‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ by Thornton Wilder

I always enjoy unusually formatted books and movies. Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey is the story of a Peruvian bridge that collapses, killing the five people who are crossing at the time. Brother Juniper, a local friar, takes it upon himself to investigate the lives of the five people who perish. If he can discover the secrets of their lives, he can understand the reason that they were chosen by god to die. The book is broken up into sections that tell the stories of the people who die, with Brother Juniper’s story acting as an introduction and conclusion; the reader learns that the lives were connected by more than just the bridge collapse.

Obviously, Brother Juniper’s mission is problematic for a number of reasons. One of the fundamental aspects of most well-known religions is that the great majority of people aren’t supposed to know the motives of whatever supreme leader the religion happens to worship. Of course, people try to understand their god’s motives anyway, which leads to another problem: you can rationalize anything if you try hard enough. However dubious Brother Juniper’s investigation and results may be, it is interesting to try to look at these lives through his point of view; trying to understand why a particular person would have been selected to die.

The premise of the book reminds me very much of the evangelical religious figures who try to justify natural disasters by referencing the so-called sins of the affected area. From lesbianism to voodoo, every area that is struck by tragedy is sure to have at least one shortcoming. If people keep looking hard enough, they may be able to justify all death, and the result may end up being the same as Brother Juniper’s.