Customer Reviews:
 Wow, wow, wow, wow ... unexpected (at least from me) genius July 20, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have to confess that I did actually buy this primarily because I like Craig Ferguson's films. Unfortunately, I never get to stay up late enough to watch his TV show, but the general feel of his movies are endearingly wacky and strangely moving. So, I bought the book.
Well, I devoured this thing in just a few hours. It's very easy to read, but is not written at the Playskool level either. The storyline itself is remarkably twisted in several ways, but honestly this novel spoke to me in a style and in ways over and above the goofy story. In trying to describe this to a friends, I said that I was reminded alternately of Carl Hiaasen, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, and Augusten Burroughs at varying points in the book, but that also there was a completely original feel to the style and story. The moment I finished the book, I dashed into the bedroom and told my beloved spouse that I had found a new religion - I was that moved on so many levels.
For the "so-much-school-I'm-dysfunctional-in-society" types there are lots and lots of sneaky little literary tidbits. I also enjoyed the very slightly tongue-in-cheek "Reader's Guide" that Craig put in the back of the book (at least mine had it), which DID actually make me think more about the book overall although his charming little parenthetical phrases made me laugh at myself taking the thing too seriously. :-)
I very much enjoyed the book and want to be sure that as many folks read it as they can ... I'd hate for someone to miss out thinking that this was just another celebrity's attempt to make money in a new way. I am really looking forward to Craig's future efforts.
The greatest literary work in recent years July 6, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Craig Ferguson's Between the Bridge and the River has got to be the greatest literary work in recent years. The only other time I felt so deeply impacted by a book was after I read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses over a decade ago. I remember back then not wanting to touch another book for months, just to be able to take in, digest and make the book my own. I felt the same way having read Craig's novel. It's an entirely unique and original work, and yet it invites a comparison with Satanic Verses in that, despite being completely irreverent and totally atheistic, it is nevertheless a deeply spiritual book. If you want to know what great literature is about, and if you need a companion in this post-9/11 ethical and spiritual quandary, do yourself a favor: please please please buy and read this book. You too, ladies...
insightful and wickedly funny July 3, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I couldn't help hearing Ferguson's voice in my head as I read this book. Smart, droll, and surreal, this delightful romp is full of literary and historical references. By page 60, I was telling all my friends to read this book.
Bare bones plot so author can expound on the deeper meanings of life... June 10, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Actor/Comedian/Talk Show Host Craig Ferguson has published a novel, Between the Bridge and the River. It is very, very good. It tells the stories of two friends, Fraser and Paul, who grow up together then drift apart in Glasgow in the `70s. The city of their childhood is a rough and dangerous place, but despite it all both manage to achieve a measure of success in their fields which enables them to rise above their economic origins. Fraser becomes a televangelist who indulges in every vice available to him; George takes a more mundane career, a relatively stable home life and possibly terminal cancer. Both are deeply unsatisfied with their lives, and about a third of the way through the book both are forced to do something about it.
Ferguson's book is structured like one of Tom Robbins'; that is, the bare bones of a plot exists so the author can expound on the deeper meanings of life, the universe and everything. There's a lot of stand-up comedian in this book, a lot of "did you ever notice that...", but it works in the context of the story Ferguson's telling. He stops the story occasionally in order to tell a smaller story, such as the one about the battle-weary soldier of the Crusades who makes a life with the feared crone of a Spanish village. It's a beautiful story. Next time you find yourself in a bookstore soon, pick this one up and just read the ten or so pages that comprise the segment. It begins on page 143.
 Hmm... June 8, 2007
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
I've been plugging away at this book for a while now, and I don't get it. What am I missing? I love Craig Ferguson - I think he's hilarious. But he's written this book that is also supposed to be hilarious, and I am halfway through it and can't figure out what it's about. I'm rating it pretty high just because I love the guy who wrote it, but in all honesty I am not finding it to be a page-turner. Maybe I'll have a better review to share once I've finished it. If I ever do.
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