Mrs Bridge (1959) is an inspired novel set in the years around World War II that testifies to the sapping ennui of an unexamined suburban life (in Kansas City, in this case). India Bridge, the eponymous character, has three children and a meticulous workaholic lawyer husband. She defends her dainty, untouched guest towels from son Douglas, who has the gall to dry his hands on one, and earnestly attempts to control her daughters with pronouncements such as “Now see here, young lady … in the morning one doesn’t wear earrings that dangle.” Though her life is increasingly filled with leisure and plenty, she can’t shuffle off vague feelings of dissatisfaction, confusion, and futility. Evan S. Connell, who also wrote the twinned novel “Mr. Bridge,” builds a world with tiny brushstrokes and short, telling vignettes. So, is the ‘unexamined life’ worth living? One cannot help reflecting on one’s own life reading this. Are any of us, too, guilty of having a lust for conformity and desperately clinging to safety and security at any price?
ISBN 978-0141198651