Sky Bridge

I first read this beautiful book when it came out a couple years ago, and the vivid characters and landscape have stayed with me. Pritchett has a gift for creating characters you care about deeply-- intimate portraits of people who are somehow tough and tender at once, painted with raw, honest strokes. I love the narrator's, Libby's, voice, which is poetic and real and always striving to get under the surface to express how things really feel. A memorable read by a talented writer.

This is a book about LOVE: what it is - and what it isn't. It's about sex: how it can make you laugh - or cry; can fill you up with joy - or pain. And then the consequences of all of that: babies, children, human beings, citizenship .... Sky Bridge is also about the consequences of abuse and oppression: just how hard living is for some people, in this case persons on the plains of Eastern Colorado in modern times, be you legal or illegal, American or Mexican. Sky Bridge is about all those things told through the ruminations and conversations of a twenty-something female, Libby, who believes she is "stupid and ugly." Libby thinks this is so because her mother, Kay, has drilled that into her. Quite obviously, though, she isn't. Libby is remarkably aware, sentient, and intelligent. She is also loved by many: her boyfriend (who she rejects); her boss (who she betrays); her activist neighbor; her co-worker; her mother's boss, and her humanitarian friend. Seemingly, this doesn't make sense, but that is author Laura Pritchett's brilliance - she portrays the human condition as it is: irrational and confused. As loved and admired as Libby is she feels isolated and alone, because those closest to her: mother, sister, best friend, all abandon her in different ways. Pritchett writes beautifully, some scenes are simply gripping. And now, with this "illegal immigration" issue being put forth by politicians - this book is especially timely and a must read!

Laura Pritchett's Sky Bridge is a beautifully written book with a heartbeat. Readers who have enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver's Bean Trees and Animal Dreams, Billie Lett's Where the Heart Is, and Louise Erdrich's Bingo Palace, should make room for Pritchett's aching yet hopeful portrait of life in hard-scrabble life in rural Colorado.

If you give books to people you love, you will love giving this book. Especially now, when we have reason to wonder if the concept of shared American values still exists. Libby lives in this book as a reminder of what is good, true and enduring. She struggles in a situation that is thoroughly of today, but her character is universal and timeless. All of the action takes place in a tiny town in Colorado, but the young author's scope is huge. Buy this, and give it to everyone you truly care about. It will start wonderful conversations.

What a beautiful, gorgeous, gritty book. Libby is faced with challenges that none of us would know how to handle--and she handles them with painful, awkward grace. She's the kind of character that makes us strive to be better humans.