Bridge of Clay
By: Markus Zusak
My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars
Best for: 16 and up

I loved Bridge of Clay, but I encourage you to judge carefully. This book is going to polarizing, and there’s a strong chance you’re going to hate it.

Read on.

Bridge of Clay is heavy.

Can you bear it? Here’s what you need to know.

This story is about 5 brothers, their mom who died, and their dad who left them.

It’s about mothers and sons and brothers and fathers. If you are or have any of those, you’ll feel the weight.

It’s about grief, cancer (yep, a cancer book. Dang it.), anger, forgiveness, and love…mostly love. If you’ve experienced any of those, you’ll feel the weight.

If you love your mom. If you love your wife. If you love your dad. If you love your husband. If you love your kids. If you love your siblings. If you love your parents. If you love your pets. If you love art. If you love books. If you love.

If you’ve experienced loss. If you’re not perfect. If you’ve had a hard time forgiving. If you’ve been forgiven.

You’ll feel the weight.

You might even cry.

Or at least you’ll want to.

Because it’s heavy.

Markus Zusak is a tremendous writer…I’ve never read anything like him. He’s less an author and more a word painter. His words and phrasing–beautiful…incredible…amazing. It seemed with every page turn I found another example where I had to shake my head, close my eyes, and let the awe wash over.

Warning!!! There’s a good chance you’re going to hate this book!

I predict many disappointed fans of The Book Thief. The words and phrasing…I called it beautiful, you might call it whimsical and ambiguous. I called the word-painting fascinating, you might call it grating. Don’t be misled: there’s nothing straightforward in Bridge of Clay. It’s allusion, it’s allegory, it’s foreshadowing, it’s talking about things on page one you won’t understand until page 500. I suggest you download a sample and test it out before you jump in, because this one is not for everyone.

But if you’re up for it, if you think you can handle it, if you’re patient enough…pick it up and take on the weight. When the burden is lifted, the light is marvelous.

It’s about five brothers. Expect to read about the things unsupervised boys and young adults would be involved in. Plenty of language. A couple of “off screen” sex scenes that are quite tender. Cancer sucks. Death.

Recommended for a mature 16 and up.

Happy reading!