The unforgettable, New York Times bestselling family saga from Markus Zusak, the storyteller who gave us the extraordinary bestseller THE BOOK THIEF, lauded by the New York Times as “the kind of book that can be life-changing.”NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY • THE WALL STREET JOURNAL “One of those monumental books that can draw you across space and time into … JOURNAL
“One of those monumental books that can draw you across space and time into another family’s experience in the most profound way.” —The Washington Post
“Mystical and loaded with heart, it’s another gorgeous tearjerker from a rising master of them.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Devastating, demanding and deeply moving.” —Wall Street Journal
The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance.
At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.
The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?
Written in powerfully inventive language and bursting with heart, BRIDGE OF CLAY is signature Zusak.
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Every bit as wonderful as The Book Thief.
This is another wonderful book by author Markus Zusak. This is the kind of book you wish wouldn’t end, the story keeps you, you find yourself thinking about it and pausing every now & then. I cannot praise this author enough, the words, a phrase I keep rereading some sentences or paragraphs just to enjoy it again.
I give this book 4.5 stars.
It isn’t “the book thief” or “I am the messenger,” but Markus Zuzak has done it again. In a very unconventional writing style, he shares the story of the Dunbar boys — Matthew, Rory, Henry, Clay, and Tommy — and their lives after their mother dies and their father deserts them. Captivating, and beautifully written.
I found the first few pages of this book hard going until I acclimatised to the narrator’s voice. I remember having the same experience the first time I read one of Jane Austen’s books. In both cases, it was well worth the effort.
Each piece of the story is unravelled a little at a time, each character slowly fleshed out as the past is revealed. It is a story of tough love and living through tragedy combined with the joys of a stubborn mule, a piano and the power of forgiving.
This book was even better than The Book Thief.
The 13 year wait was well worth it. This book was a true gem
I had loved the Book Thief by Zusak, and was prepared to love this one. One of the reviewers I saw said it was overlong, and it was, but the characters were strong and interesting , and perhaps they were inspirational. Somewhere in the book it said that their mother was dead and their father had fled. So this is a story about the five Dunbar boys and how they raised themselves.
There was lots of unusual description like the sunglow that shown like an “arsonist’s light”, and about old Mr. Franks–“his mustache still had jam on it.” One cannot rush through this book just for the story line–it transitions from one time period to another rather abruptly. It is not an easy read, but it creative and inventive, and you really care what happens to the characters.
I absolutely LOVE anything by Markus Zusak. This one was a little hard to get into but after a bit I didn’t want to put it down.
It is a story of building bridges: to the past, the future, relationships and reality. The story comes at you from all directions (my guess is that is how a story of 5 brothers would be – chaotic and messy).