I Am the Messenger: Markus Zusak

After reading The Book Thief (reviewed here), I simply had to read Markus Zusak's earlier novel,  I Am the Messenger. Messenger is the story of Ed Kennedy, an underage slacker cab driver who is selected for a mysterious mission to help others. Ed's story begins when he steps outside of his ordinary life to participate in foiling a bank robbery (against a singularly pathetic bank robber). His 15 minutes of fame are followed by receipt of a mysterious ace of diamonds in the mail, inscribed with three addresses. Visiting the addresses, Ed finds three people who need help, his help, in various ways. In essence, these people need someone to care about them, and help them through some particular situation.

Despite being something of a loser overall (dead-end job, a falling down apartment, no education, a hopeless crush on his best friend, a strained relationship with his mother), Ed rises to the challenge of his mission. The first card is followed by others. In addition to the people who need help, Ed encounters mysterious thugs and finds that the unknown person sending him on these missions is watching his every move. The mystery of who is behind Ed's missions remains.

I found in this book flashes of the same gift with language that I loved in The Book Thief. Zusak frequently uses short, single-paragraph sentences that are almost poems. For example:

"You can kill a man with those words.
No gun.
No bullets.
Just words and a girl."

Or:

"Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are."

I also thought that this book contained some excellent food for thought about caring for other people, and the difference that one person can make in other people's lives. However, I didn't find I Am the Messenger nearly as compelling as The Book Thief in its story. I also found the ending to be a bit anti-climactic. I think that the overall problem that I had with the book was that I didn't particularly want to identify with Ed and his dead-end friends. I didn't care about them in the way that I cared about Liesel in The Book Thief. And the people that Ed helped floated in and out of the story relatively quickly, so there wasn't time to care about them very much, either.

I Am the Messenger was a Printz Honor Book in 2006. I think that it deserves the award for its use of language, and its unusual and positive message. However, I didn't love it the way that I loved The Book Thief. Perhaps this comparison is unfair, since I consider The Book Thief to be one of the very best books that I've read, and I Am the Messenger is an earlier novel by the author. But that's my take-home message nevertheless.

Book: I Am the Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Knopf (Random House)
Original Publication Date: February 2005
Pages: 368
Age Range: 14 and up

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Kim]

I agree with you about liking The Book Thief better but I did like I am the Messenger. I liked the mystery of the whole book.

[Jen Robinson]

Hi Kim,

For me, it doesn't matter how interesting the mystery is, if I don't like the characters. But that's purely personal preference. I do think that Messenger was well-written.

[bookladykatie]

I too had a hard time connecting with the characters at first. I almost abandoned the book altogether. The dead end characters reminded me of an unfortunate reading experience with Catcher in the Rye during my college days, and I wasn't ready to relive that!

However, I perservered, knowing that a book by the man who wrote The Book Thief couldn't possibly write a complete dud.

It didn't really bother me that the characters that Ed helps drift in and out of the story, because I really felt that the messages were more about Ed being the messenger than anything else.

I will say that I am still uncertain about the ending. It almost felt dishonest to me-that Ed's rise above his circumstances was orchestrated. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. Was this really just The Trueman Show in novel form?

Regardless, Ed won me over, and I have to applaud an author who can pursuade me to care about a character with whom I have nothing in common. I felt similarly about A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life. While my beliefs and views are much more, um, conservative than Simone's, her family's and Rivka's, I found myself loving them and wanting the best for them, rooting for them-and ready to defend their beliefs just as heartily as I would defend my own.

Thanks for the recommend of A Brief Chapter, Jen-I loved it and will try to post the review soon!

Katie

[bookladykatie]

Ooh-I just remembered another thing I wanted to share with you. I was browsing through my School Library Journals the other day (hello confessed book nerd!) and came across an interview with the author of A Brief Chapter of My Impossible Life. I immediately thought of you! The link is below in case you haven't seen the article.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6302226.html

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, Katie! I did enjoy the Dana Reinhardt interview, and I agree with you that it's a real gift for an author to be able to make a reader identify with different types of characters. I listened to "A Brief Chapter" on MP3, and I felt like I was Simone for a little while, although I'm not really all that much like her. That's one of the biggest benefits of reading novels - you learn about the perspectives of different types of people.

[Little Willow]

I liked I Am the Messenger and am ambivalent about the ending. At times, I wish HE REALLY HADN'T DONE THAT (you know what I mean - I don't want to write spoilers here) and other times, I _still_ wish he hadn't done THAT, but was glad that it didn't end right there, instead giving them their ending.

Also, it reminded me of the TV show HACK. Yay.

[Jen Robinson]

Yes, I'm pretty ambivalent about the ending, too. Though I suppose that the fact that I didn't see it coming says something impressive about the book. I'll certainly still be looking for future books by Markus Zusak, that's for sure.