Alice's Review: The Last Bridge

Summary: Coyne's compelling debut shines an unnerving light on the fallout from a childhood rooted in abuse. Alexandra Cat Rucker, an alcoholic strip club cocktail waitress, returns to her childhood home after her mother kills herself. She's been gone 10 years and is now uncomfortable around her brother, Jared, and sister, Wendy; while confronting her past, she also tries to discern the meaning of her mother's suicide note: He isn't who you think he is. Alternating between the complicated present and the horrific past, Coyne portrays the myriad ways family members cope with abuse. Cat's mother lived in a world of her own; Cat, the oldest, bore the brunt of her father's attacks; Jared buried himself in school sports, occasionally coming to his sister's defense when it was safe to do so; and Wendy focused on being the perfect daughter. Then there's Addison Watkins, the son of a family friend who at once offered a haven and a challenge to teenage Cat. Though the occasional one-liners distract rather than enhance, Coyne's prose effortlessly carries the reader through a thorny history and into possible redemption. Publishers Weekly

Review:  I have been looking forward to reading this book since Julie's review a few months back.  As always, I'm not quite sure where to begin.  To me The Last Bridgeis a mystery more than anything else  that reads a lot like a memoir.  It is told by Cat, an alcoholic trying to forget her past, as she tries to decipher what her mother's cryptic suicide note means.

This book was a hard one to read, not in prose but in subject matter.  It deals with physical and sexual abuse by a parent.  Ms. Coyne did a fantastic job of writing this story from the abused's point of view.  Cat was truly amazing to know.  She started out as a wary teenage, constantly hiding from her abusive father.  She experiences love in the form of a slightly older family friend who comes to stay with her family.  Her only protector is her older brother Jared.  Her sister, for all intents and purposes, is pretty useless to her.  Although her mother tries to do what she can to help her, I couldn't help but feel that as long as it was Cat getting the abuse and not her, she was totally fine with that. 

And then it happens, that one thing that Cat can't hide from.  That one thing that completely destroys her life. And gone is the teenager and in her place is a scared woman whose only way of coping with her past is to drown it in a bottle of booze. 

This novel is incredible on all accounts.  I loved the memoir feel to it.  After I was finished reading it, I wanted to go online and google Cat.  I wanted to know what she was up to, if she was able to change her life for the long haul.  I wanted to know if she kept in touch with Jared, if she found her happy ending with Addison.  I lost count of how many times I told myself she wasn't real, that she was just a character made up by a woman with an incredible gift.  And what a gift Ms. Coyne has.  She writes in a way that you can't take you eyes off the page.  You want to know what happens next. 

I definitely recommend this novel to anyone who has the courage to look inside the broken.  Who is not afraid of the truth, no matter how startling it may be.  I usually include a quote from the novel in my review.  There are many to choose from in this book, but I think the one the author herself picks says it best...

What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?  The world would split open. - Muriel Rekeyser.

And what a truth it is. 

Final Take:  4/5

And The Winner Is...

Congratulations to Six for winning a copy of Teri Coyne's novel The Last Bridge.

Please email me (Julie) your mailing address so we can send the book off to you as soon as possible. Thanks to all of you for participating.

Thanks to Ms. Coyne for allowing us to giveaway her spectacular novel.

Girls Just Reading uses Random.org to produce the winner.

Guest Blog: Teri Coyne

I'm so excited that Teri Coyne has graciously offered to do a guest blog for us in conjunction with the release of her novel, The Last Bridge, in paperback:

I’m not going to beat around the bush, I really want you to read The Last Bridge if you haven’t already. Although there are many reasons I want you to read it the most important one is that I want to know how you feel about the story.

Maybe it’s the solitary nature of being a writer, or the fact it took me over ten years to finish the book but I love hearing from readers and getting their perspective and opinions on the story. That’s why I love book clubs – not just for the wine and goodies (when I can attend in person) – but for that feeling you get when a group of women come together and talk. It’s exhilarating.

While authors speak a lot about the writing process and how solitary it is, few acknowledge the truth about writing, that before a reader picks up your book and reads it, all you have are words on a page. It is readers who make the story come alive and each one interprets and imagines the book into being. The process of reading, like writing, can be solitary as well. My feelings about all my favorite books are as personal and powerful to me as my feelings about my friends and family. And like those feelings, sometimes it is hard to describe the way a book has moved or changed me. Other times, it is impossible to keep quiet about a great story. The experience of reading a good book feels so real that I have to remind myself that it didn’t happen to me.

I lived with the story of Cat Rucker for a long time. She was in my head when I woke up and often appeared in my dreams. I knew her almost as well as I knew myself, or maybe even better. Over the years I came to understand why she was the way she was and how she might be able to transcend some of the challenges of her life. Her story is not an easy one, her experiences and choices are intense, she struggles and doesn’t always succeed. In other words, she is human.

I would welcome the opportunity to have you meet Cat and read her story, then I would love to know what you thought, how her story affected you and if you believe we are the product of our choices or our experiences.

For me, the point of writing, like reading, is to ask questions and open a dialogue, to provide a venue to connect, to share and to find ourselves somewhere we have never been before. What you bring to The Last Bridge is invaluable, as it is your heart, your mind and your imagination that makes the story real. I think of it like a cake I baked for just for you. I used the best ingredients and made it as tasty as possible. All that is left is for you to take a bite! (Great…all this talk of cake has made me hungry!)

If you want to learn more about Ms. Coyne check out her website, blog and you can follow her on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway for The Last Bridge!

Giveaway: The Last Bridge

To celebrate the release of her debut novel, The Last Bridge in paperback; Teri Coyne has offered us one copy of the book to giveaway!! I read this book last year and loved it! You can check out my review here.

In order to qualify for the giveaway, you must:

1. In the comments section, tell us how you follow our blog (Google Friend, Twitter and/or our Facebook page).


2. Tell us what excites you about this book and why you want it


3. Enter the contest by June 11th, 2010 at Midnight EST.

Good luck!!

Julie's Review: The Last Bridge

Summary: For ten years, Alexandra “Cat” Rucker has been on the run from her past. With an endless supply of bourbon and a series of meaningless jobs, Cat is struggling to forget her Ohio hometown and the rural farmhouse she once called home. But a sudden call from an old neighbor forces Cat to return to the home and family she never intended to see again. It seems that Cat’s mother is dead. What Cat finds at the old farmhouse is disturbing and confusing: a suicide note, written on lilac stationery and neatly sealed in a ziplock bag, that reads: Cat, He isn’t who you think he is. Mom xxxooo One note, ten words--one for every year she has been gone--completely turns Cat’s world upside down. Seeking to unravel the mystery of her mother’s death, Cat must confront her past to discover who “he” might be: her tyrannical, abusive father, now in a coma after suffering a stroke? Her brother, Jared, named after her mother’s true love (who is also her father’s best friend)? The town coroner, Andrew Reilly, who seems to have known Cat’s mother long before she landed on a slab in his morgue? Or Addison Watkins, Cat’s first and only love? The closer Cat gets to the truth, the harder it is for her to repress the memory and the impact of the events that sent her away so many years ago. Taut, gripping, and edgy, The Last Bridge is an intense novel of family secrets, darkest impulses, and deep-seated love. Teri Coyne has created a stunning tapestry of pain and passion where past and present are seamlessly interwoven to tell a story that sears and warms in equal measure. ~amazon.com

Review: There is so much to say about The Last Bridge that I'm having a hard time thinking of how to put it in words. I would have finished it in one sitting, except motherhood called me out of my revelry. So, I finished it in 2 sittings. I have read reviews where the reader didn't like the main character, Cat, but I did. She was hugely flawed and yes some of it she could have put a stop to, but she was a product of her environment to a large extent. I am all for adults to quit blaming their parents for what's wrong with them and to take ownership for their lives, but in some circumstances it takes a bit longer. Cat is a drunk. She's a hard living drunk who travels from town to town doing jobs that give her enough cash for a hotel and booze. With one phone call she has to return to the house she left 10 years before without looking back. Her mom killed herself and her dad is in a coma. She comes back to the family farm to be confronted with the events that caused her to leave all those years ago.

There are some twists and turns in the book that I didn't see coming. There was one that I did see coming but I think most readers would as well. I think she alludes to it during most of the book. I had no respect for Cat's mom at all. Cat's sister Wendy hides behind a facade of being happy and her brother Jared is torn with guilt that he can't get over. So essentially they are one messed up family.

The note that is described is essential to the book but not in the way I thought it was be. "He" refers to many different men in Cat's life but for me it didn't stick to one more clearly than the other. What I think might have been more poignant is if the note said, "Cat - You aren't who you think you are." Either way it did lead Cat down the road to self-discovery.

I've never been abused and I can not imagine what it is like to be in a relationship like that. I do know from other reading and studying it in school, that when it's good it's so good and when it's bad, it's terrifying. Cat's dad was definitely a monster and I'm glad he finally got what he deserved. Karma has a way of being very vengeful.

I wouldn't change a thing about this book except the cover. I don't think it does the book justice. I would have liked to have seen a picture of the ravine with the rickety old bridge that is the center to this novel. Or even the tree stump that is also essential to Cat's story.

This novel is dark, daring, brooding, honest and hopeful. During parts of the book I cried and recovered. At the end though I continuously cried. The journey that Ms. Coyne takes us on in this book is one that I will never forget. It will resonate with me for a very long time.

Final Take: 5/5