They come and go in a flash.īridge of Clay, in other words, requires a patience and concentration perhaps at odds with its easy narrative voice. It is also often hard to tell which period of the narrative we are in at any given point: the segments can be as short as a paragraph or two. Told by the eldest son, Zusak's novel seems to emulate the actions of memory: it is an elaborate puzzle, which jumps from timeline to timeline, over multiple decades, with a large cast of characters, throwing up scraps of information and backstory until, gradually, the narratives begin to coalesce.ĭifficult to locate both in terms of time period and geography, the setting for the story seems to be Zusak’s homeland of Australia, though very little information is given away, which can be frustrating for a reader who wants to fully imagine a visual world for the characters. One day, their father comes back, and asks the second-oldest brother, Clayton ("Clay"), to help him build a bridge. A family drama, Bridge of Clay begins with five boys – the Dunbar brothers – who are living in a house without adults. This is a story about "how before-the-beginnings are everywhere".
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