The Invisible Bridge

By: Julie Orringer

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 27 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Julie Orringer’s astonishing first novel, eagerly awaited since the publication of her heralded best-selling short-story collection, How to Breathe Underwater (“fiercely beautiful” - The New York Times; “unbelievably good” - Monica Ali), is a grand love story set against the backdrop of Budapest and Paris, an epic tale of three brothers whose lives are ravaged by war, and the chronicle of one family’s struggle against the forces that threaten to annihilate it.

Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to C. Morgenstern on the rue de Sévigné. As he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter’s recipient, he becomes privy to a secret history that will alter the course of his own life. Meanwhile, as his elder brother takes up medical studies in Modena and their younger brother leaves school for the stage, Europe’s unfolding tragedy sends each of their lives into terrifying uncertainty. At the end of Andras’s second summer in Paris, all of Europe erupts in a cataclysm of war.

From the small Hungarian town of Konyár to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the lonely chill of Andras’s room on the rue des Écoles to the deep and enduring connection he discovers on the rue de Sévigné, from the despair of Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in forced labor camps and beyond, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a love tested by disaster, of brothers whose bonds cannot be broken, of a family shattered and remade in history’s darkest hour, and of the dangerous power of art in a time of war.

Expertly crafted, magnificently written, emotionally haunting, and impossible to put down, The Invisible Bridge resoundingly confirms Julie Orringer’s place as one of today’s most vital and commanding young literary talents.

©2010 Julie Orringer (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"One of the best books of the year."—Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“If you’re still looking for a ‘big’ novel to carry into the summer holidays—one in which you can lose yourself without the guilty suspicion that you’re slumming—then Julie Orringer’s The Invisible Bridge is the book you want. . . . Stunning. . . . In every admirable sense an ‘ambitious’ historical novel, in which large human emotions—profound love, familial bonds and the deepest of human loyalties—play out against the backdrop of unimaginable cruelty. . . . Orringer traverses this perilous rhetorical terrain with remarkable—and, more important, convincing, self-possession. . . . Remarkably affecting. . . . A life powerfully, unsentimentally and inspiringly evoked in this gracefully written and altogether remarkable first novel.”—Tim Rutten, The Los Angeles Times

“The Invisible Bridge deserves to be praised. It takes the introspective themes we’ve loved so well in American literature—from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself to A. M. Homes’s Music for Torching—and points them in a different direction. . . . Rendered in sweeping, epic fashion . . . a close look at the terrible ways that enormous historical events can affect individual lives. . . . The strength of The Invisible Bridge lies in Orringer’s ability to make us care so deeply about the people of her all-too-real fictional world.”—Andrew Ervin, The New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice)

very slow and drawn out

it's was a good story just hard a slow pace and super drawn out story.

Average ww2 story

I just don’t understand the 5star reviews at all. I will say enjoyed that it is centered on Hungary and the people, did learn things I didn’t know, which is always good. But this story is no more compelling than most ww2 stories I have read which has been many. It is NOT as compelling many others. It is a good story. But MUCH too long. Could have easily been cut in half at least. The first half gets so bogged down it gets tedious and boring, almost returned it after 10~12 hours! Left it several times and went back later,,,, but just didn’t live up to those in my opinion. Most of the time I knew what was going to happen before it got there. Not the first time I’ve been disappointed in raving 5star reviews, wonder if those are all “real”. Actually wish I had about 20 of those hours back.

Good book ruined by a bad reader

How could the performance have been better?

A good book was ruined by the incredibly bad mis-pronunciation of French words by the reader. He obviously had NOT done his homework, and it was most distracting.

Beautifully written book

Where does The Invisible Bridge rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I'd say fairly high on the list.

What did you like best about this story?

Nice character development and beautiful prose.

Any additional comments?

Very good story and characters the author makes you care about. World War II from an aspect I had not read of before, the labor service mainly consisting of Jewish men. Parts of the story were very disturbing but, I am sure, historically accurate.

Sweeping historical fiction

A compelling story with complex characters set against the back drop of the horrors of World War II. The story unfolds with a Hungarian Jewish family and their three boys who set out to make their way in the world. Their progress is hindered by the slowly growing anti-Jewish sentiment which insidiously makes it's way into European thought and policy. The reader is caught up in the struggles and triumphs which ultimately lead to the horrors of the camps, and the amazing strength of the human will to survive. I am prevented from giving this book a five star rating only because of the sordid details of Klara and Andrais' love affair, which occur in the early chapters of the book. The story could easily have stood on it's own without them.

Heavy but great storytelling

Most stories involving WWII in Europe contain dark themes and difficult to hear details. But This one is told with an incredibly interesting storyline of a young Hungarian Jew who begins as a student in Paris. Important historical fiction for us to hear again today and stay aware of to avoid past mistakes.

Love the story

Wow. This author really has a way of helping you to understand how the characters feel. You don't think much about how and what the people went through during and before World War II. Loved the story.

Extraordinary WW2 historical fiction.

I love this genre & this one surpasses most. Unique Hungarian perspective. Author takes the time to create compelling characters, relationships, perspectives and hopes before hurling them into the ravages of war. This leaves the reader keenly attached to the plight of the story, invested in the outcome.

A Hungarian’s experience in Paris and beyond on the edge and into WW2

The story line was interesting; what caught my attention specifically were the details about Hungary and its alliances in WW2. Curious if the portrayal about life in Budapest during the war years is accurate. Only detraction for me was the continuous mispronunciation of French locations; admittedly challenging for the reader if they don’t speak the language but one hopes for a producer who will at the very least keep the mispronunciation consistent. Overall an enjoyable listen

A terrific story about Jews in World War II.

I think for anyone it is really hard to understand or imagine what it must've been like to try and live through World War II, especially as a European Jew. I thought the breadth of her story gave a very good perspective and told a story that we need to repeatedly hear. It is impossible for me to wrap my mind around what happened during World War II. I feel the same after finishing this book, but it reminds me to always remember that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it's mistakes.