The Hate you Give

Bridge of Clay

Author: 

Markus Zusak 

Themes: 

• Grief
• Love and Family

Genres: 

Realistic Fiction

Recommended Age for Reading: 

The language and content are strong.  The F word is used a lot, which is understandable with five brothers raising each other without adults 🤷.  I'd say the content is up to parental discretion.  Personally, I wouldn't want my children reading this book until they were in high school.  Also, I'm not going to keep this book in my class library.  If I were a high school teacher, it'd be one that I would strongly recommend my students to read, though. So many kids that age have already dealt with the loss of a parent and have had to experience raising themselves, so many could relate to the plot of this story.  

Synopsis: 

The story is told from the perspective of Matthew Dunbar who is the eldest of five brothers, but the story is about his brother, Clay.  At the beginning of the story, all the reader knows is that Matthew is the one in charge of the brothers even though he's barely an adult himself.  The house is chaotic with five pets, one is a mule and five lively boys.  A murderer is in the home, and about a chapter or two in the story, we realize this "murderer" is their dad.  He asks the boys to help him build a bridge.  Matthew refuses, but Clay agrees.  The story goes in and out of the past and present as the reader learns more about this peculiar family's history and a figurative bridge is built while the reader connects the past trauma to the present circumstances in the lives of these five lovable brothers.  

Review: 

I was lost until the very end of this story, but I truly believe that was Zusak's intent.  Unfortunately, we live in a society of instant gratification, so stories like this aren't popular.  However, for readers who appreciate a good amount of depth to a story, they will love this book.  Since I was lost for most of it, it took a while for me to get into, but I just kept reading a chapter or two here and there, and before I knew it, I couldn't stop reading it.  By the middle of the book, I would be nearly in tears or I would be bursting into laughter at something one of the characters did.  I kept reading because I just grew to love the characters and I really just wanted to figure this story out.  By the end, it is all revealed and very much worth the confusion.
I didn't realize that fans of Zusak had been waiting over a decade for his next book to come out.  I loved the Book Theif, but I didn't follow his work like his fans had.  I read that many fans were disappointed, but I just feel like they aren't really giving this story a chance.  Many who write reviews hadn't even finished the book.  I gave this book a chance because I remember it took me six months to finish the Book Theif because Zusak's style is a bit hard to understand at first.  However, the Book Theif was one of my favorites, so I knew this book had to be a powerful read as well.  After reading through some of his interviews about his writing process with this book, I learned that he put his whole heart and soul into this story which is why it took him twelve years to write.  So, my two cents with this book is that you'll be lost, but it's ok.  Keep reading.

5/5