Book Review: Bridge of Clay

You would like this book if you liked:

The Book Thief

All the Light We Cannot See

Little Fires Everywhere

Bridge of Clay is a novel about the intricacies of relationships, love, loss, and the bonds that make a family a family — specifically between five brothers. Zusak tells the story of a family torn apart by a mother’s death and a father that has abandoned his sons. When the father suddenly returns to ask for help building a bridge, only one son, Clay, comes to help him. But Clay has the entirety of his past to work through; stories from his mother to his budding love story with the girl across the street. Written from the perspective of the oldest brother, Micheal, many years later, Bridge of Clay is a poetic, character-driven portrait of a family across generations.

It’s easy to see why it took Zusak 13 years to write this novel. Bridge is a poetic 530 pages that can take a while to settle into. It wasn’t until around page 100 that I got into a comfortable rhythm and understood the characters enough to appreciate what was happening. The writing felt like a mosaic; different stories coming together to their conclusion. The end of the book has a soft climax; you’re not reading it to get to the big ending. Rather, the book is focused on Clay resolving his own demons and relationships by…