I Am the Messenger: Markus Zusak

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I Am the Messenger is not The Book Thief—yes, they are both slow, moving, character driven, lyrically written stories of pain and finding light in the darkest corners of life, but where The Book Thief told the tale of one of the bleakest moments in the history of humanity through the innocent eyes of a child, Messenger weaves a mysterious tapestry of chasing the sun rather than waiting for it, of finding your purpose and stepping out of the suffocating definition of “ordinary,” of witnessing the ignored suffering of those around us, the truths swept beneath the rugs of our lives as we walk away and through our day, and, unlike the day before, standing up and raising a fist, a voice, and marching toward the fear. I've got a pint of Chunky Monkey, When Harry met Sally cued, and Peter Gabriel's 'Your Eyes' on infinite repeat. There a lot of supporting characters here, but I think I'll be focusing on the main ones in my opinion. The attempted murder of the rapist sits heavily on Ed’s conscience even though he didn’t carry it out. Having aimed the gun away from the man, he has to wonder what unintended harm the stray bullet might have caused. Ed is plagued by guilt for not completely resolving the problem for the mother and daughter on Edgar Street, but he was true to himself in deciding not to kill the rapist. The peace that shattered him at that moment came when he stopped struggling with his moral and ethical scruples and accepted them as part of himself. When Ed acts following his integrity, he sacrifices the satisfaction of a sure solution not only for Angelina and her mother but also for his safety.

The Messenger, released in the United States as I Am the Messenger, is a 2002 novel by Markus Zusak, and winner of the 2003 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. The story is written from the perspective of the protagonist, taxi driver Ed Kennedy, [1] whose journey begins after he stops a robbery and receives a playing card in the mail. First of all (and maybe most importantly): the writing style. It was so...juvenile? That's the word that first comes to mind. I constantly had the feeling that the book was written by a teenager, maybe as a project for a creative writing class or something like that. But I feel like I'm being unfair to teenagers when I say this. I have read works from teenagers before, and their writing style often was A TON better than this. Me: As I was saying, in his faceted, tangible, and conflicted characters, each with their own internal struggles, the author Markus Zus— I also really liked Richie but I just wished he had been in it a bit more because I think his story line was great. I also LOVED that he had a Jimi Hendrix tattoo on his arm... that looked like Richard Pryor. Hahaaa.

I Am the Messenger Resources

I wish I could hold up that knife and tear open the world. I’d slice it open and climb through to the next one.

Ed's voice was honest. You'll read about him feeling bad about himself not being able to do anything right - which I think most of us could relate to. Here's the thing : While I cannot deny that some parts were pretty great, especially when it comes to the pacing (rather fast-paced, even though it took me 4 days to read it, which is a lot for me) and that I liked most of the writing - Choosing a favorite quote this time was just like choosing a favorite child, but there was one I needed to share: I loved Marv and Richie. One of my greatest weakness in life (I do have a few) is a boy who defends his run-down car to the death, so Marv and his blue Falcon was like cat nip to me. So many of Marv and Ed’s exchanges made me laugh so loudly and I could just imagine boys their age talking like that.I dreamt and I worried because, after the utter devastating magic that was The Book Thief, my expectations of Markus Zusak were admittedly too high; now having read I Am the Messenger, I am glad that I dreamt and reached and regret that I ever doubted this man. What I loved so much about this book, aside from the writing and the characters and the setting and the suspense and the emotion, was that despite the novel's outlandishness, Ed's achievements and his impact on others is completely believable. You know that there is nothing significant about Ed. He has no superpowers, his acts of goodness were not preordained. Yet you don't doubt for a second that Ed's simple deeds make his world a better place.