Bridge of Clay

By: Markus Zusak

Narrated by: Markus Zusak

Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The unforgettable New York Times best-selling family saga from Markus Zusak, the storyteller who gave us the extraordinary best seller The Book Thief, lauded by the New York Times as "the kind of book that can be life-changing."

Named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly and The Wall Street Journal.

"One of those monumental books that can draw you across space and time into another family’s experience in the most profound way." (The Washington Post)

"Mystical and loaded with heart, it's another gorgeous tearjerker from a rising master of them." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Devastating, demanding and deeply moving." (Wall Street Journal)

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.

©2018 Markus Zusak (P)2018 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"In a complex narrative that leaps through time and place and across oceans, Zusak paints a vivid portrait of the brothers trying to regain their balance by keeping their family’s story alive." (Time)

“A captivating book with a mighty, fearless heart, Bridge of Clay is filled with characters to believe in and care about...achingly moving, delightfully funny, and thoroughly uplifting.” (M. L. Stedman, best-selling author of The Light Between Oceans)

“If The Book Thief was a novel that allowed Death to steal the show...[its] brilliantly illuminated follow-up is affirmatively full of life.” (The Guardian)

May be helpful to have book in hand

Overall I loved this book. Due to his heavy accent, at times I could not understand some of the words, and knowing that sometimes we have different words for the same object, it made it a little confusing at times.
He does jump around a lot - past and present but once you get into the book, it’s not too difficult to follow.

Frustration and Resolution

So long and hard to follow at times. I almost gave up several times. The last two chapters were the payoff. Glad I stuck with it. Amazing story... hit home as I watched my own mother die this past year. The author's reading was wonderful. His emotion at the story's peaks were genuine and touching.

Loved this story!!!

This story, for me, was perfect! The narration was flawless. The life story of this family and how they came together, told going from far past to mid past to final present was laid out expertly.

The five bothers and who they were in childhood and as they grew was like a blossom opening, seeing how individual each one of them were. It is so good to see so many perspectives of a childhood, adolescence then adulthood, each coming from the same household and with shared tramas but each brother, so different in their choices in life and showing who they were thru it all. Of course, Clay, being sort of the main character, became someone that I really wanted to understand the most.

I cannot exactly say everything I loved about this story but I cried and cried during the last 1/4 of the book. I was fully invested with these fellas. I felt the ending was perfect!

I would recommend this story to folks who love a great family story of trials and tribulations and growing up. This is very rich and complex and satisfying when done!

glorious

brilliant, lovely, tough, heart-rending. so worth spending time with the dunbar boys. don't miss it.

Loved Itn

I listened on Audible. It is read masterfully by the author and I found it to be a compelling and great literary work of fiction that reads like an autobiography.

Another Amazing Story !!

This book is as wonderful as The Book Thief!
It is So well written that at times it seems like poetry! It is read by the author and you can hear all the love and emotion that this book encompasses! I can’t say enough about this book!! I’ll be recommending it to all my friends and family!

Great Story

This book is like a mnemonic device for those who have lost a parent to cancer. Time is abstract as the story pulls you in and recognizes the pain and devastation that cancer causes.

Hidden Gems

I was frustrated and confused as I read thinking that I had missed something. Zusak subtly introduces names or details which seem irrelevant but are significant. If you power though, you will find comfort, joy and tears at the end of a long journey.

Second best book by Markus Zusak

I have listened to every book by Markus Zusak since I fell in love with The Book Thief. I had great anticipation of this book and it is lovely. I would say you have to stay loose at the beginning because you don't know what's going on. Stay with it. Also, some people have said they didn't like the author reading it but stay with that too. It is perfection! Great characters that I will remember for a long time.

A powerful family drama

Lyrical beautiful prose with a story that won’t let you put it down. The end will stay with me for years.