THE SECOND BRIDGE

by Gary Gildner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 1986

Whichever of the two companion volumes by Gildner (see below) you read first, you're likely to feel a bit ripped-off when you read the second. This slim novel includes almost word for word the longest story (""Burial"") from A Week in South Dakota, and the additional prose, most of it prefatory, creates more problems than it solves. Gildner delays the short story's reappearance with over a hundred pages of third-person narrative, even though the latter section is told in the voice of the main character. And it's the heightened intensity of the first-person perspective that brings life and drama to an otherwise drab and familiar plot. From the early pages, we learn that Bill Rau, like the author, grew up in Michigan, teaches writing at an Iowa college, and is also a poet, though not a very good one on the evidence of the poem included here. While he's been east to Saratoga, to write poems about horse racing, his wife, Jay, an editor of Midwest Politics, has had an affair. On his return, much melodrama ensues: he slaps her and tears the page inscribed to her from his latest book; she attempts suicide with an aspirin overdose; he counters with an affair of his own; they both dream of better days. No wonder their own daughter finds them boring. But their lives change drastically when 13-year-old Jenny dies in their house as it bums Christmas morning--they were off skiing. Memories flood in: young Bill hunting with his father; meeting and courting Jay; the family's summer cabin in Michigan. All of this is told in simple, monosyllabic sentences, with lots of pointless details and occasional tortured syntax. In the remaining third of the novel--the part including ""The Burial""--Bill briskly narrates his and Jay's efforts to forget, which involve booze, a frightening episode in the Michigan woods, and a trip to Europe. After an ungraceful shift in gears, this novel picks up speed and style, but it's too late and too little, and, besides, the most moving section is available in the other volume.

Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Algonquin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1986

Categories: FICTION