The Bridge
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
The man who wakes up in the extraordinary world of a bridge has amnesia, and his doctor doesn't seem to want to cure him.
Does it matter?
Exploring the bridge occupies most of his days. But at night there are his dreams...
Dreams in which desperate men drive sealed carriages across barren mountains to a bizarre rendezvous; an illiterate barbarian storms an enchanted tower under a stream of verbal abuse; and broken men walk forever over bridges without end, taunted by visions of a doomed sexuality.
Lying in bed unconscious after an accident wouldn't be much fun, you'd think. Oh yes? It depends who and what you've left behind.
Which is the stranger reality, day or night? Frequently hilarious and consistently disturbing, THE BRIDGE is a novel of outrageous contrasts, constructed chaos and elegant absurdities.
Why customers are loving The Bridge:
"Banks' Wasp Factory is frequently called 'One of the 20th century's 100 greatest novels'. It pales in comparison to The Bridge!" - Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars
"Mindblowing! This is the first Iain Banks novel I have read and needless to say I'll be back for more." - Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Orr, the otherwise unnamed protagonist of this Pynchonesque novel, is a successful Scottish engineer who's a bit fed up with life: his work doesn't really interest him anymore; years of doping and boozing have dulled him; his girlfriend has other lovers (he does too, but he would rather she was monogamous). Then one evening he crashes his classic Jaguar into a parked MG. The aftermath is coma and months of amnesiac trance, a condition that Orr apparently comes to prefer. The reader, however, only understands all this towards the end of the novel. Virtually the whole of the narrative consists of Orr's trauma-induced hallucinations. The bridge of the title is a fantastically ramifying construct in Orr's brain resembling an outer-space city in a science fiction movie. Banks's ( The Player of Games ) novel is satire, and its target turns out to be the British Isles' equivalent of American ``yuppies.'' Deploying a wide range of stylistic devices, the narrative condemns fiercely an overly mechanistic society and its self-referential ethos.