Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. Devastating, demanding and deeply moving, Bridge of Clay unspools like a kind of magic act in reverse, with feats of narrative legerdemain concealed by misdirection that all make sense only when the elements of the trick are finally laid out. I must, however, admit my consternation that Zusak’s US publishers have decided to market the books as Young Adult (as the only country to do so).

It’s magical, yet down to earth, filled with metaphors like you’ve never heard, but still make perfect sense once you read them. Although Bridge of Clay is little like Zusaks earlier books, they are connected through the authors signature style. The crisp imagery of the prose descriptions is undermined by the self-congratulatory end-rhyming of the final two sentences.

It's very different than what I grew up in, so it took me some time to adjust to the dynamics of a 5 brothers, big family.

It’s this gradual build up that leads to the emotional pay-off as they proceed towards the tragedy you know is coming.The novel starts with their father, referred to as 'the murderer', coming back into their lives requesting their help to build a bridge. Beloved international bestselling author Markus Zusak has written an extraordinary new novel, BRIDGE OF CLAY, published by Alfred A. The Bridge Of Clay is a book I will have to revisit time and again to get all of the tidbits that we miss at times.

Each with a different personality and part to play, although Tommy is so little he features mostly as a “training weight” for Clay to carry up staircases and hills to build his strength. Bridge of Clay shares with Zusak's The Book Thief an underlying sense of the possibility of joy and human dignity even in dehumanising situations. So you can expect from me a ton of reviewing followed by weeks or months of complete silence from time to time, as I go through my different phases.The narrative’s non-chronological structure unpicks the history of Clay’s parents – including the life and death of his immigrant mother, Penelope – alongside Matthew’s real-time reflections. That's all I can say about it for now—not out of secrecy, but you just don't know what direction a book is going to take, no matter how well you've planned. Growing up in the Eastern Bloc, Waldek wants a bigger life for his daughter—he mentors her at the piano and reads her The Iliad and The Odyssey. Clay builds the bridge and it’s made of him, but so much of him is made of his mother’s and father’s stories.

Clay purchases a copy of the horse race schedule and takes breaks from building the bridge in the present to listen to Carey race on the radio. Truth to be told, I wasn’t very interested in the synopsis but October was my Contemporary month and what is better to read than a novel by the highly acclaimed author of The Book Thief aka one of my favorite books! I was really confused in this book, more so in the beginning until I got used to how this was being written. Characterised by his love for animals and the works of Homer, which is shown through the names of the family pets; Agamemnon (the fish), Hector (the cat), Achilles (the mule) and Telemachus (the budgie).

The Horn Book Magazine praises Zusak's talent for writing, but also points out that the "self-indulgent and elegiac prose" drowns out the good storytelling, effectively making the book too demanding for readers, regardless of age.