I've posted enthusiastically about Julie Orringer before (How to Breathe Underwater). I was keen to read something else by her, and so got started (with a little trepidation at the size, nearly 600 pages – I'm still reeling from the as-yet-unfinished Infinite Jest) with her novel, The Invisible Bridge.
You know how every once in a while a book comes along that just captures your heart, and you look forward to every chance you get to curl up with it? Well this is one of those. From the opening pages I was hooked. The story centres around Andras, a Hungarian Jew on his way to Paris to study architecture. We follow him as he uncertainly makes his way in the city, and gradually establishes himself. We meet his brother Tibor, and his friends, fellow Jewish students, and watch as he falls in love. Paris, the city that becomes his home, is evoked as vividly as any of the characters. But storm clouds are gathering in the form of the Second World War. As a reader you know what is coming, but Andras of course does not, and this lends a particular poignancy and suspense to the tale. To say any more would give away this wonderful, epic story; all I can do is urge you to read it instead. A treat is in store, and the 600 pages flew by, sadly all to quickly. But like Tolstoy, Orringer knows better than to completely abandon her readers at the end, and there is a wonderful epilogue just to tie things up.
