A Bridge To Wiseman's Cove

by James Moloney

Carl was afraid to breathe. The Weight of the bird and its piercing gaze was enough to freeze him here forever. 'Now Carl set it free'

Carl Matt hasn't got much. There's just his younger brother Harley and the old red barge to Wiseman's Cove. And nothing's going to take those away from him.

He's an awkward, lumpy fifteen year old. Not the hero type. Yet Carl has become one of the most memorable characters in Australian History.

Genres: Young Adult, School, Fiction, Contemporary, Read For School, High School, Audiobook

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

My full name is James Francis Moloney and I was born in Sydney, Australia on 20 September, 1954. When I was seven years old, my family moved to Brisbane and except for the odd year or two, I have lived in Brisbane ever since. At school, I was into every sport going - cricket, footy, swimming - you name it. It's hard to believe now but in High School, I was a champion Long Jumper! After University I became a teacher and then a Teacher Librarian. I moved around from school to school and in 1977-8 found myself in Cunnamulla, a little "outback" town where many Indigenous Australians live. These turned out to be important years for my writing.

In 1980, I look a year's leave, stuffed a backpack full of clothes and went off to see the world. Got to do it, guys! There's so much out there, from things to uplift your spirit to things that make you question the humanity of your fellow man. I stepped over rotting dog carcasses in Mexico city, got all weepy in a roomful of Impressionist paintings and met some fascinating people. Hope you'll do the same one day.

1983 was another big year. I got married and started work at Marist College Ashgrove, an all-boys school in Brisbane, where I stayed for fifteen years. During this time, I became interested in writing for young people, at first using the ideas and experiences gained from my time in Cunnamulla, mixed in with the thinking and wondering I'd done overseas. After my early attempts were rejected, the first of my novels, Crossfire , was published in 1992.
In 1997, my fifth novel for young adults, A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove won the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award. At the end of that year, I decided to leave teaching and become a full time writer.

In the mean time, my wife and I have produced three great children, two of whom are currently studying at University. Photos of them to the right, along with my lovely wife, Kate, who has encouraged me along every step of the way.

Now that I have turned my hobby into my job, I have had to develop some other interests. For exercise, I go cycling along the bike paths around Brisbane. I'm also into great books, great food, movies, travelling, learning to speak French and I dabble in a little painting. In recent years Kate and I have spent an extended period in France, cycled through Vietnam and soon we will be off to the USA.

Reviews

[Zitong Ren · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Bridge To Wiseman’s Cove is a young-adult novel by Australian author James Moloney. It has won the CBCA book of the year for older readers when it was first published, and as such people would expect that this would be a pretty good book. Well, the average rating on Goodreads hovers just above the three star mark, and I kid you not, for a book that almost has a thousand ratings, it is by far the lowest I have yet seen. I can say that reading the book was not an enjoyable experience and unless your school teacher has forced it upon you, there is much better YA literature out there. All thoughts and options are my own, they are not meant to offend or hurt anyone.

My experience with Moloney on the whole has not been great, and before I had yet begun this book, I was dreading that it would be bad, and yes, by just looking at my rating, it was bad. The writing was miserable, the main character was annoying, and dare I say it, whiny, and the plot was uninteresting and lacks in energy. This book is targeted towards young-adults, yes great. How do you get people who read little enough as it is to read more? Slow pacing, boring characters, heavy descriptions and a plot that never goes anywhere, genius! No one wants a riveting storyline with badass yet funny characters and writing that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Of course not, we don’t want that.

The writing in this book is horrendous in every way. It is slow, boring and bland. The author’s use of metaphors and similes were infuriating. He is far too over exaggerated in many of the things he writes. At one point he compares the amount of damage a bike has done to Genghis Khan. My issue with this is that how many thirteen year old’s are actually aware of who Genghis Khan is, and yes, I understand it is hyperbole, but the whole point of YA is to make them feel like they can relate to the writing and the story, not making them feel like they are reading a history textbook. Furthermore, for a book of its genre, there is too much descriptions of everything, and far too less of everything else. This makes everything really slow and the story never actually really picks up at all. The prelude was useless until the last page of the book and aside from the the first and last few dozen pages, very little happens at all.

There is this constant battle between these two barges that sees both them going back and forth for effectively the entire book and the way it was resolved was very bland and was up to no brilliance from the characters. This is somewhat of a romance, and possibly even a love triangle if one could call it that, the trouble with this though is that it never goes beyond holding hands and some cuddling. In general, there could have been so much depth to the story and it could have been so much better, but it wasn’t, and perhaps I can’t stand his writing style or that the prospect of a guy with his barge bores me, but nothing else happens! Carl starts washing cars on the barge and he is still doing the same thing two hundred pages later. Aside from some slight character development, there’s not much left to the story.

The characters. I do not even want to think about the characters, they are that wretched. Carl is stated to be a ‘lumpy fifteen-year-old.’ Ok, I’m cool with that, complete fine, but that’s not all, he’s also a pervert and it is the creepiest thing and makes him feel like a fifty year old pedophile. He trails this girl and spies on her, he creeps in and hides when trying to listen in to conversations and later, when she is nude and sleeping, instead of walking away, he stand there and ogles her. It is wrong, it is creepy and he did it again hundreds of pages later. But no, that’s not even the worst part of it.

Carl’s Mum abandons them every once in a while, Carl’s older sister, Sarah also ditches them for Europe(it is set in Australia), his brother Harley is a thief, Aunt Beryl is an alcoholic and gambles, so Moloney, congratulations on creating the most annoying and hate worthy crew of characters. Skip and Bruce are prone to temper tantrums, and Nathan is a bully. The nicer characters, like Joy, Justine and Maddie get overshadowed by the people who are annoying, whining and unlikeable, so, well done. Do they improve, well yes, but actually no. Aunt Beryl and Bruce ditch the town at the end, Nathan and Maddie don’t actually appear at the end, Skip has let go of the past at least and Carl cries the entire time.

It mentions issues such as being overweight, but is not necessarily dealt with as Carl is bullied for his stature but after months of work, is looses lots of his weight and bam, problem solved, which escapes the hard reality.

It is unfortunately not a very good book from my perspective, and I’m aware that there are people that have loved its so it can’t be entirely terrible, but I would give it a pass. 1.5/10

Edit: It is riddled with grammatical errors including missing quotation marks, missing words and misplaced use of quotation marks.

[ambsreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS BOOK FOR LIKE FOUR YEARS. OH MY GOD. SHOUTOUT TO CAIT FOR GIVING ME THE NAME.

I read this around 4/5 years ago for school. It was a great book. I don't say that lightly since I hated 98% of books I had to read for school. However, this book was amazing. I was 14 at the time I read it, turning 15 later that year so idk, but it was incredible. It was over dramatic now that I look back but it was powerful in tackling real life issues and throwing in twists my 14 year old self couldn't solve. I remember the ending had me even sobbing in class.

Obviously, I wouldn't recommend this book. However, if your school recommends it read it.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the sort of book that teachers tend to pick to introduce kids to the sorts of things teachers like to talk about in books. This book is one of the first books for young adults I’ve read – I won’t literally do this, but a very interesting exercise would be to go through a book like Stephen King’s book Writing and then to see just how many of King’s pieces of advice are broken or ignored in the writing of this book. This book is a remarkable resource in examples of the kinds of writing usage guides consistently advise writers to avoid.

This is also an example of the kind of book that gets written by someone who doesn’t really trust their audience to ‘get’ the point of the story they are writing. This means that they spend lots of time being hyper-explicit. But life is full of contradictions and so their longing to be known as a good writer gets in the way too. This compels them to be ‘someone who writes interestingly’ – the adverb ‘interestingly’ here meaning writing ‘in ways that are not standard and are somehow supposed to enhance the meaning of the text through the text’s convolution.

So, for large parts of this book hardly anyone merely says something – they inquire or they shout or there is a very long adverbial phrase making it clear just how the person said whatever piece of wisdom they were passing on. Look, at least no one ‘ejaculated’ – so that is a bonus, but there were times in some of the steamier handholding scenes when that seemed a distinct possibility. What is it with a certain class of writer that they can’t seem to get their characters to just say things? How much could you ever hope to improve a story by ‘improving’ how you describe the tone in which stuff is said?

This is the story of a young boy, Carl Matt, who is abandoned by his mother and sister and has to look after his young brother whilst living with his less than caring or capable aunt. They are staying in the town where their family had originally lived prior to either boy being born. There are lots of family secrets that everyone in town knows about the boys and their family but that the boys do not know at all. Mostly these centre around the young boys’ grandfather who, through an act of stupidity, killed the son of one of the other main characters in this book, Skip, the barge owner. Through the loving kindness of Joy, the wife of Skip, the Matt boys redeem their family, bring Skip back to life and finally become part of a family that will protect them. Carl ends up being something of a hero, not least because of his willingness for hard work and his dedication to his brother.

If you have characters with names like ‘Joy’ in a book like this, you can pretty much guarantee there will be no irony in their name and that this will be a useful signpost for your young readers so as to help them spot one of the ‘good guys’ in the story…

There are lots and lots of themes in the book like, ‘how responsible are you for the actions of your family?’ ‘how much loyalty do you owe your family?’ ‘who is responsible for rescuing you from despair?’ but then there are also lots of very strange themes here like ‘should fat people only go out with other fat people?’ There is a kind of eugenics side to this book that I found quite disturbing.

And, of course, this is the sort of book that you want the young boys in your class to read, so there has to be at least some titillation. You even get a glimpse of one of the hottest girls in town’s nipples, made even more titillating by being caught in the act by another character. There is also the serious handholding scenes I mentioned before. Add to that a few splashes of sunscreen being applied liberally with sweating palms and lots of talk about how unusual, but also how nice this all makes Carl feel and the requisite quota of soft porn has been added to guarantee any young males in the class will immediately become avid readers for a lifetime.

There is an odd use of periodic sentences in the book - that is, sentences where the main information bit of the sentence is kept until the very end of the sentence. I think the intention here is to show just how confused and upset Carl is at the start of the book, as it is a technique the writer gives up on about half way through – as he does with his habit of leaving out the subjects of his sentences more or less at random. I found this a very difficult book to read because of the non-standard grammar throughout. I got to hear kids reading parts of this book and believe part of the reason for them tripping and stumbling over parts of the text was because the language so consistently confounded their expectations of what words were likely to come next. I’m not sure that whatever was gained in artifice by his style of writing was worth the confusion often caused in the reader by these techniques. Periodic sentences are often a clear sign of a writer begging for attention – a possibility not to be discounted in this case.

I’ll just give some background and then an example from the text of some writing I particularly didn’t like. Carl is working for Skip on a barge both directing cars where to park and washing them down on the trip over so as to take all the salt and sand off them. He fancies Skip’s daughter, Maddie, the hottest girl in town mentioned earlier, but also knows she is too hot for a fatty such as himself (did I mention there were themes in this book I really didn’t like?). Every day Maddie and her mum, Joy, cross the strait and this allows Carl a quick glimpse of Maddie, even if it is a stolen glimpse. And how is this expressed in the text?

“Carl saw Maddie each day as she crossed the strait to take the bus to Hendon High with the rest of the kids. He would spot the Landrover waiting in the queue and made a show of guiding Joy to the right spot, all the time avoiding the passenger seat. Later, he would steal a view of her profile from the far side of the barge.”

I can’t begin to tell you how annoying I find that ‘avoiding the passenger seat’. Its ‘purpose’ – I assume – in the writer’s mind is to ‘show’ Carl not being too obvious in ‘going the perv’ on Maddie. All this is done because we all know we need to ‘show, and not tell’ when we write. But then the writer’s fundamental lack of trust in the reader comes screaming to the fore. The little buggers just won’t get it – so I’d better tell them anyway. We are left with all the convolution of the language and all of the blurted out explanations both at the same time. That is, the worst of both worlds.

Then there are the overwrought metaphors, ‘smiling wider than the strait they sailed across so many times a day’ is merely one that was at hand. And then there is the use of smashed up language for which the point seems quite obscure:

‘“I’d like you to stay on for a few weeks,” he said bluntly. “See how things go.” After he’d spoken, he looked out to sea. He was asking, really. Knew he needed Carl Matt to bolster hope.”

The last sentence is a sentence fragment, which would be fine if the subject of the sentence had been left out for a reason. And then that phrase, ‘to bolster hope’ – which sounds like something you might have read in a 1940s boys’ own adventure. When was the last time you heard someone talking about ‘bolstering hope’?

Hmm… there might be things about becoming an English teacher that will remain a bit of a struggle for me.

[Ash ꣑ৎ (quit) · Rating 1 out of 5]

⸝⸝🕊️˚₊﹕1.75 stars 💫✨﹕੭₊

Honestly this wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I will still mourn the hours of my life I lost reading this book 😔😔

⸝⸝🕊️˚₊﹕pre-read﹕੭₊

It's that time of year again, where school forces to make me read books that make me question why I even like reading 😔😔 Fingers crossed this one is better than last year's one tho, bc idk if I can put myself through that again 😭😭 Wish me luck 😖😖

[Bianca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was absolute rubbish.
One of the worst books I have ever read, to be quite honest.
It was boring and the characters didn't do anything amazing.

[sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

read this for english as well and it was so boring and didn’t keep me captivated at all😐

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove. It was a school book, but it was a great story. It talks about stereotypes in society and has simple lives weaved together to create a story. The obvious choice for the main love interest, turns out to be only a crush and Carl and Justine are more suited to each other, helping each other understand their flaws and accept that it doesn't define them. James Moloney writes with raw honesty and weaves complex emotions and storylines into the simplest lives.

[Ray Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carl is one of the most memorable characters in Australian literature.
I wonder why...

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book back in 2003 for a High School english assignment - we had to choose an Australian author. I remember feeling underwhelmed, having never really enjoyed a book that was school-appointed. Little did I know I would still be thinking about this one seven years later. I was lucky enough to meet James Moloney about the same time as he came and did a speech at our school - he was a genuinely friendly person and in my opinion, a great Author.

'A Bridge To Wisemans Cove' tells the tale of Carl Matt - an awkward, lumpy fifteen year-old who just wants to be loved. Sarah, Carl and Harley’s fathers all walked out on the family and their mother often finds them too hard to cope with. When his mother walks out on the family, apparently for good, nineteen year-old Sarah, terrified of the responsibility of raising the two boys, heads to Europe, packing the boys off to stay with their Aunt Beryl in Wattle Beach.

Beryl is less than delighted at the idea of taking in the boys, until she realizes that she can keep their social services payments. However, far from filling the role of their mother, she shows the boys no love and even attempts to keep Harley chained to the house to prevent him stealing and misbehaving.

Carl is miserable in Wattle Beach. His size and awkwardness make him feel self-conscious and unable to make friends at school. Even the townspeople of Wattle Beach regard the boys with suspicion, believing all the Matt clan to be useless no-hopers. All Carl wants is a family and the security of knowing that he is loved.

When, at sixteen, Carl stops receiving any social security benefits, Beryl forces him to leave school. He finds work with Skip and Joy Duncan who run a rusty run-down barge from Wattle Bay to the nearby island. When Carl first starts to work for them the business is losing money, largely because of competition from a rival barge company. Before long however, Carl, reveling in finally belonging to something, shows initiative and helps to bring trade to the struggling business. He even begins to find the courage to stand up to his uncaring, manipulative Aunt Beryl. But, just as Carl begins to experience happiness, family secrets come back to haunt him and again bring his world crashing down around him.

James Moloney has a way with words, making his characters emotions and experiences feel very real. He deals with some confronting issues in this book, and you sympathise with Carl and everything he has to go through. This book really makes you think about family and just how far you're willing to go to protect each other. Definitely worth a read!

[Ghostly Writer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A feel-good story.

[Scarlette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked the book and it’s story, the flow and how the chapters can be short and straightforward, although the description of Maddie’s body and how Carl always thought of her wearing the blue bikini from the first time he saw her was just not it for me. He then ends up having Justine as his love interest which I think is actually good. I just felt like the way the author would keep bringing up how Maddie appeared to our MC was off and kind of uncomfortable.I did enjoy the book, I was kind of in a reading slump and this was just light (but also kinda not when you reach the climax) and just calming, I saw other’s reviews and they didn’t like it but it really depends on the person so if you’re interested I’d say give it a shot and see how you like it:))

[Robin]

Like many others who have picked up this book, I read A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove for English class and out of my entire schooling so far, it is the one book that I could not finish.

Before I gave up on it, I was about 100 or so pages in (around halfway of the book) but it quickly became too bland for me to read. The characters were not well thought out and lacked a lot of personality. They were not relatable and there is no depth to them—they are not engaging. The writing style is bland and focused very little on these characters, when, personally, I believe the most interesting aspect of a story is the characters as they are what drive the plot onwards— they are the focus. Though, I quickly realised in this painful read, that the characters of this story are just as unclear as the plot itself.

A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove focuses on a dysfunctional family, which could be written about in an engaging manner where it describes, accurately showcases and confronts how this affects the characters and its overall impact on the plot. But there is one major, underlying issue about this book which makes it such an effort to read: The plot isn’t clear. I cannot, to this day, properly explain what the plot of book actually is, which is a huge problem. If your audience cannot understand the plot, then what is the point of writing the novel in the first place? The symbolism of the bird on the cover (I believe it was an osprey, but I might be mistaken) was also unclear, though maybe that was explained in the later parts of the novel that I did not get up to.

The final downfall of the novel (though I suppose the story in its entirety is its downfall), was the writing style. It was dull and lacked a unique voice to it, as well as it being ridiculously lazy. Maybe James Moloney put an exceptional amount of effort into writing it, but if he did, I did not see it. There were countless spelling mistakes and missing quotation marks everywhere. I couldn’t count the amount of grammatical errors on my two hands. The book is very poorly edited and it seems as if the editors were just ready to be free of it, like there was some big rush for it to be published.

In summary, the book was, to put it bluntly, quite terrible. I would suggest ways in which it could have been improved but in all honesty, that would require the whole book to be gotten rid of. Unfortunately, I cannot think of any positives of the story and it has managed to disappoint in every aspect possible. I understand that not every novel an author writes will be perfect, but this book has lacked so much that it has, for me, defined what James Moloney’s writing style and skill level is like, and I am certain that I will not read from him again if I can help it. A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove is a great example of poor writing and what not to do when creating a story. Unless you are looking to be disappointed, then this is not a book that I would recommend to anyone. It is truly a waste of time and I pity anyone who has read it the whole way through.

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was tempted to give this just four stars but it's such a powerful story, I think that would be underrating it.

Carl is a fat fridge of a boy. Hulking, lumbering, self-conscious of his flab, desperately lonely, terrified that his mother has disappeared for good. Kerry - his mum - sometimes has a meltdown and takes off for unannounced 'holidays' and leaves him, his older sister Sarah and younger brother Harley to fend for themselves. One day, Carl's greatest fear comes to pass. Mum stays away longer than she ever has before. Days pass into weeks, then into months...

Sarah decides she's had enough. She's saved up from her job in the travel agency and is going on a holiday to England. Carl knows she's lying... like mum, she's moving on and not coming back.

He and Harley are packed off to their aunt in Wattle Bay with a couple of bags, crammed full of clothes. Ostensibly it's for the school holidays, but Carl knows it isn't. He buys survival for himself and Harley through his ability to finely judge the worst side of human nature and, if he can, work to appease it.

His aunt wants money. So he'll get it. He leaves school and finds a job on a barge that goes to Wiseman's Cove on Bede Island. The bargemaster, Skip Duncan, doesn't want him initially - and it's not just because the barge is failing to pay its way because a rival has started up and indulged in cut-throat price-cutting. There's a secret Carl can't quite penetrate about Skip's limp.

Eventually Carl shows his initiative and through various means brings the barge run back into profitability. But he's in a constant state of terror: Harley is running wild and his aunt is threatening to split the boys up and send them to foster homes.

Carl works obsessively to make the barge pay its way and bring in a profit. But the terror in him never quite subsides... until, one mysterious day, Justine the overweight girlfriend of the girl in the blue bikini he'd love to speak to, asks him to a pizza party. His reserve is entirely broken down as he realises Justine's friends all admire him for his crazy attempt to save the Duncans from bankruptcy.

But where's his mum? How can he save Harley? He can't work any harder or faster than he is but his best efforts aren't good enough. The other barge copies his every improvement with something bigger and better. Then Carl finds out the true story of Skip's limp - who caused it - and what else happened that horrific day. And then he has an even greater terror to add to his emotional burden: is he just like everyone else in his dysfunctional family - someone who, through his own selfishness, causes permanent pain for others? What is lurking in his generational DNA that just seems to want to harm others?

[Emma Balkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find this book that interesting. The plot was rather depressing and I didn't that the characters were particularly likeable. A book with bad reviews.A book by an author I've never read before.

[Asawari · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great book... once I started reading it, I just couldn't put it down. James Moloney is a great author.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars
I read this book for school a few years ago and it was one of the few books I truly enjoyed reading at school. It tackles a lot of real teenage issues and is truly a wonderful read.

[boo poo]

I loved this book, it was very nice

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove was a book of balance, presenting to us themes of abandonment, neglect, mental illness and disorder, toxic family and the people out there who really do care for us. But most importantly, having your name attached to a crime, much like Holes by Louis Sachar.

We are introduced to this book with a not so stable family; mother Kerry, siblings Sarah, Carl and Harley (19, 15 and 10 respectively). Kerry has a history of abandoning the children and returning home afterwards, in episodes that appear to be bipolar. When she doesn’t return home and Sarah goes on a holiday that is soon revealed to be permanent rather than temporary, they go to live with their Aunt Beryl, who also happens to an obnoxious person.

This book was published in 1996, so we must remember that much of what happens in this book would now not be accepted, but it shows how strong Carl and Harley are, as well as how forgiving, caring and loving the Duncan’s are. We see the journeys of many of these characters, through love and loss, coming of age, family history, generational rivalry and finding the people in life who really care for you.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars, it was a school book to read in English and most people enjoyed it. I’ve heard that there’s better young adult literature out there, but this book was convenient for our grade and was both so intriguing and shocking to us that when we finished, we were left asking questions and shown how sometimes a happy ending takes many forms. Well done to James Moloney.

[Kanzler I. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Now Carl, set it free."

A read this book because there were a lot ot copies of it in my school library. I didnt have anything else to read and I wasnt too interested in the books that I already had so i picked up this book gave it a go.

Honestly, i enjoyed the ride.

A bridge to Wisemen's cove is about a story of a teen facing against his sister and mother who ran away while having to deal with his aunt and little brother. It's a story about Carl being thrown into a world where his family's past sins were significant and him having to deal with that against the people whom have been affected by his family's past the most.

Retribution? Mercy? Overcoming challanges? Love? This story is all about that and much more, including the things that I cant describe.

Im goimg through a tough period as well and the writing of this novel made me feel the melancholy that I supressing. I was able to feel Carl's world, his feelings, his actions and all others.

What a great read. The synposis that the book that i read had in the back included this sentence.

"Carl as an unlikely hero..."

And it couldnt have been more accurate, in a good way.

Overall, just like the Osprey that he has set free. Carl has freed himself of the shackles that he didnt choose to wear.

[Stephen Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bridge to wiseman’s cove

A bridge to wisemen’s is a gripping tale of 2 kids who cannot find their place with a dysfunctional family. We follow Carl Matt (15) the middle child of the Matt family and his little brother Harley Matt the youngest of the Matt family. In this book we follow the series of unfortunate events that these 2 boys went through. Beginning with their mother leaving the boys and their sister for months eventually leading to their sister to leave the to kids not being able to cop with the stress of taking care of her brother. Move them to a little place called wattle beach. This is where the story begins.
My favourite part of the book would be when Skip and Carl become great friends after Skip not wanting Carl to working with him on the barge.
This is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who want to read a book of a gripping well teller story of 2 boys who find a better life for them.

[Natalie KM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in high school and some parts really stuck with me, even decades on. I was glad when I found a copy at my local street library and could give it a reread.

I had mixed feelings about the book as a teenager, and this reread didn't change my opinion: the pacing is inconsistent. Some parts are really detailed, some feel very shallow by comparison. Some parts are really gripping and others just don't stick the landing. Descriptions of Carl working on the barge weren't as interesting as Moloney thought they were. Harley (the younger brother) becomes a major character for a large chunk of the novel, then is regulated almost entirely to the background for the last quarter.

It's definitely a book for young people with its surface level story, but the depictions of Carl's dysfuctional family a unexpectedly hard-hitting for a YA book. Some parts were almost harder to read now than at the time.

[Bruce Wadd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words cannot begin to express the masterly way Moloney handles the difficult family dynamics, the myriad of emotions and complexity of circumstances faced by the key character of the story, Carl Matt. Through clever and yet highly sensitive writing the story never seems to shy away from the underlying theme of desiring love, craving attention and the many different expressions of those desires. The almost fairytale ending is delivered right at the close of the book in a mature and delightful way… loved every moment of this read. [In fact, I listened, and found it just intriguing, and personally I connected with many of these emotions]

[The Book Squirrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was recommended (where/who, I can't remember). It was available on eaudio at my library and I'm currently trying to focus on YA lit for work, so thought I'd give it a go. I really liked Moloney's The Love That I Have and his Boys and books: Building a culture of reading around our boys, so I had high hopes.

I'm sorry to say this was disappointing and I'm tossing up between 1 and 2 stars. This is a book which English teachers will assign for "depth" and students will, for the most part, fail to engage.

Nothing really seemed to happen, and the story is primarily a vehicle for emotional growth. A lot of the "emotional" elements seemed a bit put on. I didn't really believe the supposed emotional depth and it was too "spelled out". Very much "told" not "shown". This is something a psychologist would give a neglected 14 y.o. to read as part of very obvious therapy to help them come to terms with their need to be loved.

I found Carl's obsession with Maggie pervy and gross. OK, so some/many teenage boys are pervy and gross, so it's a catch 22 (being realistic vs being palatable). There's titillation with girls in bikinis, an exposed nipple on a drunk girl, being caught in the act of staring at this nipple, heavy handholding beneath a shared blanket, and sunscreen on bare skin, so you get your quota of teen porn.

I recommend the longer one- and two- star reviews if you want to know more about why this book falls short.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was quite confusing after a while and honestly quite boring as nothing exciting happened. The only real ‘suspense’ in this book was when one of the kids almost drowned. I only finished it because I wanted to see what the end would be and because I was assigned to read it for school. Tbh I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody looking for an exciting story as excitement is what the story lacks.
- Sorry :/

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove by James Moloney is a novel aimed at young adults. It focuses on the unsettled life of teenager Carl Matt as he works desperately to make a barge business profitable after moving in with his aunt.

Its as interesting as it sounds. The plot drags a little, but the protagonist is rather sweet.
Theres character development and a plot, and one complex female character.

It's rather middling but a pleasant enough read.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is touching YA novel that examines identity and our need to belong. Carl Matt is a character we have all known. An outsider who wants desperately to belong, but feels unworthy of anyone's love. This lumpy kid stole my heart. You can't help but root for him and his plodding, deliberate determination. The Australian beach setting could have been the Florida Keys with it's motley, individualistic characters. If you need a feel-good read, this one's the ticket.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in high school and couldn't remember anything about it. I don't think I loved it or hated it at the time (I feel like books they make you read for school are either terrific or awful, but this one I couldn't remember particularly hating or liking it). Now reading as an adult, I loved it! Really enjoyable story and the characters are awesome! Justine is my kind of girl (self deprecating weight humour abounds) and Carl is really likeable.

[Willow · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was horrible. Through my experience reading Moloney’s novels, I have asserted that his characters have the emotional depth of paper. Not only that, but in this novel, Carl Matt displays many problematic, even perverted behaviours which are merely glossed over.
I found the characters in this book, especially Carl, absolutely intolerable. If I could give this book a zero star review, I would.

[Jessica G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reread of a book I studied for high school English and came back to because I named the love interest in my manuscript after an antagonist in this book. Tells the story of Carl Matt, who’s haunted by his surname, abandoned by his mother and sister. Much nicer experience when there’s no essays or discussion of themes blanketing everything. Just a pure, simple, nostalgic listening experience; just you typical young adult high school read set in the ’90s with a very Gen X vibe. 3.5/5

[Mr_Tuckerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carl's family is breaking apart, and he finds himself the only one who can hold things together. Along the way he learns the secrets of his family.

Probably a good choice for boys 13-16. Carl is a likeable protagonist and his struggles are realistic.

Adult readers might be frustrated by the way the whole thing is so neatly wrapped up, given the grittiness of some of the elements.