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ehunsy's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you are looking for a book like The Book Thief, you may not like this one as much. it's beautiful in a completely different , yet still poetical way. The timeline jumps around quite a bit, which may be confusing but creates the feeling that this is truly being told as the narrator reflects on different events throughout life
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
meganfuhr's review
So boring! I tried really hard to get through it. But I had to stop. Nothing about the story held my attention, and maybe it's because I'm looking for something different right now, but the whole book relys on the mastery of surprise, but it got real boring real fast.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Addiction, and Child abuse
filipacmiranda's review against another edition
5.0
Para quem, como eu, conheceu Zusak através de A Rapariga Que Roubava Livros, esta história pode requerer algum esforço inicial. Admito que houve momentos em que senti necessidade de pousar o livro. É uma história complexa, cujos acontecimentos vão sendo relatados de forma desordenada. Embora tenha sido uma jornada, foi uma jornada que valeu a pena!
As primeiras páginas de Nada Menos Que Um Milagre largam-nos no seio de uma família constituída por cinco rapazes com menos de 20 anos. Trata-se de um início caótico e confuso, que, a meu ver, será uma representação fiel do que é vivenciar a morte de um dos progenitores, após doença prolongada. Especialmente, enquanto o/a outro/a se vai demitindo da nossa vida e desaparecendo aos poucos.
Escrito sob o ponto de vista de Matthew Dunbar, o mais velho dos cinco irmãos, com recurso a uma linguagem que veicula as emoções de forma clara, mas eloquente, este livro é uma manta de retalhos que, entre o passado e o presente, nos vai dando a conhecer a vida de Clay e dos seus irmãos.
Durante a leitura, houve confusão, houve risos e houve algumas lágrimas... Trata-se de uma história sobre as dores do crescimento. Sobre amor fraterno e amor platónico. Sobre a morte. Mas, acima de tudo, trata-se de uma história sobre a vida e como continuar a viver, quando nada parece abonar a nosso favor.
As primeiras páginas de Nada Menos Que Um Milagre largam-nos no seio de uma família constituída por cinco rapazes com menos de 20 anos. Trata-se de um início caótico e confuso, que, a meu ver, será uma representação fiel do que é vivenciar a morte de um dos progenitores, após doença prolongada. Especialmente, enquanto o/a outro/a se vai demitindo da nossa vida e desaparecendo aos poucos.
Escrito sob o ponto de vista de Matthew Dunbar, o mais velho dos cinco irmãos, com recurso a uma linguagem que veicula as emoções de forma clara, mas eloquente, este livro é uma manta de retalhos que, entre o passado e o presente, nos vai dando a conhecer a vida de Clay e dos seus irmãos.
Durante a leitura, houve confusão, houve risos e houve algumas lágrimas... Trata-se de uma história sobre as dores do crescimento. Sobre amor fraterno e amor platónico. Sobre a morte. Mas, acima de tudo, trata-se de uma história sobre a vida e como continuar a viver, quando nada parece abonar a nosso favor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Cursing, and Bullying
corvicore's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The boomerang storytelling got a little infuriating at times but overall it slaps
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Blood, Cursing, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Terminal illness
bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Review of a Bridge of Clay
By Markus Zusak
Set in Australia, this is the story of the Dunbar boys: Matthew, Clay, Rory, Henry, and Tommy. Matthew, our narrator, became guardian to his brothers after their mother, Penelope died of cancer and their father Michael, slowly abandons them, eventually leaving them. Years later Michael returns to ask them to build a bridge over a river near his house. Most of the boy’s refuse believing their father murdered them, but Clay sees it as his destiny to help him build the bridge.
The novel is very character driven as plot is not as strong and the story spends showing moments in the lives of our characters and going back and forth between the past and present. It was difficult to get into and often confusing with the constant back and forth structure, though I believe it’s similar to how told The Book Thief, but that had a more cohesive plot. Making Matthew the narrator but it being about Clay added clever perspective as Matthew didn’t know everything, but he saw things in a different way. Reading about the relationship between the Dunbar boys was fun to explore and felt authentic and natural. Each boy had his own unique personality that could be likable and annoying at the same time. The building of the bridge and Clay’s girlfriend Carey Novak’s track racing was something interesting, but a bit boring at times. I enjoyed the art and literary references and I’m glad I had at least read The Odyssey and was somewhat familiar with what happens in the Iliad (Thanks to the movie Troy). I also thought the barnyard of slowly accumulating animals in their house was fun to read about. Towards the end I did get impatient and wanted to finally finish the novel, so I skimmed the last section. This is more a “me” thing, because I don’t always love slower endings. I understand why not everyone loved this, but I thought it was pretty good.
By Markus Zusak
Set in Australia, this is the story of the Dunbar boys: Matthew, Clay, Rory, Henry, and Tommy. Matthew, our narrator, became guardian to his brothers after their mother, Penelope died of cancer and their father Michael, slowly abandons them, eventually leaving them. Years later Michael returns to ask them to build a bridge over a river near his house. Most of the boy’s refuse believing their father murdered them, but Clay sees it as his destiny to help him build the bridge.
The novel is very character driven as plot is not as strong and the story spends showing moments in the lives of our characters and going back and forth between the past and present. It was difficult to get into and often confusing with the constant back and forth structure, though I believe it’s similar to how told The Book Thief, but that had a more cohesive plot. Making Matthew the narrator but it being about Clay added clever perspective as Matthew didn’t know everything, but he saw things in a different way. Reading about the relationship between the Dunbar boys was fun to explore and felt authentic and natural. Each boy had his own unique personality that could be likable and annoying at the same time. The building of the bridge and Clay’s girlfriend Carey Novak’s track racing was something interesting, but a bit boring at times. I enjoyed the art and literary references and I’m glad I had at least read The Odyssey and was somewhat familiar with what happens in the Iliad (Thanks to the movie Troy). I also thought the barnyard of slowly accumulating animals in their house was fun to read about. Towards the end I did get impatient and wanted to finally finish the novel, so I skimmed the last section. This is more a “me” thing, because I don’t always love slower endings. I understand why not everyone loved this, but I thought it was pretty good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, and Suicide
averagemark's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I picked up this book because I liked the works of Marcus Zusak in the past, and I was not disappointed by this. The story follows 5 boys living on their own, the killer and the memory of their mother.
If you’re a fan of action packed fantasy, then this book is not for you. It has a slower pace and deals with everyday problems of a broken family. Like in real life, there isn’t a definite end to the story, but at the end of the book, you feel like you’re part of this big family. You’ve lived through their tragedies, you’ve coped with them, and you’ve grown, and in my opinion that’s the best part of this all.
Some might also find the book challenging because of the way it is written: one chapter takes place in the past, and one in the future. Although, with such writing, it would normally be harder to keep up with the story, The Bridge of Clay avoided that fate. Coming back to the past a lot makes sense for a grieving family, and as readers it’s interesting to put a story together piece by piece.
The characters all have a distinct personality, influenced by their past. For me, one of the worst things an author can do, is provide the readers with questions, and not answer all of them by the end, here it is thankfully not the case. All the mysteries laid out before us in the beginning of the book, eventually make sense.
If I had to sum my review up, this is not a very action packed book, at first, you’ll need to to get into reading it, but by the end, the characters, the journey you took with them, will make all of the inconveniences worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Cursing, and Grief
bebidocrimes's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As much as I love Zusak, this book just wouldn't end. The main plot was confusing and the B plot was out of order and dragged on about details that didn't matter. Maybe it's a good read to someone else, but it wore me down to finish.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
manarnia's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I think I might have liked this book more if I had read a physical version. Not that the audiobook was poorly narrated, I just think I would have enjoyed seeing the writing written down.
I fell in love with the Dunbar boys, but certain parts of the story didn't sit right with me, and I didn't love the order in which the story was told.
I fell in love with the Dunbar boys, but certain parts of the story didn't sit right with me, and I didn't love the order in which the story was told.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, and Violence
rachelsheplak's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
simply written, but beautiful and impactful
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, and Medical content
Minor: Animal death, Death, and Grief
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