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counciloffrogs's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Sometimes I struggle with giving books 2 stars and qualifying what a 2 star book really is, but this is the epitome of one. Why should I care about the Dunbar boys? I don’t know but I kind of do? Only enough to not put the book down and DNF it, but certainly I think if I didn’t relate to how broken and yet relenting they are I would have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Cancer
Minor: Murder, Alcohol, and Antisemitism
meganfuhr's review against another edition
So boring! I tried really hard to get through it. But I had to stop. Nothing about the story held my attention, and maybe it's because I'm looking for something different right now, but the whole book relys on the mastery of surprise, but it got real boring real fast.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Addiction, and Child abuse
filipacmiranda's review against another edition
5.0
Para quem, como eu, conheceu Zusak através de A Rapariga Que Roubava Livros, esta história pode requerer algum esforço inicial. Admito que houve momentos em que senti necessidade de pousar o livro. É uma história complexa, cujos acontecimentos vão sendo relatados de forma desordenada. Embora tenha sido uma jornada, foi uma jornada que valeu a pena!
As primeiras páginas de Nada Menos Que Um Milagre largam-nos no seio de uma família constituída por cinco rapazes com menos de 20 anos. Trata-se de um início caótico e confuso, que, a meu ver, será uma representação fiel do que é vivenciar a morte de um dos progenitores, após doença prolongada. Especialmente, enquanto o/a outro/a se vai demitindo da nossa vida e desaparecendo aos poucos.
Escrito sob o ponto de vista de Matthew Dunbar, o mais velho dos cinco irmãos, com recurso a uma linguagem que veicula as emoções de forma clara, mas eloquente, este livro é uma manta de retalhos que, entre o passado e o presente, nos vai dando a conhecer a vida de Clay e dos seus irmãos.
Durante a leitura, houve confusão, houve risos e houve algumas lágrimas... Trata-se de uma história sobre as dores do crescimento. Sobre amor fraterno e amor platónico. Sobre a morte. Mas, acima de tudo, trata-se de uma história sobre a vida e como continuar a viver, quando nada parece abonar a nosso favor.
As primeiras páginas de Nada Menos Que Um Milagre largam-nos no seio de uma família constituída por cinco rapazes com menos de 20 anos. Trata-se de um início caótico e confuso, que, a meu ver, será uma representação fiel do que é vivenciar a morte de um dos progenitores, após doença prolongada. Especialmente, enquanto o/a outro/a se vai demitindo da nossa vida e desaparecendo aos poucos.
Escrito sob o ponto de vista de Matthew Dunbar, o mais velho dos cinco irmãos, com recurso a uma linguagem que veicula as emoções de forma clara, mas eloquente, este livro é uma manta de retalhos que, entre o passado e o presente, nos vai dando a conhecer a vida de Clay e dos seus irmãos.
Durante a leitura, houve confusão, houve risos e houve algumas lágrimas... Trata-se de uma história sobre as dores do crescimento. Sobre amor fraterno e amor platónico. Sobre a morte. Mas, acima de tudo, trata-se de uma história sobre a vida e como continuar a viver, quando nada parece abonar a nosso favor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Cursing, and Bullying
corvicore's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The boomerang storytelling got a little infuriating at times but overall it slaps
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Blood, Cursing, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Terminal illness
terezi's review against another edition
slow-paced
4.5
oh yeah that shit was like an intricate and beautiful symphony that started slow and gradually swelled and made the audiences weep
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Cancer
directorpurry's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Cancer
bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Review of a Bridge of Clay
By Markus Zusak
Set in Australia, this is the story of the Dunbar boys: Matthew, Clay, Rory, Henry, and Tommy. Matthew, our narrator, became guardian to his brothers after their mother, Penelope died of cancer and their father Michael, slowly abandons them, eventually leaving them. Years later Michael returns to ask them to build a bridge over a river near his house. Most of the boy’s refuse believing their father murdered them, but Clay sees it as his destiny to help him build the bridge.
The novel is very character driven as plot is not as strong and the story spends showing moments in the lives of our characters and going back and forth between the past and present. It was difficult to get into and often confusing with the constant back and forth structure, though I believe it’s similar to how told The Book Thief, but that had a more cohesive plot. Making Matthew the narrator but it being about Clay added clever perspective as Matthew didn’t know everything, but he saw things in a different way. Reading about the relationship between the Dunbar boys was fun to explore and felt authentic and natural. Each boy had his own unique personality that could be likable and annoying at the same time. The building of the bridge and Clay’s girlfriend Carey Novak’s track racing was something interesting, but a bit boring at times. I enjoyed the art and literary references and I’m glad I had at least read The Odyssey and was somewhat familiar with what happens in the Iliad (Thanks to the movie Troy). I also thought the barnyard of slowly accumulating animals in their house was fun to read about. Towards the end I did get impatient and wanted to finally finish the novel, so I skimmed the last section. This is more a “me” thing, because I don’t always love slower endings. I understand why not everyone loved this, but I thought it was pretty good.
By Markus Zusak
Set in Australia, this is the story of the Dunbar boys: Matthew, Clay, Rory, Henry, and Tommy. Matthew, our narrator, became guardian to his brothers after their mother, Penelope died of cancer and their father Michael, slowly abandons them, eventually leaving them. Years later Michael returns to ask them to build a bridge over a river near his house. Most of the boy’s refuse believing their father murdered them, but Clay sees it as his destiny to help him build the bridge.
The novel is very character driven as plot is not as strong and the story spends showing moments in the lives of our characters and going back and forth between the past and present. It was difficult to get into and often confusing with the constant back and forth structure, though I believe it’s similar to how told The Book Thief, but that had a more cohesive plot. Making Matthew the narrator but it being about Clay added clever perspective as Matthew didn’t know everything, but he saw things in a different way. Reading about the relationship between the Dunbar boys was fun to explore and felt authentic and natural. Each boy had his own unique personality that could be likable and annoying at the same time. The building of the bridge and Clay’s girlfriend Carey Novak’s track racing was something interesting, but a bit boring at times. I enjoyed the art and literary references and I’m glad I had at least read The Odyssey and was somewhat familiar with what happens in the Iliad (Thanks to the movie Troy). I also thought the barnyard of slowly accumulating animals in their house was fun to read about. Towards the end I did get impatient and wanted to finally finish the novel, so I skimmed the last section. This is more a “me” thing, because I don’t always love slower endings. I understand why not everyone loved this, but I thought it was pretty good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, and Suicide
jessie_roz's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent
thebookishvirgo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Abandonment
jfield351's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I read this book as part of the dymocks challenge, this was the dymocks book of the month july 2018. i don’t think i would have read it otherwise. i feel like maybe i was too unintelligent to enjoy this book, as some parts i understood that i hadn’t really grasped what was going on. it wasn’t a bad book but it wasn’t my favourite. it was slow paced and felt like i was watching a movie. it’s definitely the opposite of what i usually enjoy reading, which is fast paced fantasy. but i liked how there were about 4 or 5 different time periods, my favourite was the reflection of the mother growing up. it was a sad book and really showed the full life of many of these people. by halfway i felt like i was a dunbar boy, because it was written in such a way that i could see them all around me and know their personalities. i was a bit confused about the bridge thing, why the father left and what happened to the mother but i eventually understood. this book had a calming effect on me. Read 17 to 19 jan.
edit: it was better in hindsight than when reading it. Looking back i did enjoy the book and giving it only 2 stars seems harsh because i’ve realised it was a beautiful story so i’m going to move it up just a tiny bit to 2.25.
edit: it was better in hindsight than when reading it. Looking back i did enjoy the book and giving it only 2 stars seems harsh because i’ve realised it was a beautiful story so i’m going to move it up just a tiny bit to 2.25.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Cancer, and Death