What The Author Did: Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
- Fiction Yogi
- Apr 7
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Note: This article contains affiliate links
In the What the Author Did series, we pull back the curtain on great fiction and take a closer look at the techniques the writer has employed, their purpose and effect. This isn't about reviewing books – it's about exploring the craft choices that shaped the final work and learning from them.
Today we extract a few of the interesting techniques Markus Zusak uses in his 2018 novel, Bridge of Clay, a contemporary coming-of-age story about five brothers coming to terms with the loss of their mother and disappearance of their father.
Zusak is an Australian-German writer, and you can learn more about him and his books at markuszusak.com.
Warning: If you have not yet read the book, this article contains discussion points that may spoil your first impressions.
Narrator & point of view
If you're familiar with Zusak's work, you'll already expect a less than conventional narrator and point of view. In The Book Thief, for instance, the narrator is none other than Death itself, which makes for a fascinating viewpoint and style of writing. Zusak has a knack for not just delivering a great story, but doing so in a way that's deliciously original, and it's what makes his fiction so compelling and unputdownable.
In Bridge of Clay, the narrator is the eldest of the five Dunbar brothers, Matthew. It's a first-person narrative, and yet the central protagonist is not Matthew but fourth-in-line brother Clayton, around whom the events of the novel pivot.
As most of the book concerns Clay, logic might suggest he would be the narrator – but Zusak cleverly doesn't follow this obvious choice; for, I believe, several reasons. The first is that Clay is an enigmatic character, he doesn't talk much or feel the need to, yet we learn early on he has an almost revered status within the group of brothers.
Secondly, Clay has a passion for stories (hearing them as opposed to telling them). As the most attentive listener of all the brothers, it's Clay their mother confides in about her and their father's past before she dies. To elder brother Matthew, these details are only revealed much later, and so this sense of discovery, of unravelling the full facts, is echoed in his narrative more effectively than if they had been delivered directly by Clay.
Finally, we mentioned Zusak's originality when it comes to narrative point of view, and the same is true here. Matthew's first-person narration tells of events that have already passed, the details of which he is now in possession of but at the time mostly wasn't present for; thus we often get what feels like a third-person narrative, focalized alternately between each of the boys' parents and Clay.
For the first half of the novel especially, Matthew is not much more than a looming presence, of which we know very little other than he has an authoritative, almost paternal, bearing over his younger siblings. But even by the end of the book it remains clear this is not Matthew's story – it's always been Clay's.
Just like in The Book Thief, the narrator of Bridge of Clay has a powerful influence over the other characters but the story is someone else's.
Multiple timelines
Zusak is masterful at creating a compelling narrative. Intriguing point of view aside, he stops readers from putting the book down by continuously raising questions and teasing answers – and this he is able to do using multiple timelines.
The narrative itself is split between Clay's story (which in Matthew's retelling is the chronological "present"), and flashbacks to the past beginning in both their mother's and father's childhoods and leading up to their mother's death and beyond. This allows Zusak the space to tease information, or switch from past to "present" at intriguing, cliffhanger-style moments, yet still avoid frustrating readers by revealing answers whilst setting up new questions.
Right from the start, Zusak has his narrator drop in pieces of information without further explanation (such as referring to their father only as 'Murderer'). The exposition will come later, but this teasing has the dual effect of both making readers insatiably curious to know more, and also giving the narrative a sense of depth and weight – the implication that there is a whole world, a whole family, a whole history tied up here, which will reveal itself over the course of the book.
Other techniques the author uses
Original word choice: Zusak's imagination knows no bounds; he uses fresh and unexpected description. This keeps the narrative interesting and readers alert to every word.
Example: The street didn't seem much to care; its breeze was close but casual, its smoky scent was touchable.
Foreshadowing: The multiple timelines, along with the understanding that the events in the story are already complete, give Zusak the opportunity to tempt readers with what's to come.
Example: The best way of controlling it was to have all five of us together in a show of strength.
Okay, stop.
Make that four of us, and one betrayer.
Structure: The story is split into eight parts, each with a heading that hints at what's ahead; and each part is divided into titled chapters that do likewise. The novel is neatly framed by an opening chapter, Before the Beginning: The Old Tw, and a final chapter entitled After the End: The Old Tw, Revisited. These framing chapters are a neat, clear way to enclose what is essentially a multi-faceted story told out of order.
Symbols and repetitions: Zusak uses repetitions and symbols to imbue deep emotion into this story of five struggling male adolescents. From the peg Clay keeps close at hand, to Clay's "training" and the brothers' roughhousing, all ensure readers find connection with this group of young boys bereft of the home life – security, comfort, love – they'd once known.
Example: He wanted to tell him – Dad, it's okay, it's okay, I won't tell anyone. Anything. Ever. I won't tell them.
Again, the peg was there.
He slept with it, it never left him.
It's always so eye-opening and refreshing to find an author who uses the conventions of storytelling in original and intriguing ways. Leave a comment below if you've read Bridge of Clay or any of Zusak's books, and what techniques he uses that you find particularly inspiring.
Bridge of Clay (2018), Zusak, M., Transworld Digital, Penguin Random House, London
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Tina Williams of Fiction Yogi is a copyeditor and proofreader who works with writers at all stages, giving them the tools to improve their manuscript and level up their writing so they can meet their publishing goals.
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