Clay was the closest to his father, and as the story unfolds, we discover that he was fully aware of why his father left them.
I liked the structure of the story with its ‘before the beginnings’ and the ‘beginnings’ that Markus Zusak (Sydney author of The Book Thief) uses to reveal more about the present through the past as the story progressed.
And I really appreciated the often-poetic language Zusak uses to describe places and characters. One example that describes the father: He was a wasteland in a suit; he was bent-postured, he was broken.
In this story there are fights and arguments; a mule and several other adopted animals. There is tenderness, hope, love, death and grieving, and redemption. Clay’s bridge brings the family together, it brings pasts and presents together, and for Clay, it is restorative for the tragedies he has endured.
RRP $22.99
To read more about Markus Zusak’s ‘Bridge of Clay’ at Pan Macmillan.
Lyn Kerkham and Anne Bassett from Fullarton Community Centre’s Book Club
