THE BOOK FAIR

Julie Orringer 

     The

INVISIBLE 

  BRIDGE

The ambitious novel which begins in 1937, and ends decades after the war, encompasses the story of the Jewish, Levi family who reside in Debrecen, a town which lies 120 miles east of Budapest, Hungary.   The plot focuses primarily on the two elder sons, Tibor, a student in medical school, and Andras, a student of architecture, when WW II erupts in Europe and drastically changes their lives.  The book proves highly informative of Hungarian history and WW II in general with a mix of both real personages and fictitious characters.

In spite of overly dramatic metaphors, the author builds realistic characters and describes realistic events, of particular interest, the slave labor camps.   Orringer, often backtracks and details events of which the reader is already informed which may dull the story and slow the pace.  Even though, whatever flaws the novel contains the image of the brothers, and their love for each other, long remains.