I was so excited for this book! Although it definitely wasn’t as good as the book thief, it was still really good. To me, the story was a little bit boring, but the way it was written made it good. For the first few chapters, I didn’t understand what was happening and I couldn’t get into it but I ended up really liking it. I did not like how it never said what time period the story is set in. It seems like it’s set in the past, like in the mid 1900s but then it mentions some things that makes it seem like it’s set in the present and it gets me all confused. Overall I really liked the book, but I was expecting more.

I absolutely loved Zusak’s previous books I am the Messenger and The Book Thief and couldn’t wait to read this one. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in Bridge of Clay. Though there were several very powerful scenes in the book, the writing style often made it difficult for me to follow the story and it never really flowed comfortably for me. Perhaps it’s just my limited intellect but when I turned the last page I felt like I had probably missed some critical plot elements in the book.

Bridge of Clay is exceedingly slow moving and the author fails to give readers a reason to connect with the characters. I very rarely give up on a novel, but this is one that I just could not finish. After reading almost 250 pages, the plot went nowhere and I could not see the point to the novel. I Am The Messenger and The Book Thief were novels with unique perspectives and compelling plots, but Bridge of Clay just did not grab my attention.

It's time to catch my breath a bit. I just finished this book, and I feel like I'm lost at sea. I read it because I enjoyed The Book Thief so much, but I came to fall in love with this one even more than the lovely The Book Thief. At first I wasn't sure about the novel. For the first 70 pages or so, I was having difficulty following because the book slips between different times, places and people so much that it's hard to get a handle on it. But the fabulous 5 Dunbar boys is the glue that holds the book together. This is a love story between Michael Dunbar and his beautiful refugee wife Penelope. It's a story about their lives before they met, and a story about after they met and the wonderful family they raised. It's a story about a ramshackle, tumultuous family of 5 strapping boys. The family lives in the hot grassland of the Australian countryside. The family lives hard, loves hard and fights hard, and little Penelope is the glue that holds them all together. When she gets sick and "sets about the process of dying", the family members each take it in their own way. The father retreats into himself and disappears. Matthew the oldest, steps up and becomes the man of the house. Rory argues, swears, drinks and fights, proving he's the toughest guy out there. Henry becomes a teenage entrepreneur. Tommy, the youngest, relies on his menagerie of animals to help him cope. But Clay, the fourth boy, the one with "fire in his eyes", runs away from himself and others, and trains and races, and fights and reflects, and sits up on the roof of their house contemplating the world around him. Clay is the one with the weight of the world on his slim shoulders. Clay is the one who builds a bridge almost single-handedly in order to help keep his demons at bay, and Clay is the one who meets a girl called Carrey and falls in love. Like in The Book Thief, Death plays a part in this novel as well, and it's Clay who tries to tame him and keep him away from the rest of his family. I could go on and on about this book, but instead I ask you to read it. Read it with an open mind and open heart and you will not be disappointed. This is the best book that I've read in a long long time. And I may have to go read some Homer again too. There's a lot of Odysseus and the Iliad in this book. There is even Achilles the mule. Thank you Markus for writing this perfect novel.

Took all little to get into the story at first but so glad I stuck with it Great read.