I Am the Messenger

"I Am the Messenger" is a fantastic book. Superbly written. A wonderful cast of characters. Even the dog. Especially the dog. Emotional. Humorous. Gripping. I read it in two days.Zusak's writing style is a bit different. If you read reviews you'll see that some people struggle with it, but I really enjoyed it. I think I appreciate it because it is different, and not run-of-the-mill. But it's even more than that. Once you become accustomed to the writing style, you can acknowledged its brilliance, it's ability to ability to bring settings, characters, and their motivations to life without being wordy. This is a difficult thing to do, and Zusak pulls it off effortlessly.And it's not just a great story. Like all truly great stories, there is substance that goes deeper, substance that asks you to think about your own life. Granted, in our current society, some of the things the protagonist does would be considered somewhat weird, and probably land him in jail for being just a bit too creepy. But in the context of this *fictional* story, it works. You don't have to be creepy to be better.I really struggled with the rating. If you view my scale below you see that I don't just give out 5 starts willy-nilly. I feel like I have been given about 30 literal 5-stars, and they must last my entire life, so I have to be very careful when I hand them out. To be honest, I wanted to give this 4.5 stars. But, since I can't, I went ahead and bumped it up to 5, because I thought going down to 4 would not be fair, especially when compared to some of my other 4-star reviews. So 5 it is.---------------I noticed Amazon and Goodreads have a slightly different meanings to their 5-point scale. I thought it was odd to have a different rating for the same book on two different sites, so I came up with my own scale below. For the record, it is fairly close to Amazon's scale, but allows me to be consistent between the two sites.5 - Fantastic. Life-altering. Maybe only 30 in a lifetime.4 - Very good.3 - Worth your time.2 - Not very good.1 - Atrocious (less)

First off, I have to give props to Markus Zusak. I have read The Book Thief and just finished I Am the Messenger and I love his writing style.As for this book, I fell into it. It grabbed hold of me and I loved every minute of it until the very end. The ending was a little too cliche and easy for me. After all that Ed went through, I felt he deserved a better ending, something more deep and meaningful.This story is about a 19 year old Australian taxi driver named Ed Kennedy who stops a bank robber. His life is very average and kind of boring up until this point. He lives in what he describes as a shack with a 17 year old dog named the Doorman (love that name!) and the highlight of his life is playing cards with his three friends; Audrey, Marv and Ritchie. Not long after stopping the robber, Ed receives a playing card (an Ace) in the mail with three addresses and times written on it. Of course Ed visits the addresses at the specified times and learns that there is something important he needs to do at each address.The story follows Ed on his journey through completing the tasks at each address. He then gets 3 other Aces with odd clues on each. At the end, he receives one other card but I'll let you read the book to find out which it is. Ed's life takes on much more meaning and the story really evolves his character so far that I really felt like I knew him. This story moved me to tears a few times and made my heart full at others. Like I said before, I love Markus Zusak's writing. His words get inside of me and play with my emotions.I really did like this book and thought I would love it but the ending did make me drop one star from my rating. I understand why it was written the way it was but I wish it would have been a little more unpredictable. Overall though, this is a wonderful, moving story that I would suggest to anyone.

So, huge spoiler alert. Whoop, whoop, whoop! Whoop, whoop, whoop! Spoiler alert! You know, I read this book because I read "The Book Thief" first. Did I like "The Book Thief"? Yeah, I did. Did I like this book better? Oh, yeah. Much better. Why did I like this book better? You know, I wouldn't have been able to tell you unless you've read both books. Having read "The Book Thief", do I want to see the movie? Well, kinda--only to see how the star-studded cast can bring the beautifully written story to screen. When I read that the movie doesn't address the two books that Max writes for Liesel, the major turning, revolving, focusing points of the novel, I immediately swore off seeing the movie. Then I read that Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson were casted ... and so, am in conflict.I appreciate a writer who leaves much of the ending of a story to my mind, so that I can create and develop the pictures and plots in my mind. In "The Book Thief", we have Death playing a speaking role--almost to the point of where I felt, as a reader, that I was beaten over the head with the fact that Death was in the forefront and taking an active role. Yes, yes, Death. Okay, gotcha, let's move along. I was also confounded, or conflicted, when there were these sections of airy prose--not prose, yeah prose--thrown into the mix BIG and BOLD and COMMANDING. I didn't know the source. Maybe I was just stupid, or had too much too drink. It wasn't revealed until whatever chapter that it was our Ms. Liesel who was writing these BIG and BOLD and COMMANDING passages. Wow, when I understood this--like I said, I might have been behind all cheering on Death for narrating and cleverly leading us down a path where Ms. Liesel would taking the jumping off point. Whew! Boy, howdy. When I had that realization, the novel completely opened up and I read it again from the beginning so I could absorb, and intrinsically know, breathe even, the essence of Ms. Liesel. Then the novel was, holy cow, for teens? Pfft. For everyone. Period.Okay, so where was I? Oh, yeah, this book. I think when one reads that the English version of this novel is titled "I Am the Messenger" but in other languages the novel is titled "The Message". I think that if you view the novel through the looking-glass of the novel as "The Message" rather than "I Am the Messenger" I might persuade you to see/read the novel my way. In this novel, the protagonist--Christ on a cracker. Sorry, let me just be me.In this novel, our wanna-be hero, Ed, is living a bland and bleak life: SSDD, in other words, and I apologize I offend with my language: Same Shit, Different Day. He isn't living live, he is simply existing--that is, until he finds himself as a potential hostage in a bank robbery and steps outside *cringes from the overused reference* his box and well, saves the day. He then is the recipient of a playing card with a task. Okay, folk. So those of you who were "surprised" by the ending? Who in the heck did you think were sending the cards? To make a long story short, Ed learns it's the little things, sometimes the odd things, the different ways of connecting and validating folk for who they are in their world and sorting through the flotsam and jetsam of "Hi, how are you?" and "Nice day, isn't it?". In other words he takes a stand and does that which he believes is right for him and his heart; just right for who-he-is-right-now-and-crap-to-all-the-rest.So then, to the ending that a bunch o' folk didn't like, but I did. Okay, so who is a big fan of SF out there, anybody? Christ, doesn't anyone "do" metaphors anymore, or is it just me? Ed is visited by this little guy; a youngin' whom I see as, seasonally appropriate and for lack of a better term, the ghost of Christmas past. The little guy ain't Ed, but he's an apparition of a kinda' Ed, of a youngish' Ed, or *gasp* could it be the devil appearing in a form that is likable and unoffensive to our *snicker* Mr. Ed reminding him of the difference of who he was then and who is is now? I have a quote, but can't reach it as my Kindle is in the other room, and I have a Chocolate Labrador named Luna lying on my feet impeding my progress whilst begging for treats.I'm paraphrasing thanks to Luna: the little guy holds a mirror up to Ed and asks him if he is "looking at a dead man now?" And Ed, in a whisper, in a flood, sees all "those places and people again" (my husband called Luna out for treats so I was able to rescue my Kindle).Not to be a smart-ass, because, well, I am one, who can't see from the obvious writing and the mysterious little guy holding a mirror up to our protagonist asking him to reflect upon his life, can't see the obvious that the little guy is and/or could be Mephistopheles. Not that Ed every actively and/or overtly wished for a change of life through the devil; I think it was understated and pretty darn clear through the writing. Oh, that and I totally loved when Ed told off his mom and said something like, "It doesn't matter who I am there, it matter who I am and the changes that I make here." Again, paraphrasing as Luna has once again settled on my feet and my Kindle is far, far away.Again, I could be wrong. Call me odd, loved the book, the ending, and must give props to the writer for following a life-long dream of published author.

Adoro esse livro! Já li em português, e agora em inglês pra praticar. Leitura leve, divertida. Recomendo!

No llegó la portada que aparece en la imagen.

The author has told so beautifully that each and every ordinary person is capable of something extraordinary. In this case the hero had someone who guided him to become extraordinary, but in real life we have to identify what we are capable of ,all my ourselves. Good book to ponder over in silence and think .

loved reading this book. Had no idea what I might be in for, having previously read Zusak's The Book Thief ... was delighted with the story, the plot, the characters, the lines. Read it! And then read it again!

Basically I enjoyed the book