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jenmangler's review against another edition
2.0
I was so looking forward to this book and really wanted to love it, which makes the disappointment I feel upon finishing it that much greater. The writing didn't do it for me (it felt too stylized and self-indulgent), and I sadly didn't care about any of the Dunbar boys. They are so testosterone-y and tiresome, and I honestly couldn't distinguish between them most of the time. I almost gave up reading the book. What saved it for me was the introduction of Penelope. I would have much rather the book been about her. She was a much more interesting character and I desperately cared about her. It's frustrating that her story is told only in service to the Dunbar boys, as if her affect on the boys' lives is her only reason for existing. I would rather have seen the Dunbar boys through her eyes, rather than the other way around.
ebrae04's review against another edition
5.0
I never really meant or expected to finish this book. It's been sitting on my nightstand since the release, which was a year ago this October. Every night, I read as much as I was able to - ten, fifteen minutes usually. Bridge of Clay isn't a page turner. It takes a whiiiiiiiile to get into. But when you do - you'll stay for however long it takes. I was a quarter way through the book when I realized I had fallen deeply, deeply in love with it. Zusak's sentences, broken and oft indented, at first seem cheaply used - they're simple, short. But every line beats with matter-of-fact emotion. If you read closely, what looks easy to skip over are often novel, beautiful, spectacularly human turns of phrase. E.g.:
"The old man nodded, barely allowing her to see his face chop and change, as watery as the Baltic Sea. The Baltic. That was how she always explained it. She claimed her father's face had turned into a body of water. The deep wrinkles, the eyes. Even the mustache. All of it drowned in sunshine, and cold, cold water."
The benefit of a book like this is that when you're finished you feel as if you've lived through an entire lifetime with the characters. Zusak's out of order story telling style doesn't mar this feeling one bit, in fact, it heightens it. Bridge of Clay's differing time lines run parallel and perpendicular to each other, crossing and passing and waving to each other masterfully. The past and future are told together, giving you the full scope of each character, and making them seem more alive and lived in than any other story I've read for this long. The characters are larger than life, (the Dunbars own a donkey for God's sake) but these characteristics (I don't know how he does it) only make them seem more human. And you love them, all of them, like family.
The depiction of masculinity was admirable, though it definitely was a "five feral brothers live in a house with no supervision" kind of story. The grief in this book is handled in a way I've never seen before, but it's devastating and so well written.
I thought I would never finish this book because I thought it never did - that is how immortal these characters are to me now.
I hope others never mean to finish this heartbreak sunset river of a story too.
"The old man nodded, barely allowing her to see his face chop and change, as watery as the Baltic Sea. The Baltic. That was how she always explained it. She claimed her father's face had turned into a body of water. The deep wrinkles, the eyes. Even the mustache. All of it drowned in sunshine, and cold, cold water."
The benefit of a book like this is that when you're finished you feel as if you've lived through an entire lifetime with the characters. Zusak's out of order story telling style doesn't mar this feeling one bit, in fact, it heightens it. Bridge of Clay's differing time lines run parallel and perpendicular to each other, crossing and passing and waving to each other masterfully. The past and future are told together, giving you the full scope of each character, and making them seem more alive and lived in than any other story I've read for this long. The characters are larger than life, (the Dunbars own a donkey for God's sake) but these characteristics (I don't know how he does it) only make them seem more human. And you love them, all of them, like family.
The depiction of masculinity was admirable, though it definitely was a "five feral brothers live in a house with no supervision" kind of story. The grief in this book is handled in a way I've never seen before, but it's devastating and so well written.
I thought I would never finish this book because I thought it never did - that is how immortal these characters are to me now.
I hope others never mean to finish this heartbreak sunset river of a story too.
mezzoir's review against another edition
DNF - managed a hard fought slog to 40% but the tortuous prose finally did me in...
brisingr's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book on how boys and brothers loved. 3 stars as overall enjoyment, but 4 stars because Markus Zusak's writing style still blows me away, over a decade later since I first read something by him.
mattip's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
lifegoes_m's review against another edition
3.5
honestly i did not care for the first part but when we got to the part with penny i became kind of interested and i did almost cry at the ending so i was pretty invested in the end
jess_is_currentlyreading's review against another edition
kept getting confused by all the different characters. maybe i need to read it physically but i also couldnt tell a quarter of the way in what this book was supposed to be about
ymke2401's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
is_it_chris's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. It took me forever, but I finished it. I cannot commend Markus Zusak enough, this book is an absolute masterpiece. I definitely recommend reading, but this is a long, sometimes difficult to get into, lots-of-thinking-required kinda book.
If you loved the Book Thief, I think you'll love this one too. It's not based in the same time, and I don't think that you could find characters more different from each other than between these two books, but Markus Zusak's gorgeous style of writing just applies so well in both stories.
Please go read this book
If you loved the Book Thief, I think you'll love this one too. It's not based in the same time, and I don't think that you could find characters more different from each other than between these two books, but Markus Zusak's gorgeous style of writing just applies so well in both stories.
Please go read this book