Critics' Opinion:
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Published Oct 2018
544 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
An unforgettable and sweeping family saga from Markus Zusak.
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.
BookBrowse Review
"Markus Zusak's first novel since his best-selling The Book Thief, left me feeling exasperated and at times utterly bored. While Bridge of Clay possesses a compelling, breezy narrative voice that immediately draws you in, this tale of five Australian brothers reconnecting with their estranged father is too often meandering and sluggish. Furthermore, its fragmentary style (with chapters broken into small scenes that only last a few paragraphs) never allows you to fully settle into the story and will surely test many a reader's patience. Despite some excellent, lyrical prose this is a novel that would have greatly benefited from an unsparing edit." - Dean Muscat
Other Reviews
"Starred Review. With heft and historical scope, Zusak creates a sensitively rendered tale of loss, grief, and guilt's manifestations." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Zusak pushes the parameters of YA in this gorgeously written novel: a character has scrap-metal eyes; rain is like a ghost you could walk through. In the end, it always comes back to Clay, that lovely boy, as a neighbor calls him. A lovely boy and an unforgettably lovely book to match." - Booklist
This information about Bridge of Clay was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo © 2005 Bronwyn Rennex
Markus Zusak's novels include Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting The Girl , I Am The Messenger, The Book Thief and Bridge of Clay. He received the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year Award for I Am the Messenger. He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and children.
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