I hope you are all doing well!
Today, we turn our attention to a relatively new thing in my life - my interstate book club.
The beginning of 2019 marked the beginning of a book club, curated by 2 of my friends, who had a desire to read more (one of them you all know & love - my meal prep buddy!). We are a group of friends & friends of friends who live in different places around Australia, who come together online to read the same book over a period of time & then discuss it at the end of the designated time.
And I actually love it!
Aside from the social aspect that comes alongside a book club, I love having the drive to finish a certain book by a certain time.
Our first book of the year was Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak.
You might know this Australian author from The Book Thief?
Now, I actually haven't read The Book Thief, so I had no expectations from this new book of his. I know some of my fellow book-clubbers did, although I'm not sure if that expectation influenced any of their opinions.
I won't go into too much detail about the book, in case you haven't read it. But there may be some spoilers, so consider yourself warned!
The synopsis of Bridge of Clay is:
Let me tell you about our brother.
The fourth Dunbar boy named Clay.
Everything happened to him.
We were all of us changed through him.
The Dunbar boys bring each other up in a house run by their own rules. A family of ramshackle tragedy - their mother is dead, their father has fled - they love and fight, and learn to reckon with the adult world.
It is Clay, the quiet one, who will build a bridge; for his family, for his past, for his sins. He builds a bridge to transcend humanness. To survive.
A miracle and nothing less.
Markus Zusak makes his long-awaited return with a profoundly heartfelt and inventive novel about a family held together by stories, and a young life caught in the current: a boy in search of greatness, as a cure for a painful past.
- Source: www.panmacmillan.com.au
It is a book that received a lot of praise, as a strong story of love, guilt, loss, betrayal & family.
But I didn't get it.
And neither did anyone in my book club!
We aren't literary experts. But none of s enjoyed it at all.
I, personally, found it really hard to digest. Content aside, I like my books to paint a picture so I can visualise the story in my head as I read. Bridge of Clay provides very few visual clues to be able to do this, so right away I struggled to connect with the story & its characters.
Below are some screenshots from our discussion (forgive us - we are new to this whole book club thing, so we aren't super sure how to do this whole book club discussion thing properly. Please leave us hints below if you are a book club veteran!).
Have you read Bridge of Clay?
If so, what did you think?
Until next time.
Hx
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