The bridges of Madison county door Robert James Waller

1. Bibliography

Robert James Waller,The bridges of Madison county
Publisher Wolters-Noordhoff, Date of first publication 1992,Date of publication 1997

2. The story

The story begins, when Francesca received a letter from Robert, she is thinking of the time, when she met him. After photographing six covered bridges and searching for another one, Robert drove through a little village, called Winterset, and he asked the way to the last bridge he needed to photograph. He asked it to Francesca, an unhappily married woman. From the moment she saw him, she was in love with him. Instead of telling him how to drive to that place, she showed him the way to that bridge. After talking about some things, she invited him for dinner. Her husband and children were away for a week so she was all alone at home that week. After a long evening they said goodbye but Francesca wanted to see him more. So she left a note near the bridge that he was going to photograph. The result was a relationship between these two for a couple of days. After a few days they have to said goodbye to each other because her husband and children were coming home. Francesca loved Robert very much but she couldn't leave them although she wasn't happily married. She didn't say anything to her husband. After the death of her husband she tried to locate Robert but she couldn't find him. Several years later she received a packet from Robert: he had left her some stuff after his death. It remembered her to the time with him. A few years later she died also. She left a letter to her children to tell them about that time. She had not told them about this adventure but she couldn't take it with her in her grave. Her children understood it and they find it a terrific story. They go a writer and tell him the story.

3. Character

Francesca Johnson was an unhappily married woman without an exciting life. By falling in love with Robert she had again a filling up in her life. She went shopping etc. She felt feminine again. But she thought she had to stay because of her responsibility towards her children and husband. So she relapsed into her boring and unexciting life regretting for the fact that she let him go without him.

Robert was an intelligent photographer that lived in his own world. He did what he liked to do. Mostly he was alone on the road for a report. By falling in love his life didn't change a lot. He went his own way, but he needed some company for filling up that emptiness insides him so he took a dog. Robert loved Francesca until his death. She was the only one in his life.

4. Time

Het verhaal begint rond 1965 en eindigt in 1989, maar er wordt 20 jaar overgeslagen tussen de 2 verhaalsdelen in. Een paar dagen (de dagen van Robert en Francesca samen) worden heel uitgebreid beschreven.

5. Place

The whole story took place in Winterset, a little village in Madison County in Iowa, where Francesa lives. Winterset is an very important place in this book, because Robbert has to make pictures of the old bridges there.

6. Stucture

The story is not built up chronologically. In the first chapter you can read that Robert Kincaid leaves his house for a long trip to Madison County. In the second chapter you read that Francesca remembers Robert. In the following chapters you read the story of how they met each other. These chapters are flashbacks.

7. Point of view

The story is written in the third-person through the eyes of the characters. The writer describes the feelings of the two characters.

8. Title

Robert Kincaid goes to Iowa to make some photos of covered bridges in Madison County. ('The bridges of Madison County') This is the reason why Francesca and Robert meet each other. Otherwise they would never seen each other

10. Opinion

I think The Bridges of Madison County is a very nice book. Before I read the book I though it was a boring love story. After reading it I like the book very much, because the story is not just like all the other love stories. The book is easy to read and it was really a very nice story. The moment Francesca and Robert met each other for the first time was the most special moment for me, because you feel the power of attraction between Francesca and Robert.I think Robert James Waller is a very good writer, because he does not make the story long-winded, but he keeps the story racy. The story is racy, because you read the feelings of both people and it looks like a very long love affair, but it covers only a few days.