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Brobyggerne (2011)

by Jan Guillou(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

8770536414 (ISBN13: 9788770536417)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Modtryk

series

Det stora århundradet

review 1: The pace of this adventure story might be plodding if not for the narrative unexpectedly skipping over many developments, most notably the brothers’ entire school career (revisited only briefly in flashbacks). Nonetheless it kept my attention to the end, although I frequently looked up places and events mentioned in the story.The novel is set during a time of colony and empire, but oddly, Guillou treats the English and Americans entirely differently from other empire-building nations. When he depicts bad acts committed by Germans and Africans, he blames only the individuals involved and not their nationalities.On the other hand, the English are cruel cowards and every one of them deserves death, even their most junior officers. One of the main characters, a Norwegian, is... more a model of merciful restraint, generally blind to race and nationality, instrumental in getting the Iron Cross awarded to a native African whom the leaders overlooked. A civilian at heart, he prefers to shoot soldiers’ mounts from under them instead of shooting the soldiers themselves. Yet he relishes the opportunity to explode English officers’ heads like watermelons with expanding bullets (forbidden by the rules of war then in effect). Perhaps this out-of-character bloodlust is intended to show how war changes a man, but his disgust for the English precedes the war.Guillou paints Americans with an even broader brush: American railroads mistreating Chinese “slaves” building railroads in the American West somehow leads to the conclusion that Americans in general are “the world’s most brutal people.” Were these abuses to have happened in Norway, he would blame only the railroad executives and not Norwegians in general. The Germans in Africa, a protagonist muses, came “to spread light and technical advancement,” while “the settlers in America had but one interest on their part, to steal as much of the Indians’ land as possible.” Where does this diatribe originate, since there aren’t any scenes set in America or any American characters?
review 2: My oh My!This was fun and totally unexpected. A Swede writing a book about one of the most difficult engineering challenges done in Norway, or Europe for that matter. I am of course talking about the build of the high mountain railroad between Oslo and Bergen, Bergensbanen, completed in 1907, with tools from 1907.The technology itself is not very advanced, but to build it 1300 meters above sealevel in arctic climate is an acheivement of major proportions. And since I have worked at the railway station at Finse for one year, I really can vouch for Mr. Guillous way of describing a blizzard and how fast the weather changes. And without giving away to much; In real life 19 out of 20 people would have perished on the two engineers way back from the tunnel to the engineers cabin.And yes, I have seen the bridge with my own eyes. It is a masterpiece set in an unimaginable scenery.I come from an island just outside Bergen. I see this book as a documentary of my own past. The story fits other stories I have heard or read. It is also a story of Bergen, growing from a mere village to a real city. If you find this interesting I would reccomend the four volum "Hellemyrsfolket" by Amalie Skram and Gunnar Stålesens trilogy of Bergen "1900-Morgenrød, 1950-High Noon, 1999-Aftensang".But back to Brobyggerne! This is the first volume of a trilogy where we follow tree brothers from being poor kids to educated engineers. And it is a very interesting and vivid story told by the master, Mr. Gouillou, set in a time where changes both in society and technology happen very fast. Actually a bit like our time :-) Enjoy! less

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