Book Review
Bridge of Sighs By RICHARD RUSSO
Louis Charles Lynch had the misfortune of receiving a nickname in kindergarten. Nicknames are often desirable; this one was not, but it followed him all his life.

The teacher called out the full name of each child. Knowing that Louis' father was called "Lou," she called out "Lou C. Lynch." When Louis dutifully raised his hand, he was startled to hear a child say, "His name is Lucy?" and so he became.

Lou (or Lucy) is the main narrator of this story. He is writing a sort of history of his life. The history is interrupted periodically by a contemporary episode and by accounts by his wife and his friend. Although there are several fights and several dangerous moments, Bridge of Sighs is a quiet book about the loves and conflictsof a few families in Thomaston, New York.

Of course, the real Bridge of Sighs is not in Thomaston. A few scenes take place in Venice, but the Bridge figures in a painting and as a metaphor in the lives of the characters. Two of the characters are painters, but Lou has no particular talent. He might be characterized as an "appreciator," very humble and seeing the talents and accomplishments of others in perhaps a too-enlarged view.

Lou, a lonely little boy, latches on to Bobby in primary school. He doesn't realize that Bobby is a reluctant friend because it is Bobby's stern father who frowns on their friendship. Bobby's father is villainous, but Lou sees his own parents as good people, though he and his mother have many differences of opinion. Lou, senior, is an eternal optimist, to the point that he drives his practical, realistic wife crazy. He won't believe that he is about to lose his job as a milkman or that the company that is causing deadly pollution will have to close.

Lou thinks about his memoir: "Am I not entitled to my life as my mother is to hers? Must there be a version that reconciles all the versions, large and small? Can there be?" The reader sees a little of other versions as Bobby and Sarah look back on the early years.

There was much turmoil, especially in the early years. As the book begins, Lou and Sarah are planning a trip to Italy, where Bobby (whom they have not heard from in years) lives. Lou loves his home and is going only to please Sarah. "The loss of a place isn't really so different from the loss of a person. Both disappear without permission, leaving the self diminished, in need of testimony and evidence."

Readers may remember Russo's other books, which include Nobody's Fool and Empire Falls (a Pulitzer Prize winner.) The last words should go to him, speaking as Lou: "The one life we're left with is sufficientto filland refillout imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up. Blame love."

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