The Bridge Ladies: A Memoir
By: Betsy Lerner / Narrated By: Orlagh Cassidy
Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
S’posed to be about the mother/daughter bond, but, uhm…
It’s like this, see… I do NOT read the Publisher’s Summary for books cuz they’re usually soooo misleading that they ultimately tick me off when all is said and done. And I don’t like being ticked off…
But I’ve discovered Chirpbooks in the past year, and I've grown to greatly LOVE their Limited Time Deals. Every now and again, I’ll get a $100 Visa gift card, will tap the number into the Payment Method, and will shop to m’ heart’s content of bargains, bargains, bargains (And trust me when I say thank GOSH they keep updating the app cuz it’s gotten MUCH better to listen, even tho’ it still drains my phone’s battery a bit). The thing is, as they’re all a hodgepodge of deals, there’s no really “getting” what they are by genre and such, so I’m forced, FORCED I tell you! to read the Summaries to see if they’re worth the purchase pittance.
As such, I perused The Bridge Ladies, saw that it was about a crisis getting a rather estranged mother and daughter back together, saw that through the love of the weekly gathering of the Bridge Ladies, the daughter saw and learned to love and accept. It was all warm and happy pappy, and who doesn’t love a good book about warm groups of women showing the younger generation how to love and support each other?
Oh noooo…
And this is where it’s gonna SEEEEM like I hated the book when actually I liked it. It’s cuz daughter Betsy will NOT stop taking EVERYthing her mother says and does as a judgment. She interviews the daughters of the other women, and THEY don’t fly off the handle with their mothers; rather, they’d love it if their own mothers did what Betsy’s mother offers. All this groaning and moaning, and we’re treated to plenty of what goes on inside the office with Betsy’s therapist as Betsy trembles and quakes and comes undone because of how very much her mother has failed to “just accept her” as she is. Noooo, more tears and screaming throughout this enTIRe book as Roz, Mom, says just the wrong thing.
The Bridge Ladies being there for each other? Nope, they just keep showing up for Bridge each week, never speaking about their difficulties, never sharing about their fears as they age, there’s no subject of depth covered, it’s just Bridge. Roz says it’s just the culture that the women grew up in; one simply does NOT share like that. A husband dies? Outside of Bridge one of the ladies might tell the other that No, Life’s not over for them; they’re just shattered. Not comforting but not dismissive either, but this is something offered outside the Bridge circle. Inside it, it’s just the devotion of the game. But oooooh how we dooo hear Betsy kvetch and moan about how much sheeee wants these women to bare their souls to each other, to lift and support and love.
Nope, they’re just not like that, and it’s irritating to hear someone go on and on about how much they’re being disappointed by others’ actions and choices. We hear it through Betsy’s individual interviews with each of the Ladies, as she pushes pushes pushes for the dirt on what they were like as young women, to the point where the Ladies CURTLY ask her to shut it, that she’s crossing boundaries. So that’s annoying to listen to; I mean who wants soooo badly for people to be different that they’re practically left in puddles of frustrated tears when women don’t bend to their questions and reveal all?
Still, I s’pose Orlagh Cassidy is what makes this a jolly decent Listen. She has such warm tones, with just the hint of an emotional growl, that makes it all seem sooo snuggly, even if the Ladies are detached, even if Betsy is always wanting wanting wanting. Plus, there’s a LOT here about Bridge which coulda had me zoning out, but as Betsy takes classes and schizzes and spazzes her way through lessons and supervised matches, I kinda got the giggles every now and then even as I dreaded her tanking each game, bidding improperly, freezing at SUCH inopportune moments. Cassidy also does a GREAT kvetch, and she snips out the Yiddish comment or two with wonderful bite and self-deprecating sorrow. Brava! I’m looking for more of Ms. Cassidy, most definitely!
Take what you like and leave the rest, you’ll learn a lot about Bridge (Or you won’t, as I did not, just letting all the tips and tricks go by), and you’ll feeeel the frustration of a daughter who just wishes her mother to be different. It kinda made me sad for Ms. Lerner, but it was nice to hear that all her Mother-Inspired Rages didn’t scar her own daughter who has a wonderful relationship with Roz. Yes, you’ll find that consistency is nice, but No, you’ll not find any expressed emotion that comes with the casseroles after the funerals—there’s just Bridge to go back to, every week, week after week after week.
Which, I s’pose, is kinda sorta a nice concept, tho’ one does wonder how such Ladies can manage Bridge during a global pandemic?
Ahhhhh, wait! Yesss, such stalwart Ladies will find a way to play Bridge via Zooooom…!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.