The Bridge On the River Kwai

By Pierre Boulle

Book Overview

The Bridge on the River Kwai tells the story of three POWs who endure the hell of the Japanese camps on the Burma-Siam railway - Colonel Nicholson, a man prepared to sacrifice his life but not his dignity; Major Warden, a modest hero, saboteur and deadly killer; Commander Shears, who escaped from hell but was sent back.

Ordered by the Japanese to build a bridge, the Colonel refuses, as it is against regulations for officers to work with other ranks. The Japanese give way but, to prove a point of British superiority, construction of the bridge goes ahead - at great cost to the men under Nicholson's command.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099445026
• ISBN13: 9780099445029
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Vintage Classics
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Compelling tale and framework for a classic movie

Boulle's Bridge Over the River Kwai is a passion play and insight into the moralities of senior British officers and a Japanese commandant using a remote Japanese P.O.W. camp in Siam during WWII as a backdrop.Camp commandant, Colonel Saito, a drunken, loathsome miscreant of unfulfilled expectations is fond of using starvation and torture to keep prisoners in line. He has been ordered to build a bridge spanning the Kwai river which will link up a Burma-Siam railway in 6 months time. Colonel Nicholson, the ranking British P.O.W. is a "by the book" throw back to British colonial times. He is highly motivated to bolster the morality of his men by building a bridge which will be a testimony to British ingenuity. Under horrendous conditions, Nicholson's men put their backs into their work much to the dismay of the more moderate Major Clipton, the camp medical officer.The prisoners and Japanese are both unaware of a commando mission lead by British Force 316 which will attempt to destroy the bridge once it is completed along with the train it will be supporting. Led by Major Shears we see the mental interplay between the commando team bent on destroying the bridge versus the British officers and Saito who are proud of it construction.Although the book differs slightly from the superb movie, Boulle in concise, succinct writing style, somewhat reminiscent of Hemingway pens a very good psychological study of men in times of war.

Do you have to build a better bridge than they could?

Pierre Boulle equates the ritual of the Japanese with the ritual of the British. Lots of room for disagreement here. Few people would disagree with the more American view that being a captive of the Japanese in WWII could well be a sentence of death. But of course, Boulle is French so that explains some of his xenophobia regarding either country.The fact is, the moral issues are carefully presented. The soothsayer, Major Clipton, goes back and forth with the concept that imprisoned men with nothing to do often die of despair.The time is 1942 in a Japanese prison camp. Conditions are atrocious. The Japanese are building a train route between Burma into points north. The route will carry men and machines to further the Imperial Japanese aims. It is early in WWII and the Americans (there are none in the book) and the British have pretty much been spanked by the advancing Japanese. Read retreat. Reat surrender. Read a long time in a jungle prison camp. Read dysentery, diphtheria and malaria.So Colonel Nicholson's, he's the British ranking officer,isn't stupid. He knows that without some form of discipline many of his men will give up. The evil alcoholic prison warden, Colonel Saito, is his counterpart.With concessions, Nicholson agrees to build the bridge crossing the 600 foot wide Kwai River. But should he do an acceptable job? An above average job? Or should he do the best possible job imaginable, a credit to the British Army, lasting into and beyond the next century?Major Shears and his demolition team from Force 316 rendezvous in Siam (that's how old the book is) to blow up the bridge. And all three forces meet, Nicholson, Saito and Shears.Certainly up there in the top ten books about the war. Read in conjuction with Katzanbach's "Hart's War" (For God's sake, skip THAT movie)or Jmaes Clavell's "King Rat," all about the morality of prisoners of war.5 stars. Could have been 6 or 7.

I've read this novel several times..

This s one of the few novels that I've read multiple times, at least four. Boulle is a great author - too bad most of his works are out of print. "The Whale of the Victoria Cross" is also good, if you can find a used copy somewhere. As for this novel, it has a somewhat different ending than the movie. If you like the movie, you should like this. I would also rec. "Planet of the Apes".

EXCELLENT

This book is one of Pierre Boulle's best works. This story is intriguing and action filled. If you are looking for a great read, get this book!

A masterpiece

A wonderful book filled with great symboliztion and irony, not to mention tragedy.