The Invisible Bridge (2010)

Initially loved it, but eventually couldn't pick it up again and had to skim the last fifth or so. Too much description, events, etc, with not quite enough character depth to make me care to stick with them through all the tragic history. ( )

As there are, as of his count, 87 reviews of The Invisible Bridge, I'll let my rating do most of the work. Meticulously researched, clearly built on family stories and so, deeply heartfelt, Orringer brings another aspect of ww2 into sharp focus as she narrates the saga of the extended Levi family in Hungary. The closest focus is on Andras Levi, a talented young artist bound for architecture school. The contrast between life as a student in Paris and life as a labor service worker (uh, slave would be closer to a correct description) in the Hungarian Army is extreme and Orringer is steadfast in her development of the theme that things can change in a heartbeat, both ways, good or bad. For all the awful things that happen, Andras is a strong person and remains steadfast through almost all the book - being greatly loved gives you extra strength - that is another theme. Prior to this, the only novel connected to the war in Hungary I had read was the Olivia Manning opus, the first part of which is set in Budapest, and from somewhere I have a book of photographs of Budapest published in Hungary in 1958 - that I referred to endlessly. For me, the greatest draw of the novel ended up being the bringing to life of the experience of the war for Hungarians, Jewish or not. The government chose to follow a complex balancing act, allying themselves with Hitler, and came close to protecting Hungary as a nation; as Orringer lays it out the Hungarians did pretty well at maintaining some independence and at remaining sane about their Jewish countrymen, saner than anyone else in the region. I can't give it five stars because something about the fictional aspects of the story never quite came together for me, although I was very moved at the end. It was, I think, also good that I read the last couple of hundred pages pretty much in one day, stayed up late, got up early to do it, which gave the last part an immediacy and continuity as I read. With some books this doesn't matter, with some it does. So clear a space for it if you can. ****1/2 ( )

This book really grew on me. The Invisible Bridge is a big old fashioned novel which follows three young Hungarian Jewish brothers through the years leading up to World War II and the war years themselves. The leading character is the middle brother Andras who wins a scholarship to study architecture in Paris, where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful expatriate ballet teacher. Sounds corny, eh ? It isn't.
This story is about the Holocaust, but it lacks enormous amounts of melodrama . The devil is in the details, and the author piles up the everyday setbacks and mounting frustrations, rules, and deficits until one can see why & how the Holocaust snuck up on so many millions of people. I half-joked to my husband when I started reading The Invisible Bridge that any book which starts in Europe in 1936 begs you to scream a warning to all the characters : Get out !!! But after reading the novel, I can understand why so many waited too long to even attempt to get out and why so many simply couldn't escape. I am no closer to understanding the mentality or the rationale behind the killings, but I do think I understand the victims better.
I did want to ask Ms Orringer if the book is biographical - is she the teenage girl at the end of the novel who is going to ask her grandfather to explain what really happened ?
This is definitely a big fat book and the initial pace is ponderous, but the tempo speeds up as the war grinds the characters into smaller and smaller pieces. It is worth sticking with. ( )

Most of my favorite novels come from the historical fiction genre and most from WW2. This book told the story of a Hungarian Jew. Although the story focused on Andras Lévi, the supporting characters is why I loved this novel. His brother Tibor, his architect classmates (mainly Polander), and his childhood friend, Mendel, came alive through their relationships with Andras. Although the novel is long, I don't know what the author would have left out. There are such great stories embedded in the novel, it was a pleasure to read. ( )

I can't believe it took me so long to get around to this novel. It is an absolute page-turner, I could not put it down. Julie Orringer's narrative is absolutely compelling and paints such a vivid picture of Europe prior and during World War Two that it really felt like I was there as I read. She also writes in a way that makes the reader really care about these characters as they face such hardship and suffering. I also learned quite a bit about the Hungarian experience of WW2. I highly recommend this novel if you love reading historical fiction.

You could read my full review of the novel over at my blog: http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=6304 ( )