Bridge of Clay

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Markus Zusak is my all time favourite author and with Bridge of Clay he has just solidified that position further. I fell in love with his writing in The Book Thief and then The Messenger and now with Bridge of Clay. I always tell people that going into his book, don't expect them to be anything alike (except for extraordinary writing) because they are all so individual and different from each other, it's actually kind of amazing. The only thing worse than not liking a book is knowing you are probably in the minority with that opinion. I'm left with a feeling of what did I miss? The plot is good but I just could never get into the writing style. I'll go sit in my corner alone now while everyone else has an amazing reading experience. This just wasn't the right book for me but I do hope others enjoy it.

Greer Walsh wishes she were one person...unfortunately, with her large breasts, she feels like she’s actually three. It’s this gradual build up that leads to the emotional pay-off as they proceed towards the tragedy you know is coming. That terrible feeling where you know something awful is bound to happen, and there is nothing you can do, so you just don’t want to deny it for a little bit longer... It’s the feeling the characters feel, and thanks to Zusaks brilliant set up, you feel it with them. When Bridge of Clay was announced on Goodreads close to a decade ago, some users immediately rated it, assuming Zusak's novel would be as life-altering as his magnum opus, The Book Thief. Anticipation was riding high about Bridge of Clay. It was going to be epic!Markus Zusak pitches the reader into a ‘terrifically teenaged world’. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images Hunt, Jonathan (Winter 2018). "Bridge of Clay". The Horn Book Magazine. 94 (6): 95 – via General OneFile. I liked the magical writing in The Book Thief but the voice of this story was not appropriate for a story of this kind and he used metaphor very much which ended up being annoying. I knew that the writing is just not for me after a few chapters and Hala who BR this with me felt the same and decided to DNF it immediately.

Five Dunbar boys, the eldest was Matthew (who narrated the story), the fourth was Clay, who seemed to be the most sensitive and socially aware. The youngest was Tommy with Henry and Rory somewhere in between. They lived at 18 Archer Street in the suburbs of Sydney, where Matthew took over the job of caring for his brothers after their mother died and six months later their father left without a word. Their struggles were many, their ways of grieving all different. From international bestselling author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Holly Ringland, comes a haunting and magical novel about joy, grief, courage, and transformation. The story of how the boys bought Achilles. It was so lucid! It was sweet and heartbreaking! I even lulzed a little bit! Years after the death of their mother, the fourth son in an Australian family of five boys reconnects with his estranged father. The story opens with Matthew, the oldest Dunbar boy, bringing home the old TW, the typewriter of a Grandmother they never knew.We can’t do anything. One of us writes, and one of us reads. We can’t do anything but me tell it, and you see it.” First of all I must say reading this book is hard work. It is a history of a family presented like a patchwork quilt - a bit here and a bit there, jumping around from person to person, place to place and past to present. Concentration is the key.