Bridge Across Forever, The - Richard Bach

This book is not a read for everyone, but only for those who believe in fantasies and are lucky enough to experience them taking shape in their lives. Rest of the people the lesser mortals should never read such books and start fantasizing otherwise they will be left with their wounds caused by suffering from ‘Soulmate-zia’ a disease caused by reading such books and the consequences faced because of such belief. The references to music are quite insightful. The typical Bakh otherness of the book is evident throughout the book, with some pasing references to his earlier work “Illusions” … The mesmerizing old world romance notions are not present. But even then the book is truly romantic - only for those who understand the Bakh language of Romance and intimacy…

So, in my opinion although the book is based on quite a good story, only the daring ones should read it…

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If ever there was a book that I wish I'd have written, it would have to be ''The bridge across forever''. Richard Bach is a very gifted writer, who can take his readers on a journey of love and other emotions. I read this book for the first time in Delhi after borrowing it from a hostel-mate (Kshitiz Malik). After completing it, I went out and bought my own copy and have since read it two more times, the latest being on my journey from Delhi to Chennai.

Love is a very difficult emotion to put into words, but Richard Bach makes a very good attempt at trying to do so. He expresses in words what every lover wishes to do so but is very often unable to do. The journey he takes us through while in search of his soul-mate is the story of everyone of us in one way or the other. Every person on this earth is in search of his/her soul-mate (conciously or unconciously). The bridge across forever is a book about each one of us, whether we be in search of our soul-mate or have already found them.

The words with which Richard Bach is able to describe his love are very meaningful and worth reading over and over. My favourite line : ''You will always return to the arms of the one you love''. How true!

I suggest this book as a definite read for all, whether they believe in love or not.

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Jonathan Livingston Seagull (JLS) was a masterpiece. I savored every minute of reading it and was so impressed that strangely, for a long time I resisted reading more of Bach. I didn’t want to lose ''the feel good'' factor. Illusions was strongly recommended but I resisted the temptation. But when I chanced upon THE BRIDGE ACROSS FOREVER while roaming the Sunday roadside market of Pondicherry with my uncle, I couldn’t hold back any longer. Ok, the fact that my uncle recommended it and it was priced at Rs 10 also clinched it.

Twenty days and 300 odd pages later, I can now understand how this book evokes such extreme reactions and reviews. To cut a long story short, the book's about Bach's seemingly endless quest to find his soulmate. Every person who's ever been in love or who's looking for love can relate to this. Bach explores varied emotions like love, insecurity, fear, despair, success, betrayal and handles them with such aplomb - transporting the reader effortlessly into his own world so much so that soon we begin to go through his emotional rollercoaster. The book's ''literally'' laced with striking metaphors, liberally dosed with flowery prose and alluring trips up and down time.

On the downside, Bach does tend to go overbo(red)ard with allegorical references. The stories of flying do not strike a chord with all and the book becomes a drag once Bach and Leslie start on their sermonizing tours. Towards the end, one also gets the feeling that the book could have been a good 50 pages shorter.

Still, for those people who are on the lookout for their soulmate, this book offers solace and is a real eye opener - it asks to open our hearts, look within and not to give up hope as there is someone yearning for us as hard as we're looking :-) How corny !!

A few lines from the book to help you make up your mind:

1. She reached out and touched my face...

''Did you ever feel,'' she said. ''that you were missing someone you had never met?''

1. ''The only thing that shatters dreams is compromise.''

   
   




2. ''Look in a mirror and one thing's sure: what we see is not who we are.''

   
   

4.''We're the bridge across forever, arching above the sea, adventuring for our pleasure, living mysteries for the fun of it, choosing disasters triumphs challenges impossible odds, testing ourselves over and again, learning love and love and LOVE!''

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This is not a book for everyone. If you're already a Complete Man, a la Raymonds, you can skip it. Rest of us, who are just struggling to find and to understand love, this book may just be what we should have read long ago.

Bridge Across Forever, is a partly autobiographical story of Richard's search for his soul-mate. It's not a story of a perfect man meeting a perfect woman, and they living happily ever after. It's the story of a man, who has much to learn about love, including the very concept of soul-mate.

The story is quite simple, and predictable. Richard is frantically searching for the one person who's made for him, not knowing where to find her. He sees shades of her in various women he meets. And he goes through his life with his half-baked idea of love, and of personal freedom.

Then along the way, he finds a dear friend, with whom he shares a platonic relationship. Leslie, a woman he admires, adores; a woman who gradually crystallizes his idea of soul-mate into a concrete reality.

Sometimes the very thing that you're looking for is the one thing you can't see. (from Save the Best for Last).

What happens when the relationship changes from Platonic to romantic? How does highly individualistic Richard cope with the demands of a romantic relationship? This is the crux of The Bridge Across Forever. The journey isn't smooth at all. No real love story is...

So what's new? I really can't answer that. What I know is: the first time that I read it, it made me cry. It made me laugh. It made me introspect. It made me question my own assumptions about love, about soul-mate. It made me want to meet Richard and Leslie once, and tell them how much it meant to me.

And I'm not alone. The story of Richard and Leslie is so enchanting, that many felt betrayed, when they divorced after a long marriage. Not every author can do that to adults, who know that what they're reading is stylized reality at best. Apparently, something in the Bridge stuck a chord. What? Learn for yourself. It's the one modern day love story, that can mesmerize you.

In Richard's own words:

We think sometimes, there's not a dragon left. Not one brave knight, not a single princes gliding through secret forests, enchanting deer and butterflies with her smile.

This is a story about a knight, who was dying, and the princess who saved his life. It's a story about beauty and beasts and spells and fortresses, about death-powers that seem and life-powers that are. It's a tale of the adventure that mattered most. I think, in any age.

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Do u remember those days when ShahRukh has acted in movies like Darr ,Baazigar.Can u c the same ShahRukh in Chalte Chalte.

Why?

What happened to him.

He is the same peson.What is that that is missing in him now.

THE FIRE WITHIN

Did u read Jonathan Livingston Seagull,Illusions by Richard Bach?

If u have read those books ...Please donot read this book.

Are we all here to do some thing?

A simple test to find out if your mission on earth is complete……………………If you are alive, it isn’t !!! Do u remember those wonderful words.

Do u remember the extremely inspirational quotes by the seagull about life.

But today after reading the Bridge Across forever,The by Bach I felt a sense of suffocation. It took me a long time to write this review.

While I was thinking about this book by Bach,and why it was not like his other books,I had this serendipitous experience,where I have discovered some basic truths about my life.

This book is about the life of Richard Bach in search of his soulmate.He bores u with the details of his life long passion,flying.Better avoid reading this book if u have liked his other two famous books.

I stop the review about this book here.

But I would like to share the strange experience I had while writing this book. Consistency is what I have lacked all through my life.I work 48 hrs continuously and sometimes I won't work for days together.During those days I feel that I am dead.I just keep watching TV and doing nothing.I sleep for long hours.Not only in my work I show inconsistency,I was like this during my school days and college days.In one semester I surprise everyone with my excellent perfomance and in the next I struggle to pass the exam.Similarly in all aspects of my life I was showing this inconsistent performance. While I was writing this review I was thinking about those people who does wonderful things once, fails to make impresssion later.

It is life .

Sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down.

You rise and you fall.

That's all for now.

As I said toomuch is toobad.In less than 10 days I have written 11 reviews.May be I should take a break for week and then come back with more substantial review.

I'll rise soon with a better review :-)

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Hi , The book talks abt 2 people when they meet and when they are taking decision in life (trying to understand life and trying to make the best of it..) Especially if you write the book in order in which they have been written (Illusions, JLS, Bridge Across....,One) it will give you a more clearer idea , a specific context in which the author is expressing. I also happened to have read the Bhagvad-Gita (cant claim that I understand all of it..) but in some places the author talks of things which are on similar lines. (not necessarily in this book ) In his expressions , he talks of decisions that he has to make (some of which , we never even bother to look at as a decision , and accept the defaults that we get in life..), the turmoil that he goes through in making the decision. Something which we go through all our lives (like whom to marry ...) and he reveals what is going through his head when he is making those decisions.. His books are really well - written.

Am adding some details about the book:

The book journeys slow motion through the thoughts and emotions of the author as he meets his 'soul mate'. Most importantly he is brutally honest about all his thoughts, and has captured in amazing detail the intricacy of the relation.

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This Book causes my blood pressure to rise but I love it.

Title: Bridge Across Forever Author: Richard Bach (One, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull) Recommended for those who like to look inside of themselves and also for those who don’t want to. ‘A Love Story’. This is the sub title of the book. Nope no exotic men with muscles bulging in the sunlight or women with hair flying in the sweet winds of the Virgin Islands. (Sorry, but I had to say that).

This book follows the journey of a man looking for a soul mate. A pilot also a writer, he traverses America with a theory that there is one person waiting for him. After debating her existence he finally decides that the One lies in the collective existence of many women. Now don’t get any weird ideas. He decides that one woman may satisfy his desire for intellectual exchange, another may share his taste for adventure and so on. He finally does find a very close friend in Leslie, beautiful, sexy, intelligent etc. Now this is where you need a doctor to monitor your vital signs. Here is a girl he can play chess with, watch alien movies with, discuss philosophy with , say mushy stuff blah, blah, blah and the idiot considers her to be a sister. Is she the One? I will not tell you. For those who have not read Bach be prepared for a lot of deep thinking. As in the books mentioned above, the story line is mostly always accompanied by paragraphs of what the character is thinking. If for instance he watches Leslie talk, the book will take you through maybe pages of text of the character thinking about how much fun he is having, how beautiful she is, how he needs to be with her,why he needs to be with her and so on.

This Is a love story, a story about whether you can love one or all, whether you have the right or not to change something about someone,…… and more. It will not give you tips on marriage and relationships like Femina might. It will not give you fantasy like Mills & Boon. This will give you an honest account of how this particular man thinks and rethinks and rethinks his ideas on love. While the book can make a minute feel like a millenium ,it has however, sex, financial scams, romance, crashing planes, environmental concerns everything that has potential to make this a masala book. The honesty again comes through, in not sensationalizing these events but by using these incidents to help the main story.

Warning! This book may cause soul searching to the male reader. Also since this book has been written from a man’s point of view it may not interest all women but it could give you an insight into what men want (or maybe how idiotic they can be!). One interesting feature of Bach’s works is his use of the metaphysical world. In this book he explores out of body experiences, moves into the future ,chats with his future self and a little more. Bach’s books are like literary versions of ‘The Matirx’ ,philosophy + SCI FI. Heavy reading, maybe you can read it in bits. I love this book. Enjoy.

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After getting top recommendations from friends and looking at some very promising reviews on https://amazon.com and https://bn.com, I decided finally to give this book a try. Richard Bach writes this book about finding the ”perfect” soul mate in life, and how he found his soul mate. The true love story, basically focuses on his journey from being a non-believer in love to a good man...only that in doing so, you come across Bach as character, who is immensely turn-off, and I cant imagine anyone going honkers over him!!

The Story

’Did you ever feel that you were missing someone you had never met’ asks Richard Bach on the covers of the book, and gives you a idea of what this book might be all about. The story begins with his quest for that ”perfect” soul mate he has been searching for a long time. He is a great lover of planes, and has a good stock of them; and flies them whenever he pleases to. To him, flying is the greatest joy that could be experienced. He has a feeling everyday, that today he will meet is soul mate. He misses a stranger whom he has never met. He has went through infinite relationships with women, but none of them come across as his true partner.

But one day, he finds Leslie a Hollywood movie star. His relationship with her begins as friends, and very nearly keeps it at that. When he realizes that he is probably in love with her, he tries to distance her from him...but fails. Eventually, both Leslie and Richard decide to give each other a chance to see if they like each other. They decide to change for each other to put up together. To that they live across jungles, trailers, infact half America! They undergo a series of changes in life together through a journey of 4 years, and finally discover each other as true soul mates. They marry, have a series of dreams where they think they have attained salvation, give seminars on love, and finally settle down.

My Analysis

For me, the book fails at all points. I find Richard to be a overtly selfish character, who knows nothing in life except philosophy. He wants a ”perfect soul mate” who is committed to him, respects his freedom and independence, doesn’t become too involved in his life, and finally, shouldn’t expect any commitments from him! Richard wants all these characters in that one women, but probably doesn’t want to do the same to her. He doesn’t want to be committed to her. He believes that he can date and go to bed with any women he likes, in-spite of being in love with her, as a perfectly acceptable situation, coz it his freedom of thought. This comes across to me as completely ridiculous frame of mind.

Add to that, Richard doesn’t know that he has a mind. He earns a million dollars, but doesn’t know a hint what to do with it...more than that he doesn’t simply care. So what happens to money...simple, a worthless accountant of his, invests his money in losing business, and thereby causing complete losses of his money, and he ends up having to pay a million dollars to the INS. I cannot imagine a person being so neglectful of money, whatever reason it is. Again, it is Leslie, who manages to get him out of trouble, by using the INS loop holes and doling him out.

What ever true character is shown, is shown by Leslie, who gives up everything for this one man whom she is in love with. No, she doesn’t despair when she is sick, and needs Richard badly...but our Richard wants to go on a more important date with a another woman, who at that point of time is more important than a Sick Leslie. Leslie almost gives up, but writes what I would call as one of the most wonderful exhibition of writing. She writes her mind out, and man, does she write is beautifully! Richard who almost discards this letter, then decides to talk to Leslie and decides to give his love a try. They decide to give their love a chance to develop, and mature, and this almost takes them 4 years. Again all across the book , you see that Leslie is the one who is more compromising than Richard, and she is the one who turns out to be more giving in love than Richard.

The prose of the book is quite good, and the only reason why I rated this book 2 stars! Added to that, some of Leslie’s dialogues are wonderful, and especially the letter she writes to him. The novel is thankfully not so big, otherwise I would have never finished it!

Finally

Richard for me comes across as a person who believes that ”true love” is just about getting love, but need not necessarily be giving love. Currently, the couple have divorced, but his perception to love now says that “you need not stay with your soul mate to be in love”, obviously an egoistic opinion. I really don’t recommend this book to anyone coz instead of defining true love, it puts it across as a selfish thought. For me, Richard Bach still doesn’t realize the true meaning of love, and maybe its he himself who needs to re-frame his mind. He probably doesn’t realize that

”love is not finding the perfect person….love is viewing an imperfect person perfectly.”

The End.

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