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There are currently 16 member reviews
for The Last Bridge
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Beatrice D. (Floral Park, New York)
The Last Bridge
Once you've read the opening sentence, you're hooked. I read this page-turner in two sittings. It is a somewhat soap opera-like story of pain; physical, emotional and sexual, experienced by this very dysfunctional family.
Cat,the narrator and central character is returning home after a ten year absence, during which time she was usually drunk. The chapters in the book alternate between incidents and events before she ran away and the present time when she and her siblings have come together for their mother's funeral.
Ms. Coyne alludes to circumstances that explain her parents' behavior,but they lack depth. I would have liked her to give us more insightful character development.
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Kathy H. (Eaton, OH)
Tough story
This book is an easy read that grabs you from the very beginning. It's a tough story to read because of the level of dysfunction but the way it weaves back and forth between the past and the present helps you understand the characters and why they react as they do. Some of the plot was predictable but there was still the question of who the "he" was that the mother mentioned in her suicide note and how this haunted Cat.
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Ruth O.
Quick but not easy read
The book opens with a suicide and a short note: ‘He isn’t who you think he is’, written to the victim’s adult daughter. The rest of the book is the daughter’s present-day actions with flashbacks to her haunted youth, as she searches for who ‘he’ is. Along the way we learn how she came to be the person she is today. I read this book in one day, as it caught me from the first chapter and I couldn’t put it down. Some of it was predictable, but there were still surprises that kept me on edge. Character development occurred slowly, but it all made sense by the end. I recommend this for a quick but not easy read, as it deals with family issues that are very disturbing.
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Jennifer F. (Tucson, AZ)
Promising premise doesn't pan out
The premise of this book was promising and I was immediately drawn into wanting to know more about the character and who the "he" was that was referred to in her mother's note. But, unfortunately, the story gets a bit muddled and having two characters with the same name was confusing. I thought the author tried to get too much into the story. Overall it was an OK read, but I thought it would have been better.
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Judy G. (Carmel, IN)
A Story Just Like the Bridge
I, like other reviewers, read The Last Bridge in one leisurely Saturday afternoon sitting, something I rarely do with a book. I found the story to be sorrowfully riveting despite predictability around key story elements. I found the character development sporadic, sometimes strong and other times leaving me dissatisfied. The first 3 chapters were the strongest and are what pulls the reader quickly into an engrossing read. However, the images created in these chapters don't bear more fruit throughout the book.
The book could be twice as powerful with stronger follow-through of some of the initial imagery. In this way, the book was just like the last bridge--missing some slats, lacking a strong support but yet providing a satisfying casual, page-turning read. As a first novel The Last Bridge is good and I hope to read more from this author.
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Victoria H. (Minneapolis, MN)
Felt Rushed and Incomplete
I received this book as an ARC from BookBrowse.com. What attracted me to it in the first place was the publisher’s mention of Teri Coyne having a similar writing style to Jodi Picoult (an author whom I love). Whereas it is obvious Coyne has great potential as a writer, it is equally obvious that “The Last Bridge” is her first literary effort and a far cry from the more fully developed and engrossing plot lines of Picoult’s novels.
As I mentioned in my heading, the story felt really rushed. Coyne gets an A for gripping content (the first page of the book opens with the inexplicable suicide of the main character’s mother) but she fails miserably with character development and consistency. Based on her descriptions at the beginning of the book, I spent a good bit of the story picturing the key people as run down, middle aged adults. However, I was thrown for a complete tail spin at the middle of the book when Coyne briefly mention’s the main character’s age as something like 27! She also breezes through some of the explanatory events so quickly that you almost feel like she lost interest in completing the book half way through writing it.
I will say it again, though; Coyne has a lot of potential. “The Last Bridge” was entertaining and despite the fact that it dealt with some very disturbing issues (incest, abuse, suicide, etc.) she did not let them consume the book. They acted more as subplots in a greater more complicated and intriguing story of self discovery.
Overall a decent read but it could’ve been a lot better.
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Christine M. (Weedsport, NY)
The Last Bridge
I started this book and thought I'd really like it, but as it got into the graphic sexual abuse ... well, it's just not something that I want to continue with. Sorry.
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