I hate you Robert James Waller — and I hate myself for only knowing you just recently through your book, The Bridges of Madison County, which, without my editor Edra Benedicto’s recommendation would have sat for ages on my bookshelves gathering dust, waiting to be read by their book hoarder of an owner. This is a story of that one great true love.
Mr. Waller, your book tore me to pieces.
I alternated between sobbing and crying and I could not stop my heart from feeling the pain of love and lost between the man named Robert Kincaid and the woman whom he loved dearly, Francesca Johnson.
No piece of literary work had me melting in agony in the last decade. I could not even remember the last book I read that made me feel this way. What you did in this book Mr. Waller is the work of a genuine writer who can truly write with an analyst brain and a poet”s heart.
You masterfully tore me to pieces in 180 pages, Sir. Your words are succinct yet powerful. Your work is a testament that great storytelling need not be long. It just have to employ the right words that will mesmerize the reader taking her to those bridges and those summer nights in Iowa when Robert and Francesca realized that love has finally got them.
The narrative is not selfish in its brevity. A piece of work that deserves a prize although it could exist without an award. Even the theme of the book is not self-centered. There is so much love and respect in this book. I can taste the emotions in the words. I can still taste the sweetness of that love. With Robert and Francesca, you just know it’s love.
If you’re reading this blog, please do yourself a favor: get yourself a copy and read The Bridges of Madison County. I can’t remember when exactly I bought this book but I remember I got my copy in a second book store called Book Sale here in Cebu, Philippines and I only bought it for P55 (a little more than a US dollar). I don’t know why it was priced that way because this piece of storytelling is expensive in its sincerity and genuineness.
When Miss Edra told me the title of this masterpiece, I had a faint memory of this book sitting in my bedroom bookshelf. I knew I had a copy. I bought it because of the title, it seemed mysterious and deep to me. But as in the case of all book hoarders, books pile up and some titles are left forgotten.
Not until Miss Edra told me that in the realm of storytelling this is a book that should guide writers on how to produce stories that uses the right amount of words — adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs combined — that shakes the very emotional core of its readers.
She was right.
She was more than right.
