The Bridge over the Drina looks at life as it evolved over the centuries in the Bosnian town of Visegrad. The novels centers around the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, built in 1577 during the Ottoman rule. Here, we see Serbs, Turks, and Jews live largely in harmony until about 1914, when increasing nationalist sentiments became more popular and started ripping Europe to shreds in WWI, when the bridge would be partially destroyed.
This book won the Nobel prize for literature and has been called an excellent introduction to the study of Balkan and Ottoman history. It is quite good- it's sort of a collection of short stories through the centuries about common people, all under the shadow of the seemingly eternal bridge. This quiet town, the novel conveys, seemed to notice and be noticed by little outside its borders, until nationalist ideas and wars came. It survived Ottoman, then Austrian, rule for centuries with few changes to the lifestyle or disposition of the people. But things change, and not always for the better.
Rating: A
P.S. The real bridge can still be seen today.
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