catherreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
3.0
Reread 1/7/21:
I'm glad I gave this book a second chance. There was still a lot going on, but I was certainly able to appreciate the writing more, and understood what was happening a lot better. There was still a lot of "boys will be boys" mentality though, and that didn't thrill me.
Overall, it was good, but it wasn't as great as I was hoping a reread would be.
Original review 3/14/19:
“Here is a story told inside out and back to front,” states the blurb written on the inside cover of Bridge of Clay, Markus Zusak’s recent novel.
This was a book that I dearly wanted to love. Zusak’s writing hasn’t failed to enrapture me in the past with its poetic descriptions and tangible and intangible threads woven throughout. He weaves words together in beautiful but broken ways, portraying human situations with sentences and connecting dots with metaphors and symbolism. This book is no exception with its beautiful, heavy words. It depicts a family trying to stay together after a mother’s death and a father’s abandonment. The story unfolds slowly as you’re told their history in flashbacks.
However, there was just too much going on for me to fall in love with this story itself. There are five Dunbar boys. The book focuses on one of them, Clay, and is narrated by another one of them, Matthew. I didn’t understand the choice of narrator or how Clay was going to be the one pulling them all together. There were too many characters, too many animals, and too many threads to keep track of. The typewriter, the dog, the mule, the bridge…they kept being mentioned again and again but they never seemed to have any meaning. Also, this story really is told inside out and back to front, making it more confusing than anything.
Maybe if I ever read this again I’ll have time to sit down and read slowly in order to detect the purpose of all the themes and understand the characters’ motivations. However, this book left me rather disappointed so I don’t think I’ll have the courage to read it again anytime soon.
I'm glad I gave this book a second chance. There was still a lot going on, but I was certainly able to appreciate the writing more, and understood what was happening a lot better. There was still a lot of "boys will be boys" mentality though, and that didn't thrill me.
Overall, it was good, but it wasn't as great as I was hoping a reread would be.
Original review 3/14/19:
“Here is a story told inside out and back to front,” states the blurb written on the inside cover of Bridge of Clay, Markus Zusak’s recent novel.
This was a book that I dearly wanted to love. Zusak’s writing hasn’t failed to enrapture me in the past with its poetic descriptions and tangible and intangible threads woven throughout. He weaves words together in beautiful but broken ways, portraying human situations with sentences and connecting dots with metaphors and symbolism. This book is no exception with its beautiful, heavy words. It depicts a family trying to stay together after a mother’s death and a father’s abandonment. The story unfolds slowly as you’re told their history in flashbacks.
However, there was just too much going on for me to fall in love with this story itself. There are five Dunbar boys. The book focuses on one of them, Clay, and is narrated by another one of them, Matthew. I didn’t understand the choice of narrator or how Clay was going to be the one pulling them all together. There were too many characters, too many animals, and too many threads to keep track of. The typewriter, the dog, the mule, the bridge…they kept being mentioned again and again but they never seemed to have any meaning. Also, this story really is told inside out and back to front, making it more confusing than anything.
Maybe if I ever read this again I’ll have time to sit down and read slowly in order to detect the purpose of all the themes and understand the characters’ motivations. However, this book left me rather disappointed so I don’t think I’ll have the courage to read it again anytime soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Death
Minor: Sexual content
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