Vojevůdci obou válčících stran na japonský zajatecký tábor v asijské džungli a jeho obyvatele již zapomněli, protože válka jim přináší denně nové starosti. Rozkaz však už byl vydán: v džungli roste prakticky nepotřebný most. Pohled do mikrosvěta vězňů a věznitelů tohoto proslulého románu skýtá mnohem širší výhled na absurditu války.

The book is good. But I'd recommend watching the epic David Lean film instead.

Boulle creates a promising premise. The idea that both the British POWs and the Japanese soldiers have internalized the values of a hellish war is cool. I could see how some people think this book is critical of the UK, as it does ask hard questions about stoicism and other cultural aspects.

But it loses me in a few places. It is written with an almost technical manual approach when it comes to bridge building. And the hopping from one character to another doesn't give you a good enough sense of psychology and drive. Lastly, the pacing is all over the place, with the final chapters building to something that just stops. I would've liked to have seen how these characters returned having changed.

Still, it holds up well (outside of some weird racism). But it's another example of a film adaptation that is made stronger by focusing on characters, removing the silly bits, and improving the ending. ( )

Inteligente relato de aventuras, perspicaz novela psicológica, tragedia con ironía, El puente sobre el río Kwai fue uno de los fenómenos literarios más populares a mediados del siglo XX. Escrita por Pierre Boulle, aventurero y autor entre otras obras de El planeta de los simios, fue traducida a más de veinte idiomas. Basada en un hecho real y autobiográfico de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Boulle narra las tribulaciones de una tropa de soldados ingleses que, habiendo sido apresados por el ejército japonés, debe construir un puente sobre el río Kwai, en mitad de la selva, destinado a unir por ferrocarril el golfo de Bengala con Bangkok y Singapur, lo que facilitará la presencia de los soldados japoneses en los lugares claves de la guerra.

Despite the fact that this reviewer could not rid herself of a constant mental repetition of “The Colonel Bogey March” while reading this book, it is a truly engaging, if staggeringly frustrating, tale. Colonel Nicholson, an even-tempered British leader of the old school, will not ever let go the basic tenets of gentlemen’s rules of conduct in war. Colonel Saito, in the other hand, is a mercurial and violent man, given to fits of deadly rage – but is himself a pawn in the plans of his superior officers. Col. Nicholson and his regiment have been ordered to surrender to the Japanese, who plan to have the prisoners construct a bridge that will connect Bangkok to Rangoon. Col. Saito has no intention of abiding by the rules of conduct laid out in the Geneva Convention, and he orders Col. Nicholson and his officers to do menial labor alongside the other soldiers.
This simply will not do.
Col. Nicholson reminds Col. Saito that his job, and the job of his officers, is to lead the men and to keep them focused on a task, and that the Geneva Convention rules state as much – officers are not required to do menial labor. For this, Col. Nicholson is beaten savagely and thrown into a tiny, baking-hot prison cell. His men, fiercely proud of their leader’s moxie, systematically sabotage all attempts to begin the bridge. Colonel Saito is beside himself with impotent rage, knowing that his own job, and possibly his own life, is on the line if the bridge should be a failure.
What follows is a battle of Titans: one man who would nearly rather die than lose face, pitted against one man who would nearly rather die than ignore the rule of international law. And there is another, parallel story running through the book – this bridge, if it ever gets built, must be destroyed, and the same government that instilled in Col. Nicholson such respect for rules is the agent of the bridge’s destruction.
( )

> Saint-Mleux André. Retour sur le pont de la Rivière Kwaï : Pierre Boulle et l'Indochine « prisonnière » des Japonais (1941-1945).
In: Outre-mers, tome 93, n°352-353, 2e semestre 2006. savoirs autochtones XIXe-XXe siècles, sous la direction de Sophie Dulucq et Colette Zytnicki. pp. 249-257… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/outre_1631-0438_2006_num_93_352_4233