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counciloffrogs's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Cancer
Minor: Murder, Alcohol, and Antisemitism
ehunsy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
sophiebee23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
I'm glad I persevered. It's good to be challenged by a book, to not have everything laid out and linear from the get-go. Reading this is like watching someone else do a jigsaw when you haven't seen the picture they're aiming at, and they put chunks of it together seemingly at random and you can't work out how anything can come out of the mess, but you eventually see something beautiful start to appear and you trust them to see it through.
You have to trust the process of this book. Zusak knows what he's doing. Occasionally I found the writing style just a bit much and some metaphors just didn't land well for me, but for the most part it really is beautifully written. It's worth taking time over it to soak in the atmosphere and really enjoy the writing.
The story itself left me in tears at multiple points - I'm a big book-crier so take that with a pinch of salt - and while I didn't necessarily like all the characters (I'm still not sure what I feel about Matthew) I felt I knew them and understood them, and I adored Clay in particular.
I really enjoyed it and I think it's a book I'll come back to in years to come. If you want an easy beach read, look elsewhere. If you're happy to get stuck in and persevere through that challenging beginning, you'll be rewarded.
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer
filipacmiranda's review against another edition
5.0
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.
Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Cursing, and Bullying
iiisabelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Death of parent and Cancer
Moderate: Death and Bullying
corvicore's review against another edition
- 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
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
your_true_shelf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Big TW for death of a parent which underpins the whole story.
A big beautiful story set vividly in Austrialia, with the characteristic writing style of Markus Zusak. He has produced another masterpiece.
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Violence and Child death
bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, and Suicide
jessie_roz's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cancer, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent
smdavie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent
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