This very skilled rendering of the modern wife in early to mid-century America pulls out a lot of the continuing themes of modernism: the power of conformity, the elimination of God, alienation, communities built out of exclusivity, the broken family. Consumerism is one of the many dead ends in this novel. It's heroine,India Bridges, seems forever on the edge of screaming "I give in!" without knowing exactly who is pulling the strings around her. She is a great mirror and that, I think, is why we cannot put the book down. ( )

This is the only book in my memory that made me feel both sad (unsettled? upset?) and elated simultaneously, from the first page to the last, throughout. I was quite heartbroken to return the book.

It is funny, certainly, and thoroughly engaging. It is, however, profoundly unsettling in many ways. The chilly skittering along my spine has been my loyal companion for the whole ride.

I adored this little gem! ( )

Short snippets of the life of a woman, wife, mother, in Kansas (middle America) in the 1930's. Very concise, well done and disturbing. She seems not to have a mind of her own, or at least she is not proactive. she is bored with her life and follows directions of her husband. The correct way to act, speak, dress and appear before others is most important ( )

This is a modern classic and Evan S. Connell's debut novel, a sometimes sympathetic, sometimes uncharitable look at a woman's life. Mrs. Bridge of Kansas City is a woman who has lived within the confines of what is expected of her and she places those same restrictions and expectations on her family. Yet while she is the one who keeps the rules and knows what to do, this doesn't mean she doesn't also chafe sometimes or realize that there is something missing from her life, an entirely pleasant, financially comfortable existence that doesn't entirely cover for her lack of connection to her children or her husband's emotional and often physical absence.

Connell does not go lightly on Mrs. Bridge, spotlighting moments where her need to preserve appearances was silly or harmed her relationship with her children. But he's also often kind to her, revealing how little respect or support she receives from her husband. This book is also full of quietly powerful moments or humorous ones and Connell's descriptions of daily life allows plenty of room for the small disappointments and harms to be given their due. This quiet novel is a wonderful glimpse of a world that no longer exists, and of a woman who honestly did her best. ( )

Mrs. Bridge is the well-told story of India Bridge, married to a work-obsessed attorney. The novel takes place in Kansas City beginning in the 1930s. The Bridges have two daughters, Ruth and Carolyn, and a son, Doug. As the years pass, Mrs. Bridge becomes increasingly dissatisfied with a life that is centered around appearances and her emotionally-distant husband, but continues to present a perfect facade despite her increasingly private despair. Her life is told in a series of brief vignettes, which perfectly capture her emotions and memories. As the years pass, the children drift away from their mother, compounding her loneliness. Doug is in the army during WWI, Ruth works as an assistant editor for a fashion magazine, and Carolyn returns home only because she is trapped in a volatile marriage. The last paragraph sums up all that Mrs. Bridge is feeling.

This was written at a time when women's roles were largely determined by their social status and their husbands. It is a sobering rendering of Mrs. Bridge's life, and I look forward to reading the sequel entitled, fittingly, Mr. Bridge. It will be interesting to see their life and his marriage through his eyes. ( )