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Bridge Daughter #1
Bridge Daughter
A world where daughters bear their parents' children! Hanna thinks her thirteenth birthday will be no different than the one before—until her mother explains the facts of life. Hanna is a “bridge daughter” born pregnant with her parents’ child. In a few months she will give birth and die, leaving her parents with their true child to raise. A mature bookworm who dreams of college and career, Hanna is determined to overcome her biological fate. Then Hanna learns of an illegal procedure that will allow her to live to adulthood…at the cost of the child’s life.
218 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2016
58 people are currently reading
724 people want to read
About the author
Jim Nelson
10 books66 followersJim Nelson’s novels include the Bridge Daughter Cycle (Bridge Daughter, Hagar's Mother, & Stranger Son) and In My Memory Locked. His latest is A Man Named Baskerville.
He divides his time between San Francisco and Tokyo.
He divides his time between San Francisco and Tokyo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
June 18, 2016
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Kindle Scout.)
This was a YA dystopian story, about a girl who was pregnant with her parent’s child.
Hanna was an okay character, and I felt quite sorry for her that she was having her life taken away from her. It seemed quite harsh the way her parents hadn’t prepared her for what would happen to her, although she was lucky in the way that she had been taught to read whilst other bridge daughters weren’t.
The storyline in this was about Hanna discovering that she was a bridge daughter – that she was carrying her parent’s child, and that when she delivered it she would die. And about how she wanted to not carry the baby and not die, even though she didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter. I did wonder at times where the story was going though, as it seemed like the outcome was pretty obvious.
The ending to this was okay, although it was very predictable. I wanted a different ending, just because it would have been surprising.
6 out of 10
“Your mother wants the child you’re carrying. That’s the motherly instinct, one of the strongest instincts in the world. I’ve never heard of a mother seeing it any other way.”
This was a YA dystopian story, about a girl who was pregnant with her parent’s child.
Hanna was an okay character, and I felt quite sorry for her that she was having her life taken away from her. It seemed quite harsh the way her parents hadn’t prepared her for what would happen to her, although she was lucky in the way that she had been taught to read whilst other bridge daughters weren’t.
The storyline in this was about Hanna discovering that she was a bridge daughter – that she was carrying her parent’s child, and that when she delivered it she would die. And about how she wanted to not carry the baby and not die, even though she didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter. I did wonder at times where the story was going though, as it seemed like the outcome was pretty obvious.
The ending to this was okay, although it was very predictable. I wanted a different ending, just because it would have been surprising.
6 out of 10
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March 2, 2018💝 FREE on Amazon today (1/2/2018)!💝
July 11, 2016
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Approaching reading this e-copy I was really looking forward to learning more about the dystopic society. I also think reading the excerpt and being a part of the kindle scout program voting has increased by anticipation for reading the book.
THOUGHTS WHILST READING
2% After discovering this one via kindle scout I knew that I had to read it!"
30% In just one word? "Intriguing"....don't want to put it down!"
REVIEW
The cover is really cleverly done, as it represents the main concept of the book really well. The sky on the cover looks weighed down and quite turbulent, There's a wide expanse of water and the only way across is via the bridge, which look narrow and lonely. You'll understand these "little nods" to the actual plot when you read the book. To explain in detail would reveal too many spoilers, but believe me this cover fits the book and its contents perfectly. Before reading the book I would possibly have thought it's genre to be a spiritual one, then I guess after reading the book you could apply the word spiritual to it too.
Would this cover make me pick this book up in a bookstore? This is a toughie, because on cover alone. . . I'd have to say I'm not sure I would. However if it was filed/dis[played under the heading of Sci-fi & Dystopian, then I definitely would.
The central issue about this dystopian society is that reproduction has totally changed and is not done in the same way anymore. It's a much more complicated procedure. The society also has much different approach and attitude toward reproduction too. I'm struggling to explain more whilst not giving away spoilers. Girls can become pregnant from the age of 13! and having a baby is considered a great and special gift. Bridge Parties are the popular party that every girl seems to want. Though not all members of society think they are either a good idea or ae very appropriate for their own daughters to attend. We see this in the book with Hanna's mothers reluctance for her daughter to attend her friends bridge party. Hannah Driscoll is the central character in the book and it is her 13th Birthday, she is sneaking about in her bedroom full of excitement wondering if "it" has happened. She swiftly retrieves a pink box which is hidden under her mattress. She pulls out the item from the box and rushes to the bathroom. The other item secreted under her bed mattress is a book from the "before time"so it is very old. This book covers reproduction, though it is in the "old way". This book is considered child like and simplistic in it's descriptions. In fact this book that Hannah treasures has some quite comedic elements to it, for example the section that talks about the father and son cooking dinner whilst the pregnant mother rests. . . it's funny because the father and son are clueless and end up burning the dinner! The book does impart some practical advice about pregnancy and the reader can follow the pregnancy from conception to birth. Hanna flicks through the book, looking up her "symptoms" to see is they could be a sign she too may be pregnant! Even though Hanna has this book, she is still totally confused as to how her friends Alondra and Cheryl were pregnant. Though Hanna seem excited about the possibility of being pregnant, both a coveted, and special state to be in she still has he doubts about it, she isn't totally convinced she truly wants to be pregnant at all. Though Hanna has been home schooled she secretly longs to attend college, doing something about the plants and flowers she loves so much. Hanna's mother is unaware of the "old times" book and "pink box" that her daughter has. Hanna knows she did something wrong and bad when she stole the pink box containing the "test" in it when she took it from So Hanna peers at the test which she has carried out exactly how the instructions say and she has two purple lines. . . . which even after reading the instructions over and over Hanna doesn't understand. She reads and re-reads what it means when you have two purple lines on the test until her parents call for her to have dinner. It's a little dinner party and her aunt and uncle will be attending so Hanna almost forgets about her two purple lines and the two long words she doesn't understand. It's not until much later when she feels ill and dizzy that she blurts out the two long strange words with an unknown meaning. Though Hanna has no chance to ask what is wrong and why everyone looks so shocked and seemingly horrified as she floats into the darkness.
I enjoyed the pace of the book and adored the slow revealing of the dystopian societies ways to reproduce and it's thoughts and feelings on pregnancy. The book is so good at making you ask lots of questions as you read it. Are all the questions answered by the end of the book? no. This book really slowly build the suspense up a little at a time, then just when you think you are going to receive all those answers (the main ones being, what does two purple lines mean? and what do the two mysterious and long unknown words are? and what do they mean? Is it good or bad?) the book ends!!! Oh No!!
So to say this book leaves you wanting much more is an understatement! I'd be reading the next one now if it was available!
Did I enjoy the book? Yes! Would I recommend the book? Yes, I've already been bending my daughters ear about it. Though to be totally truthfully I have been rattling on about this book since I read the sampler on Kindle scout and voted for it. I was over the moon when they chose to publish it. Would I want to read another book in the series? Yesss! I would read the next book now if I could. In my opinion this book genuinely is a strong start to a potentially brilliant series. so I definitely want . . no need to read more.
Would I want to read other titles by Jim Nelson? I will certainly take a look at anything written by this author, especially if it is more like titles similar to this.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hmm ended a bit abruptly....left me wanting much more! Looking forward to the next book!
Approaching reading this e-copy I was really looking forward to learning more about the dystopic society. I also think reading the excerpt and being a part of the kindle scout program voting has increased by anticipation for reading the book.
THOUGHTS WHILST READING
2% After discovering this one via kindle scout I knew that I had to read it!"
30% In just one word? "Intriguing"....don't want to put it down!"
REVIEW
The cover is really cleverly done, as it represents the main concept of the book really well. The sky on the cover looks weighed down and quite turbulent, There's a wide expanse of water and the only way across is via the bridge, which look narrow and lonely. You'll understand these "little nods" to the actual plot when you read the book. To explain in detail would reveal too many spoilers, but believe me this cover fits the book and its contents perfectly. Before reading the book I would possibly have thought it's genre to be a spiritual one, then I guess after reading the book you could apply the word spiritual to it too.
Would this cover make me pick this book up in a bookstore? This is a toughie, because on cover alone. . . I'd have to say I'm not sure I would. However if it was filed/dis[played under the heading of Sci-fi & Dystopian, then I definitely would.
The central issue about this dystopian society is that reproduction has totally changed and is not done in the same way anymore. It's a much more complicated procedure. The society also has much different approach and attitude toward reproduction too. I'm struggling to explain more whilst not giving away spoilers. Girls can become pregnant from the age of 13! and having a baby is considered a great and special gift. Bridge Parties are the popular party that every girl seems to want. Though not all members of society think they are either a good idea or ae very appropriate for their own daughters to attend. We see this in the book with Hanna's mothers reluctance for her daughter to attend her friends bridge party. Hannah Driscoll is the central character in the book and it is her 13th Birthday, she is sneaking about in her bedroom full of excitement wondering if "it" has happened. She swiftly retrieves a pink box which is hidden under her mattress. She pulls out the item from the box and rushes to the bathroom. The other item secreted under her bed mattress is a book from the "before time"so it is very old. This book covers reproduction, though it is in the "old way". This book is considered child like and simplistic in it's descriptions. In fact this book that Hannah treasures has some quite comedic elements to it, for example the section that talks about the father and son cooking dinner whilst the pregnant mother rests. . . it's funny because the father and son are clueless and end up burning the dinner! The book does impart some practical advice about pregnancy and the reader can follow the pregnancy from conception to birth. Hanna flicks through the book, looking up her "symptoms" to see is they could be a sign she too may be pregnant! Even though Hanna has this book, she is still totally confused as to how her friends Alondra and Cheryl were pregnant. Though Hanna seem excited about the possibility of being pregnant, both a coveted, and special state to be in she still has he doubts about it, she isn't totally convinced she truly wants to be pregnant at all. Though Hanna has been home schooled she secretly longs to attend college, doing something about the plants and flowers she loves so much. Hanna's mother is unaware of the "old times" book and "pink box" that her daughter has. Hanna knows she did something wrong and bad when she stole the pink box containing the "test" in it when she took it from So Hanna peers at the test which she has carried out exactly how the instructions say and she has two purple lines. . . . which even after reading the instructions over and over Hanna doesn't understand. She reads and re-reads what it means when you have two purple lines on the test until her parents call for her to have dinner. It's a little dinner party and her aunt and uncle will be attending so Hanna almost forgets about her two purple lines and the two long words she doesn't understand. It's not until much later when she feels ill and dizzy that she blurts out the two long strange words with an unknown meaning. Though Hanna has no chance to ask what is wrong and why everyone looks so shocked and seemingly horrified as she floats into the darkness.
I enjoyed the pace of the book and adored the slow revealing of the dystopian societies ways to reproduce and it's thoughts and feelings on pregnancy. The book is so good at making you ask lots of questions as you read it. Are all the questions answered by the end of the book? no. This book really slowly build the suspense up a little at a time, then just when you think you are going to receive all those answers (the main ones being, what does two purple lines mean? and what do the two mysterious and long unknown words are? and what do they mean? Is it good or bad?) the book ends!!! Oh No!!
So to say this book leaves you wanting much more is an understatement! I'd be reading the next one now if it was available!
Did I enjoy the book? Yes! Would I recommend the book? Yes, I've already been bending my daughters ear about it. Though to be totally truthfully I have been rattling on about this book since I read the sampler on Kindle scout and voted for it. I was over the moon when they chose to publish it. Would I want to read another book in the series? Yesss! I would read the next book now if I could. In my opinion this book genuinely is a strong start to a potentially brilliant series. so I definitely want . . no need to read more.
Would I want to read other titles by Jim Nelson? I will certainly take a look at anything written by this author, especially if it is more like titles similar to this.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hmm ended a bit abruptly....left me wanting much more! Looking forward to the next book!
Read
August 1, 2016This story takes place sometime in the 70's. It tells the story of bridge daughters and one special bridge daughter, Hannah, is the main character. A bridge daughter is born pregnant with her parents' child. It is like a parasitic twin that starts growing when the bridge daughter turns 13. When the twin is born, the bridge daughter dies, her purpose in life was to nurture her parents' healthy child.
Hannah's family raise her differently than other bridge daughters. She has been educated and loved since she was born. Also, Hannah is highly intelligent and artistic. She learns all she can about bridge daughters. She has a strong will to live and grapples with many tough decisions throughout the book. She discovers that there is another option instead of dying. Unfortunately, it means that her child would never be born. It would live in a coma-like state within her body so that she could continue to live her life. In a very short time, Hannah becomes a mature adult and she makes the only decision that she truly believes is right.
Hannah's family raise her differently than other bridge daughters. She has been educated and loved since she was born. Also, Hannah is highly intelligent and artistic. She learns all she can about bridge daughters. She has a strong will to live and grapples with many tough decisions throughout the book. She discovers that there is another option instead of dying. Unfortunately, it means that her child would never be born. It would live in a coma-like state within her body so that she could continue to live her life. In a very short time, Hannah becomes a mature adult and she makes the only decision that she truly believes is right.
November 2, 2017
Infuriating.
Still, it was fascinating . I read 85% the first night – that's the first time in a long time that I stayed up late to read almost an entire book.
Still, it was fascinating . I read 85% the first night – that's the first time in a long time that I stayed up late to read almost an entire book.
March 24, 2025
'I never was her child. I’m the soil around the seed.'
Dystopian society where mothers bear only daughters who then become the surrogates to their 'true' children.
And oof how the existence of those child surrogates are viewed, treated, discarded, and forgotten.
...I hope her parents are dismembered.
It's really good, interesting
This could be read as a stand-alone, but it is in a series.
Dystopian society where mothers bear only daughters who then become the surrogates to their 'true' children.
And oof how the existence of those child surrogates are viewed, treated, discarded, and forgotten.
...I hope her parents are dismembered.
It's really good, interesting
This could be read as a stand-alone, but it is in a series.
June 26, 2016
Hanna Driscoll lives in some kind of alternative universe where nearly everything appears to be just like it is in our universe except for the way humans reproduce. In this universe normal women do not give birth to their own real children. Instead they give birth to what are known as ‘bridge daughters’. The bridge daughters are born pregnant with their parents’ real child. They appear to be just like normal children until they are around thirteen, when their pregnancy suddenly becomes apparent.
This situation is not the result of nuclear war, environmental degradation, or some devastating recent plague. Apparently it has been going on as far back as Old Testament times, and mention is made of a version of the story of Hagar where Hagar was a bridge daughter who ran away. Also in this universe, Mary did not give birth to Jesus but to a bridge daughter, Susanna who actually gave birth to Jesus. Scientists believe the bridge daughter phenomenon to be a product of evolution. Just what positive benefit this conferred on the human race is not clear.
The downside for the bridge daughters is pretty obvious however. When they give birth to their children it severs a symbiotic relationship they have with the babies, and they die.
In order to protect themselves from feeling too much sadness for their bridge daughters when they die, the parents generally distance themselves emotionally all their lives, treating them as servants or slaves, abusing them horribly, or ignoring them altogether. The entire society concurs in this treatment. Although Hanna rebels against the idea of dying so young and attempts to short-circuit her fate, it is this idea of being ignored and marginalized that is really bothering her, and that is the real point of the book.
This situation is not the result of nuclear war, environmental degradation, or some devastating recent plague. Apparently it has been going on as far back as Old Testament times, and mention is made of a version of the story of Hagar where Hagar was a bridge daughter who ran away. Also in this universe, Mary did not give birth to Jesus but to a bridge daughter, Susanna who actually gave birth to Jesus. Scientists believe the bridge daughter phenomenon to be a product of evolution. Just what positive benefit this conferred on the human race is not clear.
The downside for the bridge daughters is pretty obvious however. When they give birth to their children it severs a symbiotic relationship they have with the babies, and they die.
In order to protect themselves from feeling too much sadness for their bridge daughters when they die, the parents generally distance themselves emotionally all their lives, treating them as servants or slaves, abusing them horribly, or ignoring them altogether. The entire society concurs in this treatment. Although Hanna rebels against the idea of dying so young and attempts to short-circuit her fate, it is this idea of being ignored and marginalized that is really bothering her, and that is the real point of the book.
December 28, 2016
A Story That Will Shatter Your Heart, BEWARE!!!
Oh my goodness! I've never read anything like this before. This is one screwed up Society. Even though this story is told from the perspective of a 12 to 13 year old girl, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enraptured from the first chapter. Several controversial subjects are sewn in to the main plot with a very sadistic twist. This book takes being a serogate mother to the extreme. I truly loved the inventiveness of Nelson to create this entire believable world. The roles that the Bridge daughters had to play in that society was so heat wrenching. The story builds like a wave riding higher and going strength. What you find at the end is something your Not prepared for. A tsunami! This is why I only give thus book 4 stars and not 5. The ending crushed me. I will never be the same.
Oh my goodness! I've never read anything like this before. This is one screwed up Society. Even though this story is told from the perspective of a 12 to 13 year old girl, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enraptured from the first chapter. Several controversial subjects are sewn in to the main plot with a very sadistic twist. This book takes being a serogate mother to the extreme. I truly loved the inventiveness of Nelson to create this entire believable world. The roles that the Bridge daughters had to play in that society was so heat wrenching. The story builds like a wave riding higher and going strength. What you find at the end is something your Not prepared for. A tsunami! This is why I only give thus book 4 stars and not 5. The ending crushed me. I will never be the same.
June 26, 2016
I received a free copy of this book through Kindle Scout
Really an amazing story. How do we choose which lives are more important? I think I would have preferred a different ending, but I have no idea what that would have been. Any variation seems to end in the same place - choosing which life. Well written and very thoughtfully done.
Really an amazing story. How do we choose which lives are more important? I think I would have preferred a different ending, but I have no idea what that would have been. Any variation seems to end in the same place - choosing which life. Well written and very thoughtfully done.
June 27, 2016
This is a very quick read, possibly in the young adult category. I found the premise of the bridge daughter fascinating and enjoyed following Hanna as she made her harrowing life choices, moving from her initial devastation to eventual acceptance of her situation. This dystopian novel has so many parallels to our own reality that it is very believable.
June 23, 2016
Haunting and beautifully written. I could not put this book down! I found Hanna to be a strong and likable protagonist, and I was rooting for her the whole way through. The similarity between the world of the story and our own world was unsettling and very thought-provoking.
July 10, 2016
Very intense story
Excellent writing, I truly could not put it down. After reading the book synopsis as a sci-fi/fantasy release, I wasn't sure if it was really my type. Once I started it I was so drawn in that I finished it in one day.
Excellent writing, I truly could not put it down. After reading the book synopsis as a sci-fi/fantasy release, I wasn't sure if it was really my type. Once I started it I was so drawn in that I finished it in one day.
December 12, 2016
Great fiction book
The author combined biblical source to tell story of thirteen years old girl in Concord California and with sad ending. Great fictional story.
The author combined biblical source to tell story of thirteen years old girl in Concord California and with sad ending. Great fictional story.
August 11, 2018
Well now I'm going to be having nightmares. Excellent book though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2018
Excellent for discussion between men and women, and between pro-choice and pro-life. This is a combined double review between myself and the friend I read BRIDGE DAUGHTER aloud to. As best I can remember his comments, my friend found it dark/noir, strange, full of twists and turns so he didn't know how it would turn out right up to the ending. He said it did a good job of making men aware of the gynecological physical realities of reproduction that women are familiar with, that men are not. Both of us enjoyed it greatly. I found it a clever way to discuss pro-life/pro-choice issues, and women's oppression as baby makers without alienating people from either end of the political spectrum. This is important in terms of opening up thinking and discussion on these subjects, as well as making it something Kindle Scout would be comfortable publishing in the first place, that would be 'safe' not to offend customers of varying viewpoints with their brand name. I also found the flower symbolism throughout skillful. While I understood immediately that this was a parallel Earth with a divergence 100,000 years ago when humans developed a different way of reproduction, involving bridge daughters, and that it was set more or less in the present day—or perhaps a few decades ago, since no mention was made of cell phones or computers—my friend, less au courant about Science Fiction as a field, and thinking of SF as being set in the future, thought this story might be set 100,000 years in the future. I had to explain that it was a parallel universe to him afterwards. I have already gotten the sequel, HAGAR'S MOTHER.
June 7, 2016
I received a free copy of this book through the Kindle Scout programme so I think I should write a review. I rarely write reviews and this one is particularly difficult because I have mixed feelings about the book. On the one hand the book is very well written and on the other hand it is rather disturbing as it gives us gives us a world very much like ours where there is a large underclass of bridge daughters who really have no hope and are generally treated very badly. The worst thing is that the bridge daughter's life ends when the baby is born. Hanna, the heroine, is a bridge daughter who tries to escape her fate. I felt very invested in her struggle and wanted her to live but was not happy to learn that the only way for her to survive was for her child to die. I'm afraid I like my stories to be more positive but this one certainly gave me food for thought and engaged my emotions. Although the idea of bridge daughters is interesting I can't see that there would be any evolutionary advantage and the parents can't really start to live life as a family for 13 years, being an older parent of a small child is not easy. However, if you can avoid thinking about that aspect this it is a good story.
August 8, 2016
** I was given a copy of this book by the author for an honest review**
Wow, this was an emotional story. It's been a long time since I had a good ol' ugly cry while reading a book.
This was a very thought provoking and emotionally traumatizing reading experience for me. The whole concept of a bridge daughter is both interesting and terrifying at the same time.
The story is about Hanna and how she is what they call a bridge daughter. She is born pregnant with her parents child and when she turns 14 she will give birth to the baby and die. The baby will be born and be an exact replica of Hanna, personality and everything. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that her parents birthed her, raised her like their own daughter, but had no feelings of love towards her, or better yet, feeling of love I understand. I think they did love her in the way one loves a bridge daughter in that world.
It was definitely an emotional ride, and I can say I was rooting for Hanna the whole time. At times I got very uneasy about the whole bridge daughter concept, and the replacing of the old child. It was definitely interesting though, and made you ask a lot of "what ifs".
Wow, this was an emotional story. It's been a long time since I had a good ol' ugly cry while reading a book.
This was a very thought provoking and emotionally traumatizing reading experience for me. The whole concept of a bridge daughter is both interesting and terrifying at the same time.
The story is about Hanna and how she is what they call a bridge daughter. She is born pregnant with her parents child and when she turns 14 she will give birth to the baby and die. The baby will be born and be an exact replica of Hanna, personality and everything. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that her parents birthed her, raised her like their own daughter, but had no feelings of love towards her, or better yet, feeling of love I understand. I think they did love her in the way one loves a bridge daughter in that world.
It was definitely an emotional ride, and I can say I was rooting for Hanna the whole time. At times I got very uneasy about the whole bridge daughter concept, and the replacing of the old child. It was definitely interesting though, and made you ask a lot of "what ifs".
July 19, 2016
Bridge Daughter is a very unique and original story. The premise is basically that most women do not give birth to their own children, but rather, they give birth to bridge daughters who are born pregnant with the parents’ "real" child. These daughters are just like normal children until their pregnancy suddenly becomes apparent at about the age 13. It doesn't take much to imagine that the main character in this story doesn't want to have her parent's baby and instead wants to go to college and live her own life (bridge daughters die after giving birth). What is hard to imagine is the ending of the story. It just ends and we have no idea what happens. It feels unfinished. Hopefully it is not going to be a trilogy. I received a copy of this ebook as part of the kindle scout program.
March 23, 2017
I don't really know what to say about this book! It was an extremely disturbing premise, and I couldn't stop reading it. It was like watching a car crash and being unable to look away. It's a YA book set in an alternate reality where human reproduction has evolved very differently. Hanna finds out on her 13th birthday that she is a bridge daughter - she was born carrying her parents' child, and the dormant pregnancy will soon begin progressing. Shocked and scared, it tells the story of how she deals with the inevitability of carrying her parents' "real child". It was good, albeit disturbing.
Want to read
January 4, 2017What an absolutely bone-chilling premise! This is one that I would love to read. The vivid (and might I add "twisted") imagination of this author! I fully intend to check out his work... Happy Reading everyone!
July 24, 2017
Interesting indeed
I felt as if I was Hannah, as I read the story. I swayed with every emotion, and hoped that all would be well for Hannah. The concept of a Bridge between parenting made the plot very interesting.
I felt as if I was Hannah, as I read the story. I swayed with every emotion, and hoped that all would be well for Hannah. The concept of a Bridge between parenting made the plot very interesting.
January 14, 2018
Great book book 1 of 2 bit you could read book 2 Alone but highly recommend read this one first it's a book that makes you wonder if it was real and really happened ? What would you do ? It's a story that seems believable as if it could happen in real life if the world happened that way
May 28, 2016
Do you grow up and become your own person or slowly succumb to your own biological predispositions and societal pressures?
Great sci-fi premise executed expertly by Jim Nelson.
Great sci-fi premise executed expertly by Jim Nelson.
June 17, 2016
This was odd and strange. It is sad. Not a bad book. It just isn't something I could come to say I enjoy.
Read
September 11, 2016Very interesting in many ways. Emphasizes very strongly the unfairness of (real) life.
January 10, 2017
Bridge Daughter
It is not often that I find myself fully in tears at the end of a book. This is well worth the read.
It is not often that I find myself fully in tears at the end of a book. This is well worth the read.
July 8, 2019
This book sneaks up on you. For this reader, at least, there came a point about halfway through where I bought completely into the protagonist, Hanna's predicament. I especially liked some of the subtle touches: the fact this is about reproductive rights, for instance, but isn't preachy about it. I also appreciated the fact this is set in an alternate version of the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 20th Century, in other words, not in the near future, as many dystopian novels are. At times, despite the speculative premise, that gives it the texture of literary fiction in way I found reminiscent of Philip K. Dick. Though the comparison ends there, as this is a very different kind of book than Dick's are. Nevertheless, I can see it appealing to fans of Dick, especially in the way it captures the suburban Bay Area that is fast disappearing (or maybe has already disappeared) beneath the tech dystopia real-life San Francisco has become.
Nelson follows his premise though to an end I found surprising. He doesn't look away, and the book earns something in the way he doesn't flinch as he follows Hanna's story. One walks away smarting at the injustice, but deeply engaged with a focal character who has been raised to be a non-person, and also with the questions that makes us ask about selfhood, and about our responsibility to other people. The prose is fine: clear, straightforward, and it doesn't call attention to itself, which is the best kind of storytelling and right for the genre. I felt moved by Hanna's predicament, engaged with her dilemma, and sometimes frustrated by her choices, which is also right. The book kept me up late.
Nelson follows his premise though to an end I found surprising. He doesn't look away, and the book earns something in the way he doesn't flinch as he follows Hanna's story. One walks away smarting at the injustice, but deeply engaged with a focal character who has been raised to be a non-person, and also with the questions that makes us ask about selfhood, and about our responsibility to other people. The prose is fine: clear, straightforward, and it doesn't call attention to itself, which is the best kind of storytelling and right for the genre. I felt moved by Hanna's predicament, engaged with her dilemma, and sometimes frustrated by her choices, which is also right. The book kept me up late.
March 27, 2020
Excellent for discussion between men and women, and between pro-choice and pro-life. This is a combined double review between myself and the friend I read BRIDGE DAUGHTER aloud to. As best I can remember his comments, my friend found it dark/noir, strange, full of twists and turns so he didn't know how it would turn out right up to the ending. He said it did a good job of making men aware of the gynecological physical realities of reproduction that women are familiar with, that men are not. Both of us enjoyed it greatly. I found it a clever way to discuss pro-life/pro-choice issues, and women's oppression as baby makers without alienating people from either end of the political spectrum. This is important in terms of opening up thinking and discussion on these subjects, as well as making it something Kindle Scout would be comfortable publishing in the first place, that would be 'safe' not to offend customers of varying viewpoints with their brand name. I also found the flower symbolism throughout skillful. While I understood immediately that this was a parallel Earth with a divergence 100,000 years ago when humans developed a different way of reproduction, involving bridge daughters, and that it was set more or less in the present day—or perhaps a few decades ago, since no mention was made of cell phones or computers—my friend, less au courant about Science Fiction as a field, and thinking of SF as being set in the future, thought this story might be set 100,000 years in the future. I had to explain that it was a parallel universe to him afterwards. I have already gotten the sequel, HAGAR'S MOTHER.
February 22, 2017
What an interesting concept! A woman doesn't give birth to her own children; she gives birth to her "bridge daughter," who is born pregnant with the woman's child. When the bridge daughter turns 13 gestation actually begins and about a year later a clone, if you will, is born, at which time the "incubator" dies. This is the story of one such bridge daughter who dares to take matters into her own hands.
I found myself rooting for the bridge daughter and detesting a society that couldn't come up with an acceptable solution to this problem. But if this is all you've ever known you may not think of it as a problem.
Although the characters were well-developed and our protagonist was likable enough, I couldn't give the story 5 stars because of the sheer volume is typographical errors in the Kindle edition. If I'm paying for a book I expect it to be pristine, and this edition wasn't, unfortunately.
I found myself rooting for the bridge daughter and detesting a society that couldn't come up with an acceptable solution to this problem. But if this is all you've ever known you may not think of it as a problem.
Although the characters were well-developed and our protagonist was likable enough, I couldn't give the story 5 stars because of the sheer volume is typographical errors in the Kindle edition. If I'm paying for a book I expect it to be pristine, and this edition wasn't, unfortunately.
March 16, 2018
This book sucked me in right away and I was compelled to finish it to find out what choices Hanna would make. I wasn't quite so sure what I thought of the ending when I first finished, but it definitely kept me thinking long after I was done reading, and for me that is one of the signs of a good book.
Hanna is the type of heroine I enjoy: she's a bookworm and heads straight to a book when she wants to know the answer to something (the story is set in the early 80s, so no internet). In many ways she is a typical 13 year old girl, but in others she is mature beyond her years, and she truly tries to see all sides of the moral dilemma in which she finds herself, even when everyone around her simply accepts her death as inevitable and the proper order of things. I greatly appreciate the way Nelson tells Hanna's story, and how Hanna evolves throughout that story.
Hanna is the type of heroine I enjoy: she's a bookworm and heads straight to a book when she wants to know the answer to something (the story is set in the early 80s, so no internet). In many ways she is a typical 13 year old girl, but in others she is mature beyond her years, and she truly tries to see all sides of the moral dilemma in which she finds herself, even when everyone around her simply accepts her death as inevitable and the proper order of things. I greatly appreciate the way Nelson tells Hanna's story, and how Hanna evolves throughout that story.
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