I Am The Messenger Review
“My full name's Ed Kennedy. I'm nineteen. I'm an underage cab driver. I'm typical of many of the young men you see in this suburban outpost of the city -- not a whole lot of prospects or possibility. That aside, I read more books than I should, and I'm decidedly crap at sex and doing my taxes. Nice to meet you. ”
Like The bulletin's review: "Zusak outdoes himself here".
Personally, I didn't think I would love anything for Zusak after The Book Thief. It just stood out for me like no other novel did. But I'm so delighted that he knows how readers like how much he relates to reading while writing, and to writing while reading. Like I said in the blog post about him "he sees that a person in a novel must have something for novels".
Yep. That is Zusak.
Ed Kennedy's just another miserable guy, a cabdriver who's been desperately in love with his best friend for years. And he reads books. The plot of this novel may not impress many people. It's the narration that counts. The twist that counts. The writing style.
Ed receives messages on playing cards. That is the part that I really wanted to understand. I don't understand cards probably at all. I don't get what the hearts or queen of spades mean (which I suggest you look up while reading, if you're interested). I admired how his whole life was related to each part of it like a big puzzle or a circle that is connected somehow. Everything is well planned.
The most important part about I am The Messenger is that how it triggers the humane part in us. How it makes us think that the world is full of signs for those who want to help others. One way or the other, you can always find people around you doing things with a screaming voice from the inside, for people to help them. Or going through hard times and wanting to be noticed, unnoticeably. This novel is about being the messenger and the message at the same time.
I have no doubt that this will be the second life-changing novel for me, after, of course, The Book Thief.
It just made me want to help everyone around me and let myself be the message as well. It made me want to embrace humanity, no matter how much I hate it lately. We're all fighting battles alone. It is true.
Zusak's humor made me literally laugh out loud I thought my family would think I went insane. From chapter I, I knew I'd like the novel only because of the laughter it brought to my heart. While reading, allow yourself to indulge with laughter, from the inside, because if books wouldn't do that to you, I don't know which would!
Zusak's humor made me literally laugh out loud I thought my family would think I went insane. From chapter I, I knew I'd like the novel only because of the laughter it brought to my heart. While reading, allow yourself to indulge with laughter, from the inside, because if books wouldn't do that to you, I don't know which would!
I don't need to talk about Zusak's language nor style of writing. He's just too good for words.
The ending, however, perplexed me a little bit. I guess the author always leaves his readers with questions unanswered. Sometimes it's negative, other times it's positive.
Finally, I loved, loved how he even related places to books and writers. Probably the thing that impressed me the most.
I mentioned most of the quotes already, but here are they again:
“It's not a big thing, but I guess it's true--big things are often just small things that are noticed.”
“Believe it or not--it takes a lot of love to hate you like this.”
“I think she ate a salad and some soup.
And loneliness.
She ate that, too. ”
“It's impeccable how brutal the truth can be at times. You can only admire it. Usually, we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay," we say. "I'm alright." But sometimes the truth arrives on you, and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer - it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced.”
“I realize that nothing belongs to her anymore and she belongs to everything.”
“If I ever leave this place-
I'll make sure I'm better HERE first.”
"We sit on the front steps which are half in shadows, half in the sun. As it happens, I sit in the darkness and Tommy sits in the light. Quite symbolic, really.
I'd wanted to stay on that porch with him until the sun shone bright on both of us, but I didn't. I stood and walked down the steps. I'd rather chase the sun than wait for it"
