Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak
534 pages

What’s it about?
 The five Dunbar boys are living on their own with a wide range of pets and very little supervision.  Matthew is barely old enough to serve as guardian to the other four boys and chaos and order seem to exist in equal measures.  
Towards the beginning of the book Matthew writes,
"Let me tell you about our brother.  
The fourth Dunbar boy named Clay.
Everything happened to him.
We were all changed through him."
And so we are introduced to Clay.  The heart of the book. This novel is about a family being held together by stories, love, and loyalty.  

What did it make me think about?
 This is a story of family- specifically a story of brothers.   I will miss the Dunbar boys!  They may be some of my favorite literary characters of late.  I must add that although "The Book Thief" was a young adult book- this selection is not!

Should I read it?
 OK- so this is one long, big, hot-mess of an extraordinary book.  This one will not be for the faint of heart.  You have to be willing to sacrifice to make it through this book and then you will be richly rewarded.  Markus Zusak is a beautiful, brilliant writer and although I am not sure exactly what this book is- it touched my heart and I would highly recommend it to anyone willing to put in the effort!

Quote-
"People got it ​wrong.  
​They thought it was Penny's dash and our father leaving that made what we were- and sure, it definitely made us rowdier and harder and hardier, and gave us a sense of fight- but it isn't what made us tough.  No, in the beginning it was something more.  
It was the wooden, the upright.
​The piano."

If you like this try-
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Beartown by Frederik Backman

8 1/2 stars

November Road by Lou Berney
299 pages

What’s it about?
 It is 1963 and JFK has just been assassinated in Dallas.  Frank Guidry might know a little too much and is on the run from the mob.  Along the way he meets Charlotte and her two young daughters.  Charlotte has decided to leave her alcoholic husband and make her way to California.  When car trouble leaves Charlotte and the girls stranded- Frank jumps in to help.  After all the mob is looking for a single man on the run....  

What did it make me think about?
 This made me think of what a tumultuous time the 1960's were.  Some ways of life were coming to an end, and yet it was a new beginning for many.  

Should I read it?
This was a good book- mainly because Charlotte was such a strong character.  I thought the book portrayed a changing era very well.  I really enjoyed "The Long and Far Away Gone" by Lou Berney and was not disappointed in this book.  Be aware it is a quick read!

Quote-
"'Do you think people can change?' Charlotte said.
The question took him by surprise. 'Change?'
​'Who they are,' she said.  'Their character, I suppose. How they act, what they believe.  After years of being one sort of person can you just decide to become a different sort?' "

8 stars

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
460 pages

What’s it about?
 This novel begins over a 100 years ago and takes place along the banks of the Thames river in England.  The story begins when a badly injured man wanders into a rural Inn with a 4 year-old girl in his arms.  He immediately collapses and the owners and patrons of the Inn take charge of the girl.  She seems to have drowned in the river and is thought dead.  The local nurse arrives and also believes the child to be dead.  While sitting with the body she is surprised to find a pulse reemerging in the child.  Stories abound and three different families come forward to lay claim to the young girl who was dead and lived again.  The mystery of the young girl who died and returned to life is the heart of this story.  

What did it make me think about?
 This novel is about stories- the ones we hand down as well as the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our world. 

Should I read it?
 So I really enjoyed Diane Setterfield's previous book "The Thirteenth Tale" and was expecting an easy, quick read.  This book was not that!  The first half of the book was pretty slow.  It sets up all that happens in the second half of the book, but it takes a long time to get there.  The book has great characters and the setting is wonderful.  The river is almost a character in itself.  I am not sure how to review this one. I did enjoy it but it was also easy to put down for the first 200 pages.  If you have patience this one will reward you.

Quote-
​​"It was a solstice night, the longest night of the year.  For weeks the days had been shrinking, first gradually, then precipitously, so that it was now dark by mid-afternoon.  As is well-known, when the moon hours lengthen, human beings come adrift from the regularity of their mechanical clocks.  They nod at noon, dream in waking hours, open their eyes wide to the pitch-black night.  It is a time fo magic.  And as the borders between night and day stretch to their thinnest, so too do the borders between worlds.  Dreams and  stories merge with lived experience, the dead the the living brush against each other in their comings and goings, and the past and the present touch and overlap.  Unexpected things happen."

If you like this try-
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His yeats of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
​Circe by Madeline Miller
The Buried Giant by Kazoo Ishiguro
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

7 1/2 stars