This story about two teenagers who cross paths as they have decided to jump from the same bridge at the same time is one of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching, sad and gripping books I’ve ever read. It’s a story that will stay with me forever and that both broke my heart and made me want to live my life to the fullest.

The Bridge is such an important book about mental illness and suicide that everyone should read. But most of all, it’s a beautiful book that will grip you and make you fall in love with the characters and feel their pain and struggle. When writing this book, Bill Konigsberg, drew from his own experiences with depression and attempted suicide, which made this story even more authentic and heartfelt.

The story is told from the different POVs of Aaron and Tillie, who don’t know each other, but who are both struggling with depression, loneliness, the feeling of not being seen or not being good enough. When things happen in both their lives that makes it all just too much, they arrive at the George Washington Bridge at the same time, intending to jump. The story also has alternative options for storyline. I don’t want to go into the specifics too much as it might spoil the reading experience, but just say that this is an absolutely amazing and so important book that I recommend with all my heart!

Please just note the trigger warnings for suicide, bullying and depression, so you don’t read this book unaware of those. As Bill Konigsberg added in the acknowledgement section, it’s hard to know how and if you should talk about suicide with someone who might be depressed, but that the important thing is to raise awareness and to make everyone feel seen and like they matter:

“My hope was to write a book about suicide and depression that was so real you could feel it in your bones, but that also felt hopeful, that left the reader with a sense that there was hope, because to me that's everything. I wanted to do that by telling the same story four ways. So that readers could see the impact of the choices these two teens make on top of the bridge. So often when I’ve been depressed, I’ve had the thought that no one would care if I were dead or alive.”

Overall, this is a story that will bring tears to your eyes and break your heart, but I truly believe that you in the end will be glad that you have read it. It’s definitely a book that anyone will be affected by and start to rethink one’s own life after reading.

Rating:
​5 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
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Book Depository

​Author info:
Bill Konigsberg