quirky and enjoyable book about a small town in Maine.
—JAM
