The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg
Konigsberg, Bill The Bridge. Scholastic, 2020 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781338325034 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781338325058 $11.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 9-12
When seventeen-year-old strangers Aaron and Tillie meet on the George Washington Bridge with the intent of jumping, four timelines emerge: first, Aaron refrains and Tillie jumps and dies; second, Tillie resists and Aaron jumps; third, they both jump; and fourth, they both abstain. What follows is a thought experiment about the impact the act of jumping or not jumping has on the lives of those around the two teens and how the surviving versions of Aaron and Tillie persevere. Konigsberg adds some realism to the teens' path to recovery, as neither is instantly cured of their depression—Aaron, gay aspiring songwriter, has a manic phase both times he [End Page 89] survives where he crashes harder than before, and Tillie, a Korean girl adopted into a white family and bullied for her weight, confronts the perpetrators of her depression often without any satisfying result. In spite of this, some flaws mar the project: Tillie's popular-girl bully is treated with unearned sympathy, and the timeline where neither teen survives employs an unconvincing conceit wherein people they never met illogically miss the holes the dead teens left behind Still, kids struggling with depression may appreciate the easily relatable perspectives, and those who need a little help understanding what a friend or family member may be going through have multiple experiences to parse. Resources for those with depression and suicidal thoughts are included at the end.
