Reviews

The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle, Xan Fielding

kandicez's review against another edition

3.0

I read this because I loved Planet of the Apes. Not what I expected.

emmariordansmith's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

azure_dawn's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The first 25% and last 5% of the story are very good. Everything else is a bit stretched out. The ending is suprisngly subversive. Nicholson is best character hands down. The ending is what makes a good character out of him. 
If it were a bit shorter, had a bit  less racism (even if it supposed be a critique of it), and had more Nicholson POV in latter half, then it would have been much closer to 5/5. 

The ending is genuenly good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

dangersquirrel's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

Unforgivably British, astoundingly racist, barely fit for toilet paper. If the ending is supposed to subvert some of the godawful story before it, it fails. Funny that the movies changes several things but improves almost nothing. 

smason27's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

bundy23's review against another edition

3.0

Too much about bridges and engineering, too little about life as POW.

k_lee_reads_it's review against another edition

3.0

I decided to read this book when after looking for the movie in the library catalog, I came across the book. The ending is different than the movie. Frankly it is more real life, but I think I like the feel good of the movie better. It is a little hard to keep track of the characters and I wonder what happened to the medical officer at the end, but all in all I enjoyed it.

marla0505's review against another edition

3.0

read in honor of my dad; it was okay, I actually thought the movie was better than the book.

kmac07's review against another edition

5.0

So good. So fun.

thedoctorsaysrun's review against another edition

2.0

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2022 Task #14: Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book).