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The Bridge On The River Kwai
The Bridge On The River Kwai
Oct 27, 2024 4:30 AM

Author:Pierre Boulle

The Bridge On The River Kwai

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.

Reviews

A fine ironic novel, that is yet another French tribute to British eccentricity

—— Observer

Stirring and imaginative

—— New Statesman

Unforgettable

—— New Statesman

An emotional, funny, stunning novel which swings with wide smoothnes s between joy and bleakness, personal lives and history...it's lyrical and angry, satirical and earnest

—— Observer

A wonderful epic novel...it has made him a name to conjure with. Both on the large and the small scale it is an absorbing and memorable book...the sweep, invention and warmth of the novel carries one effortlessly along

—— Derwent May , The Times

Hypnotic...a vast tapestry woven in tiny, colourful, intricate detail...a graphic and moving commentary on the futility of war. This magical book stayed in my head long after I had finished it

—— Marian Keyes

Captain Corelli's Mandolin achieves that rare feat of saying something new about war...fusing with remarkable felicity the cosmic and the tragic, the lyrical and the epic... And without offering easy answers, it poses difficult questions about love and suspicion, trust and betrayal, faith and despair, creativity and destruction

—— André Brink , Times Literary Supplement

Louis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh...he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste

—— Evening Standard

A master of haunted realism. His best novel yet. He deals with death and love and tragedy... This is a novel to be prized

—— Daily Mail

Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a wonderful, hypnotic novel of fabulous scope and tremendous, iridescent charm - and you can quote me

—— Joseph Heller

An enthralling tale of endurance and passion, full of emotional intelligence

—— Charles Spencer , Daily Express

Thrilling

—— Financial Times

The Suffragette movement and pre-war country cricket might seem an odd couple for a novel but Anthony Quinn marries them perfectly in a nostalgic and compelling tale whose themes of love and friendship on and off the pitch will appeal to lovers of romance and cricket alike.

—— The Cricketer

Trench warfare is vividly described: the agonizing wait for dawn, the despairing bravery of those going 'over the top', the futility, the waste, the sadness. Anthony Quinn tells this part of his tale faultlessly, and without a cliché... poetic.

—— Mary Blanche Ridge , The Tablet

Not just an exhilarating love story... a bold, impressive novel

—— Waitrose Weekend

With crisp prose and evocative description, Anthony Quinn's second novel embodies early 20th century Britain with aplomb and exhumes a political plight that still has great relevance

—— Eastern Daily Press

Set at the same time as E. M. Forster's novels, this intelligent antidote to Downton Abbey is written with wit, narrative craft and elegant prose.

—— Daily Telegraph (Five stars)

Quinn’s novel concerns the stalling romance between a suffragette and a cricketer, set amid war and middle-class Edwardian mores. This chalk-and-cheese couple and their stifling environment are equally well crafted

—— Holly Kyte , Sunday Telegraph

The characters are subtly drawn and the period touches, particularly the sporting passages, have an authentic ring

—— Simon Shaw , Daily Mail

Is a heartbreaking, riveting portrait of modern Israel. A family story, a rich character study, a story of war. Unmissable.

—— Erica Wagner , The Times, Christmas round up

A work of art

—— Rachel Cooke , New Statesman, Christmas round up

First-rate writing about the craziness of modern-war.

—— Simon Schama , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round up

Breathtaking skill...an extraordinary emotional charge.

—— Colm Toibin , Guardian, Christmas round up

David Grossman laid bare the flayed soul of Israel

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent, Christmas round up

Articulates the pain and complexity of being born in Israel so powerfully that it will unquestionably be studied by future generations.

—— Nick Barley , Herald, Christmas round up

Magnificent

—— Katherine Duncan-Jones , Times Literary Supplement, Christmas round up

Often impressive, sometimes touching

—— Neal Ascherson , London Review of Books

He is the finest living novelist I have read. His work is visceral and clear-headed. Though I loved Franzen's Freedom, Grossman's novel is better

—— Stella Tillyard , Observer

To define David Grossman's masterly new novel as the ultimate anti-war oeuvre would not do it justice...To the End of the Land is richer and more complex than a chronicle of war. It is an intimate portrayal of a woman and mother, Ora, who has been compared to Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna...With characters with whom the reader can empathise, a powerful if disturbing theme and an element of suspense and the unknown, Grossman's novel, while not easy to read, is well worth the effort

—— Emma Klein , Tablet

Further proof the Very Long Novel is in rude health with David Grossman's fine book about the seemingly endless conflict between Israel and Palestine

—— Metro

Movingly evokes the strains of war and peace in one Israeli household

—— Theo Tait , Sunday Times

Grossman's soaring, wrenching journey through Israel ... grapples with the largest of themes: memory and identity, community and nationhood. Yet through its picaresque plot, it always remains a mother's story and a family romance... Grossman aims high, digs deep, and returns from inner and outer voyages with darkly glittering jewels of insight

—— Independent

An intimate and national epic

—— Colin Waters , Herald

A stunning, powerful novel

—— Telegraph

To the End of the Land is a novel of relationships: personal, moral and political: all reviewed against a muted landscape of pain, threat and hostility... Grossman list his youngest son Uri in the final hours of the second Lebanon war and his personal connection to the trauma of conflict adds weight to this substantial work

—— James Urquhart , Financial Times
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