Cultural bridge - Rated 
The bridge is a brilliant device for a novel about conflicting and cohabiting cultures. What stood out were the scenes of cruelty matched with highly organized destruction. A humane book.
Not Islamophobic! Beautiful account, fact and fiction intertwined - Rated 
Its a bit ridiculous to state that this book is Islamophobic - it isn't Andric's fault that the Ottoman empire was at times very brutal! It is clear the person who wrote that never read more than the first couple of chapters. By the time you get halfway through the book, you see the transformation in the region (Visegrad), how the Turkish and Bosnians lived peacefully side-by-side, how the elders met to discuss and try to solve problems - toegther. Andric reminds us that ultimately, the only constant in the world is change. No sooner have the Turks and Christians settled together into a more-or-less tranquil existence than the Austo-Hungarian empire steps in. Throughout 4 centuries, many changes take place against the backdrop of the Bridge, and we are treated to many old tales that take place along the kapia, some of romance, some of foolishness (or perhaps both in equal measure) - many based on old tales propagated throughout the region, each peppered with some truth, with some imagination thrown in, but serve to illustrate the lives that once lived there.
I read this book about 10 years ago when I was seeing a girl from this region - she actually bought this book for me - and I couldn't put it down - with a constant glow in my heart, half from the lines penned by Andric (once the nasty impaling chapter was out of the way!) and half from the tender moments I experienced myself in the region. One wonders what Andric would have made of the goings-on on the Kapia post-Tito in the early nineties - corrupt politicians on all sides creating and exploiting socio-religous boundries, stirring up racial hatred, and all the while stealing money from the state treasury, and perhaps worse, to have Europe on the doorstep - and British soliders with the potential to help being dictated to by Belgian Burocrats not to intervene and protect any citizens, because removing them from imminent death and guarding them in a compound would technically (on paper) be contributing to ethinic cleansing. Even with his imagination, not even Andric himself couldn't invent such madness to write about. But even that is now a blip in the history of the region, for perhaps a future Andric to write about.
Politics as prose - Rated
Beatiful, haunting socio-historical work. At times its poignancy just made me stop dead. Awesome scope. The complexities of Balkan politics and the pain that has resulted is well publicised and still exists; many of the Reviews still represent it. I would invite people to read this in a particular way, as I first did barely into my 20's, as a pure novel. Why? because even from that perspective it is an amazingly beautiful piece of literature, in some respects it has a magical, surreal feel to it, which for me speaks of the time and place.
Some 20 years later and with the hindsight of the modern day upheavals in the Balkans now seen as history, this book takes on even more significance and grand proportions. I dont want to enter into the politics of the book itself, its use of language etc etc because I dont want to diminish the central reality, this is a work of art.
The trouble with the Balkans - Rated
This literary masterpiece is mandatory reading in Bosnian schools. Readers who wish to enjoy the literary prose should feel free to take pleasure in the spectacular writing style without concerning themselves of the politics of the turbulent Balkans. Those who wish to have a snap shot understanding of the history of the Balkans will find it in the small village near the river Drina. The book has been criticised for its terminology especially the use of the word Turks. It should be remembered that this was perhaps reflective of the view of the Serb at the time. Without the venom the history and understanding will be lost. The book reflects the view of a population invaded and dominated by a foreign country. There is a message of hope in the book but, more importantly an understanding of how the ambitions of a few can affect the daily life of the many. On completing the book the reader will have an impressive understanding of how discrimination can lead to 700 years of hated whilst still feeling a member of this ancient village. The book is an enjoyable tale of when life was cruel, simple and unpredictable. Enjoy it or analyse it the choice is yours!
An outstanding piece of European literature - Rated
The author of this book is almost a perfect example of the Balkans. A Croat from Bosnia who is now fought over by all sides of the ethnic divide its almost as if what he actually wrote is forgotten.
This is a remarkable book. It is not simply a historical novel the personal lives of the people under Ottoman rule, the building of the bridge, originally a gift to the people there along with a hostel for travellers. How the Muslim population at first welcomed its construction only to have second thoughts when they realised just how much effort and burden it would put on the population to construct. The Serb rebels who try to demolish the bridge and the terrible punishment that their leader suffered when caught. How over the centuries the bridge became a focal point in the city and how the lives of the people changed due to outside events out of their control (The collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of the great powers of Europe) There is one beautiful passage in this book when the Muslim population of the town wake up to find the borders of the Ottoman Empire had suddenly been redrawn hundreds of miles away and how they looked over the new map of the Balkans trying to make sense of it all.
My only complaint (and it is a small one) is why on earth did the translator refer to the Muslims as 'Turks' when (and if you read the book closely its even more obvious) they were so clearly not!
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