Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Bridge of Clay

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

22 reviews

carlytenille's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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

5.0

6 stars, no notes

Content Warnings

twocollins's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.5

This is a slow simmer and study of how grief and loss impacts a family unit and individuals.

There is a lot of sadness, reflection, but also love in this book.

Content Warnings

tanja_reads_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

Markus Zusak is an author that is an automatic buy for me and so the fact that This book took me a little bit longer to get into, kind of was disappointing, but in the end the slow pace and the dual timelines paid off. This was a sad, but hopeful story that had me in tears at the end.
The time jumps I each chapter were hard to get used to, as was the more choppy narration, but all that leads to the charm and almost truthful feel of the story.
I loved the dynamic of the brothers and how they all related to each other, and to the others around them. It truly was the heart of the story.

Content Warnings

counciloffrogs's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

zarfus211's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Poetic, but I don't think I fully understood some of it.

Content Warnings

sophiebee23's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

This is not an easy read. The first 50 or so pages were hard work and I really couldn't tell if there would be any reward for the effort. I was frustrated not knowing what was going on, I couldn't even work out where it was set and the style was more than a little jarring. Something began to take shape however and there was enough there to keep me reading, and I settled into the writing style more and more. It still took getting a good third of the way in before it really had me hooked.

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.

Content Warnings