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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I loved it and then I hated it and then I loved it again.
Trigger Warnings: Grief, death, physical abuse, homophobia,
I went into Bridge of Clay knowing not much about the story except that it was about a boy named Clay, with four brothers and he builds a bridge. I think that was the best way to go into this amazing book. Every time I stopped reading Bridge of Clay, I found myself thinking about the characters and the story. When I would pick the book back up, it felt like I was returning to old friends and we would continue where we left off.
Bridge of Clay is my first Markus Zusak book, so this was the first time I happened upon his beautiful writing. I loved the way his writing pulls you into the story. The characters were all so interesting, and each had their own story to tell. Matthew, the eldest Dunbar boy, narrates the story, but this book focuses mostly on the story of Clay Dunbar.
Overall, Bridge of Clay is a phenomenal book, and I highly recommend picking up a copy.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I went into Bridge of Clay knowing not much about the story except that it was about a boy named Clay, with four brothers and he builds a bridge. I think that was the best way to go into this amazing book. Every time I stopped reading Bridge of Clay, I found myself thinking about the characters and the story. When I would pick the book back up, it felt like I was returning to old friends and we would continue where we left off.
Bridge of Clay is my first Markus Zusak book, so this was the first time I happened upon his beautiful writing. I loved the way his writing pulls you into the story. The characters were all so interesting, and each had their own story to tell. Matthew, the eldest Dunbar boy, narrates the story, but this book focuses mostly on the story of Clay Dunbar.
Overall, Bridge of Clay is a phenomenal book, and I highly recommend picking up a copy.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Whew, this book took me an eternity to read. But I blame that more on the fact that I had a newborn when I started and less on the quality of the book.
My rating is more like 3.5 stars. I think it would have been more if I had read this more quickly. I lost the thread of the story a couple of times just because I’d go four or five days without reading at all, and because it jumps timelines quite a bit, it was easy to forget where I was.
Otherwise, this book is beautifully written. I love Zusak’s prose. It’s so poetic that at times I expected some rhymes. It flows very rhythmically and takes you along with it. Zusak has a tendency to write around things a little bit to let the reader come to their own conclusions, and I think that worked really well for this novel.
I really did love Clay and all the Dunbar brothers. Their family connection was palpable, and it was powerful. Reading about their struggles and how they handled what happened to Penny and the return of Michael was wonderful. And the ending was incredibly poignant. I really do love Zusak’s writing style.
All in all, I did very much enjoy this book and I hope I pick it up again in the future to see how my opinion changes once I read it more quickly.
My rating is more like 3.5 stars. I think it would have been more if I had read this more quickly. I lost the thread of the story a couple of times just because I’d go four or five days without reading at all, and because it jumps timelines quite a bit, it was easy to forget where I was.
Otherwise, this book is beautifully written. I love Zusak’s prose. It’s so poetic that at times I expected some rhymes. It flows very rhythmically and takes you along with it. Zusak has a tendency to write around things a little bit to let the reader come to their own conclusions, and I think that worked really well for this novel.
I really did love Clay and all the Dunbar brothers. Their family connection was palpable, and it was powerful. Reading about their struggles and how they handled what happened to Penny and the return of Michael was wonderful. And the ending was incredibly poignant. I really do love Zusak’s writing style.
All in all, I did very much enjoy this book and I hope I pick it up again in the future to see how my opinion changes once I read it more quickly.
dnf @20?
nope. *sigh*
•i don’t like character driven books
•i don’t like books with virtually no plot
•i don’t like books that get their hype for being unique and “outside of the box” bc i’m a simple boring human being unable of any extra analyzing then my tiny brain can comprehend
•i don’t like books where the writing makes my head hurt
so alas the book was not for me. is it bad? nah. it can be really, really great...
but it can also be super bad. (as it was for me)
nope. *sigh*
•i don’t like character driven books
•i don’t like books with virtually no plot
•i don’t like books that get their hype for being unique and “outside of the box” bc i’m a simple boring human being unable of any extra analyzing then my tiny brain can comprehend
•i don’t like books where the writing makes my head hurt
so alas the book was not for me. is it bad? nah. it can be really, really great...
but it can also be super bad. (as it was for me)
BOOK REVIEW - Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
Synopsis - The Dunbar boys are notorious around their Australian community. After their mom dies and their dad leaves, the 5 brothers are left to keep each other together. All very different, they experience loss and life in ways they can’t always relate to but when their dad returns their brotherly bond is tested once again.
Review - Are you into bridge building? Are you into horse racing? Are you into symbolic nicknames? Are you into metaphors at every turn? Then have I got the book for you! Bridge of Clay was a book that I could have put down and never picked back up and would not have thought about those Dunbar boys again for the rest of time.
Told in the past and present, the present storyline was really hard for me to power through. I much preferred the past storyline and the character’s backstories. I had very little connection to the Dunbar boys. The last 50 pages were actually kind of good but it’s a 500+ page book.
For me, this book was trying WAY to hard to be another masterpiece in the vein of The Book Thief (which is AMAZING) but it totally fell flat. It was written so choppy, everything was symbolic or a metaphor. The book alludes to events that we haven’t gotten to yet and it took so long that I eventually lost the minimal interest that I had. I wouldn’t call it a slow burn because I didn’t experience much burn. I wish I could build a bridge to the past and pick different book to read. ⭐️⭐️💫
Synopsis - The Dunbar boys are notorious around their Australian community. After their mom dies and their dad leaves, the 5 brothers are left to keep each other together. All very different, they experience loss and life in ways they can’t always relate to but when their dad returns their brotherly bond is tested once again.
Review - Are you into bridge building? Are you into horse racing? Are you into symbolic nicknames? Are you into metaphors at every turn? Then have I got the book for you! Bridge of Clay was a book that I could have put down and never picked back up and would not have thought about those Dunbar boys again for the rest of time.
Told in the past and present, the present storyline was really hard for me to power through. I much preferred the past storyline and the character’s backstories. I had very little connection to the Dunbar boys. The last 50 pages were actually kind of good but it’s a 500+ page book.
For me, this book was trying WAY to hard to be another masterpiece in the vein of The Book Thief (which is AMAZING) but it totally fell flat. It was written so choppy, everything was symbolic or a metaphor. The book alludes to events that we haven’t gotten to yet and it took so long that I eventually lost the minimal interest that I had. I wouldn’t call it a slow burn because I didn’t experience much burn. I wish I could build a bridge to the past and pick different book to read. ⭐️⭐️💫
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I absolutely loved The Book Thief and was so excited for this book. I really wanted to love it. As unpopular as my opinion might be - The truth is that I really struggled to finish Bridge of Clay. I almost quit this book several times. In short - I really did NOT like it.
I hated the convulted way the story was presented. The characters were interesting and even lovable. The plot had promise. Unfortunately, the disjointed story telling made it very confusing and hard to follow. The story took forever to come together and positively dragged on and on in some parts.
I hated the convulted way the story was presented. The characters were interesting and even lovable. The plot had promise. Unfortunately, the disjointed story telling made it very confusing and hard to follow. The story took forever to come together and positively dragged on and on in some parts.
Hard to follow-- I loved The Book Thief and was really looking forward to this novel, but I had trouble telling what was going on. I stuck it out to the end but was disappointed.
It kills me that I didn't love this - in fact I don't even really know if I liked it. Zusak is a gem, The Messenger is golden, The Book Thief is spectacular, and When Dogs Cry is my go to suggestion for reluctant boy readers. So I was hanging out for this one. Sigh. Maybe it was over-hyped. Zusak writes beautifully, but Bridge of Clay was too whimsical and whisy-washy for me. I struggled to get to 100 pages, then I left it for a few weeks before returning and finishing it - and then I made myself finish it to see if there was a moment when it all became the best book ever. But it didn't, not for me, anyway. Things I liked included the menagerie of Dunbar animals, and the Clay/Carey story - mostly. The running thing reminded me of Gallipoli, and so I was happy when it was referenced. But at the end, I just felt confused and like I had missed something. Zusak's style and language is good enough to encourage someone to at least delve into this tome (it's very long...but then has really short sentences...). I know I'm not the only one who feels this way!! I wonder if I was to read this again in a few years if my feelings would change??