2010 book 137

Julie Orringer's The Invisible Bridge
First, I just want to say I was very grateful to read this on the Kindle, since it's apparently over 600 pages of epic epicness, and that's no fun for poolside reading. Though if you don't have a Kindle you should still read it!

Anyway, as I said, it's an epic sort of novel about a young Hungarian Jew who gets a scholarship to architecture school in Paris, finds a job in a theatre, and falls in love with an older woman--only it's the 1930s and things are obviously not going to go that well for a young Hungarian Jew. This book isn't perfect--it drags a bit at some parts set in a labor camp, and the end feels a little abrupt--but it's really, really a great story. It's getting a ton of great reviews, including in this weekend's NY Times Book Review--and it deserves every rave. A.