Thursday, October 7, 2010

I Am the Messenger


Title: I Am the Messenger (even thou my copy just says the messenger his website says I Am the Messenger)
Author: Markus Zusak
First Published: by Pan Macmillan in 2002

before i review this i should warn you that I'm still very mixed up about this book. i know i loved it, but it was very deep and complicated. in fact I'd love to talk to the author so if any of you happen to be Markus Zusak or know him leave a comment.

Ed is ordinary, it's just Ed. he drives a Taxi, he plays cards, talks to his Dog and sucks at sex. then the 1st card turns up and everything changes. Ed is given a mission, a purpose.

from the blurb, i didn't get the story i was expecting, though it would have helped if i had read the blurb properly. i was expecting an Alex rider or Artemis fowl type of mission, but this was much more ordinary. this book wasn't about the extraordinary part of having an adventure or mission, it was about what Ed did.

i feel i should explain a bit more about what this book was about, so I'll try. this is a story about Ed who is chosen to care, but not only for others, for himself, for life in general in a world that sometimes seems to not give a shit. it's about "small things that are big" (page 239.)

i really loved the beginning, it's one of the best intros ever. the story starts in a bank robbery. yes, lying on the floor while a man with a gun steals money and from there it all springs or so we think. Ed becomes the messenger, caring about people, changing things in his town.

the one thing i wasn't too sure about was the ending, in some ways i loved it and in others i hated it. but i can't say because it would spoil it and i HATE people who do that.

over all it was a book about life having meaning, about wanting to live and about the need to care. if somebody as ordinary as Ed can do it, so can the rest of us. we can change things and we can live.

do yourself a favour and read I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. then do me a favour and come chat to me about it, because i want to talk about it, but can't get my head around it to review it.

this book left me feeling like my life was special.

4 comments:

Nomes said...

i agree its one of the best first chapters ever. it is so so funny and cool and just grabbed me from the start.

you have such great taste in books! every book youve loved i have too! (I guess i have great tease as well, hey? :)

So, i dont exactly get the ending either. hmm. i think you have to think about it - i need someone who is smarter than me to explain it all. i'm wondering if there is some magical realism in there somewhere...

xx

Luisa at Chicklish said...

I haven't read this - and your review is so intriguing!

Anonymous said...

Um, I read the book before I saw this, actually a while back. Fell in love with the book. Anyways, to answer your question without giving hints or the "ending" away, lets just say try searching I Am The Messenger on Wikepedia. And for everyone else pay EXTRA attention to the picture in the back of the book.

Kylie said...

* Corretion
I should say for all the non cheaters and those who want to think, pay attention to the picture in the back of the book, for everyone else there's Wikepedia.