I Am the Messenger

by Markus Zusak

book data

1691 ratings, 4.09 average rating, 473 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		37%
4		39%
3		18%
2		3%
1		1%

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published

February 8th 2005 (first published 2006) by Alfred A. Knopf

binding

Hardcover, 368 pages

isbn

0375830995 (isbn13: 9780375830990)

description

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, ...more

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Jackie "the Librarian" rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

07/27/08

bookshelves: mysteries, teen-books-adults-can-enjoy

Read in January, 2005

recommends it for: teens of all ages

I threw this book across the room, and then I picked it back up, held it at arms length, and shook my head at it. And then I thought about the way it held me in suspense, how it kept the kids in my teen book group reading and thinking, and I dusted it off and gave it a hug. Markus Zusak, you bastard!
What has me reacting like a schizophrenic? Why, I can't tell YOU. That would spoil the book for you, and you really should read it. The basic plot is, a guy stops a bank robbery, gets...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

6 comments

Annalisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

07/15/08

bookshelves: book-club, children-young-adult, favorite-books

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Annalisa by: amy m
recommends it for: older youth, as in not really youth anymore

I can't seem to get enough Zusak. Once again his language is magic. Instead of falling into the "he (or she) said" pitfall, the dialogue takes on the action of the predominant emotion. If he wants to reach for a friend, the words reach. Zusak pulls the words lingering on the edge of your brain as the perfect summary of the description as if you'd written them yourself. And the way he breaks his sentences to evoke more emotion with pauses is poetic. Plus it makes his stories delectably ...more I can't seem to get enough Zusak. Once again his language is magic. Instead of falling into the "he (or she) said" pitfall, the dialogue takes on the action of the predominant emotion. If he wants to reach for a friend, the words reach. Zusak pulls the words lingering on the edge of your brain as the perfect summary of the description as if you'd written them yourself. And the way he breaks his sentences to evoke more emotion with pauses is poetic. Plus it makes his stories delectably quick to read. The perfect combination of length and pause.

Here we have an ordinary 19-year-old taxi driver who is going nowhere with his life and has no plans to ever make something of himself either. When Ed inadvertently foils a bank robbery, he is praised as a local hero. Some people have it in them to make a stand, to be more than ordinary. That's when the assignments come. Written on the ace of diamonds are three addresses. Ed must figure out who is in need of help at these locations and what he can do to touch their lives.

As Ed engulfs himself into these strangers' lives he learns to care for them personally and insightfully discovers a message for them that will alter their lives. Sometimes the messages are easy to deliver, other times they require all he can muster to give. But always he finds the courage to follow through. And his answers are never what I would expect.

"There are countless saints who have nothing to do with church and almost no knowledge of God. But they say God walks with those people without them ever knowing it." As we follow Ed through his journey from "just another stupid person" to messenger, we see him grow emotionally as the assignments touch him deeper. In touching other people's lives he finds the purpose in his, his way of being great.

At one point he says he thought he was doing one of these people a favor but "I realize it's the opposite. I'm the privileged one." Is that not how it always is? We don't want to get involved with helping other people, even developing new friendships, because it require something from us. But what we fail to realize is what we get out of it is more than what we put in it. The effort to connect with people instead of drift through each other's lives is always worth it. This book could almost be church worthy if it weren't for the swearing and sex.

It took me a second read through the twist at the end to make the connection. If you don't understand who the random stranger sitting on his couch is, give it a second read because it adds to the purpose of the novel. I think the tool was more surreal when Vonnegut used it, but here its purpose is to bring home the powerful message of the last card and so intense in its own way.

We are left with our own challenge. We find our own names on an ace and we can take this message as ours: that anyone, no matter how ordinary can be great, and put it to practice in our own lives. Or we can discard our aces and go back to going through the motions. ...less

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comment

Kim rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

04/26/08

bookshelves: gmba, young-adult

Read in April, 2008

Stamp it on my forehead, folks. I'm here, I'm a blubbering fool, get used to it.

I didn't have high expectations going into this novel, I'd heard it wasn't as good as 'The Book Thief'(pfft...whole box of kleenix on that one). But, I finished it in 7 hours and what can I say?

Um... I.AM.A.SAP

Okay, I can see the flaws, I mean..I'm not a stupid sap. I could see the formula... I knew what was coming. But, the writing makes up for it.

Plus, a 19-year-old-suffering-fr...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

16 comments

Moses rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

06/14/08

bookshelves: books-of-07-08

After reading the Book Thief, I did not hesitate to read Markus Zusak's other book, I Am The Messenger. The question was, would it live up to the Book Thief?

The answer is yes--and no.

First of all, if you're looking for the same historical epic the Book Thief was, forget it. This was actually written two years before the Book Thief, and so Zusak is still finding his flaws and his strengths and applying them. Secondly, this is a more gritty, modern novel, and if you don't like that style, ...more After reading the Book Thief, I did not hesitate to read Markus Zusak's other book, I Am The Messenger. The question was, would it live up to the Book Thief?

The answer is yes--and no.

First of all, if you're looking for the same historical epic the Book Thief was, forget it. This was actually written two years before the Book Thief, and so Zusak is still finding his flaws and his strengths and applying them. Secondly, this is a more gritty, modern novel, and if you don't like that style, woe be to the reader.

The style is due to the plot more than anything else. Nineteen-year old Ed Kennedy is a wipeout taxi driver who is the perfect image of mediocrity. His friends are the idiot, the logical one, and the lazy ass, respectively. His dog is addicted to coffee and Mom won't treat him with the respect she treats his siblings with.

Then he accidentally stops a bank robbery.

After his 15 minutes of fame, Ed receives the first message: an Ace playing card with a list of addresses and times.

So there you have it. A simple setup will eventually blow out to a list of twisted missions. Sadly, this is where one of the principle flaws of the book lie. There is one story. No subplots. No random interludes. People with short attention spans may drop the book in some of the more confusing or boring moments.

Thankfully, the book's characters bring the dimension to the story. Ed is an understandable, down-to-earth guy who we respect and want to do good. His friends, while not perfect role models, are supportive, funny, and real. The addresses hold many interesting people in store, and even though most of them aren't angels, they're at least honest. You can see the story unfolding in real-life because the people are real-life.

While I Am The Messenger isn't flawless, its honesty and wit make it a winner to read. If I ever get to compiling a list of favorites, no doubt this will be somewhere close to the top.

EDIT: This book does contain some mild sexual situations, but none of them are explicit, so it's okay....less

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Kevin rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

09/04/07

OK: one of the best first chapters of any book, ever. Like, SO good. Perfectly executed.

The rest of the book: I liked it. Interesting premise, moved along at a decent pace. The "twist" at the ending was good.

There are a few iffy spots, where he describes a scene and it's not at all clear what exactly just happened, or he over describes and reminds the reader that what's happening at the moment is related to something that happens previously, and you're like "OK yeah, I kn...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

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Chelsea rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

05/29/07

bookshelves: ya

Read in July, 2006

recommends it for: older teens

After reading The Book Thief, I went to great lengths to find another Markus Zusak book, and when I finally found this one, I couldn't have been happier. I think I read it in about two days. Markus Zusak's powerful prose is still at work, although Ed Kennedy is hardly an ideal subject for poetry. Zusak's protagonist is an underage cab driver with a coffee-addicted dog, a foul-mouthed mother, and an intense love for his best friend Audre...more

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Lucy rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

08/06/08

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: mature teens and adults

Excellent writing. Superb. So superb that if this story were to be turned into a film, the movie would be awful. Dull. Banal. In fact, I think the film's interpretation would be a commercial and critical flop because people would think it was so cheesy and predictable.

But...when read, the characters are so real, so satisfyingly flawed that I didn't care about Ed, Marv, Ritchie and Audrey's mediocre lives and stunted emotional maturity. Zusak writes Ed so convincingly and with enough h...more Excellent writing. Superb. So superb that if this story were to be turned into a film, the movie would be awful. Dull. Banal. In fact, I think the film's interpretation would be a commercial and critical flop because people would think it was so cheesy and predictable.

But...when read, the characters are so real, so satisfyingly flawed that I didn't care about Ed, Marv, Ritchie and Audrey's mediocre lives and stunted emotional maturity. Zusak writes Ed so convincingly and with enough honesty that I hurt when Ed hurt and felt a little giddy with each of his successes. I don't know any actor that could "emote" Ed's depth, especially when he seems so simple upon first glance. Sometimes (o.k....most of the time in my perfect world), you need words and an author that knows how to use them, to really know a character.

The book begins with Ed, Marv, Ritchie and Audrey, four hapless young 19 to 20 year old friends, lying flat on the floor of a bank while it is being robbed. Following some rather entertaining bantering, Ed becomes a very unlikely hero after he uncharacteristically foils the bank robbers escape.

The chapter is perfect. The setting is vivid and with limited prose, the personalities and relationship between the four friends is immediately drawn. Following Ed's heroics and subsequent attention in the press, Ed receives a mysterious playing card, an Ace of clubs, with three addresses and different times of day next to each. Ed realizes, with a little help from two thugs who break into his apartment and threaten him, that someone is watching and waiting for each message to be delivered. After he figures out what to do at each address, the ace of diamonds is delivered, with an even more mysterious message. Because Ed has to figure out what the messages are and who to deliver them to each time, the story has a suspense/mystery feel to it, even though most of Ed's missions aren't scary or dangerous (notice I say most. Some of the messages are downright "Aw, shucks"ish, but he also has to figure out how to stop a drunk who rapes his wife every night and eventually does it with a gun. Not exactly Hallmark material).

In spite of my love affair with Zusak's writing, which truly has me gushing, the plot is flawed. Preceding the book's lame-before-I-understood-and-even-lamer-after-I-understood ending, I couldn't help but think while reading, "who would do this?" Who would act on coded messages on a playing card, without contacting the police, without knowing how or why or when or who? It wasn't as if Ed was some super sleuth. His James Bond/Ethan Hunt make-over seemed a bit of a stretch. I simply didn't believe that Ed, in his 19 years of living without confidence or ambition, would even act on the first card. How did Ed, who cannot tell the girl he loves how he feels, or his mother to be nice, suddenly have the nerve to hang out with an elderly woman pretending to be Jimmy, her husband who had died in the war? The leap seemed too great. Buying an ice cream cone for a poor single mother, yes....I could believe that (although I have to admit that each time the message was this simple and and easy to deliver, I wondered, "who is bothering with this elaborate ploy?" Kind of a lot of brou-ha-ha for icecream/lights/telling your friend to get a job.

From it's ending, I get it. Zusak is. He is the messenger and the book is his message. He created Ed and Ed's story because he wanted us to know, whether great or small, we should help each other. More than that, we should be the kind of person who is willing and available to help each other. Because by doing so, we help ourselves.

Fine and great, but by inserting himself into the story, after writing in such a typical, fiction-like manner, the whole book became kind of space age. I guess I felt duped. The strength of the book came from Ed being so real, but the author took that away from me by the end. I felt...manipulated. I mean, I didn't realize I was reading the Wizard of Oz. At least that book had flying monkeys and talking lions.

Bad ending. Great book. ...less

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Valerie rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

03/22/08

bookshelves: young-adult

Read in March, 2008

This book is the story of Ed Kennedy, a twenty-year-old Australian going-nowhere cabdriver who has a few close friends (including a girl that he's hopelessly in love with), a smelly dog that he shares his coffee with (the Doorman), and a foul-mouthed mother whose main purpose in life seems to be telling him to "piss off!".

The story begins as he and his friends find themselves in the middle of a bank robbery. Ed ends up inadvertently apprehending the robber, and becomes somewhat of ...more

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Renee rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

01/23/08

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: everyone!

READ THIS BOOK!!!!! This is the second book I read by this author. The first book (The Book Thief) was my second favorite book of 2007. I read this in print and loved it so much listened to it on audio. Both are wonderful. The narrator in the audio version is outstanding, so i would recommend audio.
Grade 9 Up - Nineteen-year-old cabbie Ed Kennedy has little in life to be proud of: his dad died of alcoholism, and he and his mom have few prospects for success. He has little to do except share a ...more

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Destinee rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

11/08/07

bookshelves: guy-reads, printz, teen

Read in November, 2007

I would've thought this book was amazing if I'd read it at 15. But I'm 25 now, so I thought it was good. Especially (obviously) good for teens. The book's about a message and it gets it across well and the narrator is a really relatable guy, so there's good reason to recommend it.

I didn't always love the style Zusak used, though. For one thing, the book's not tightly written. If I were editing it I'd hack out most of the passages where the narrator just goes on and on about his emotional sta...more

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Meaghan rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

09/28/07

bookshelves: childrens-young-adult-fiction, extremely-funny

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: Zusak fans and people who like funny books

This book was hilarious -- it had one of the funniest bank robberies in the history of literature and I was often literally falling out of my chair laughing. The suspense was also well-done -- I was dying to find out who The Messenger was. The only thing I didn't like about the story was the ending. It almost ruined the whole book for me, in fact. I won't give away except to say this: it was a cop-out. Very clever, a wonderful little literary conceit, but still a cop-out. It pissed me off. If it...more

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Thomas rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

11/25/08

An amazing story of being kind and it's also pretty funny.

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Kyndal rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

02/25/08

Read in February, 2008

I love Markus Zusak's writing style. I don't really know how to describe this book. Odd, but cool. A page turner. I read the entire book yesterday. I don't want to give too much away but it is the story of a 19 year old who gets these playing cards with names or addresses on them. He has to figure out who they are and what they need and then deliver the message. I'm not making this book sound as good as it is. Some books defy a description. This is one of them. Just read it!

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Meera rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

08/02/08

Read in August, 2008

This wasn't as good as the Book Thief, but was completely different, showing the range of this author. I liked the idea behind this book and the central characters were engaging. Its a bit of a comedy mystery story centering around a no-hoper taxi driver, who suddenly gets drawn into carrying out tasks that are appear on playing cards. However, I felt ultimately led down by the ending of the book.

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Past is Prologue rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

01/02/08

recommends it for: ex-prisson coloniers (is that a word... or a thing)

This was just a really mature piece of YA fiction. I have sold some through work and always hope it gets those damn kids to come back!

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Lars rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

12/04/08

Read in November, 2008

Not as powerful as "The Book Thief," "I Am the Messenger" nevertheless delivers a punch in a less self-assuming way. The lead character, Australian Ed Kennedy, is nothing if not self-effacing, mocking his own station in life (a teenage cab driver) and sex life (there isn't one). Then he stumbles into a bank robbery, starts getting messages on playing cards, and begins to act as a cathartic agent bringing purpose and magic to otherwise sad and ordinary lives. I kept wonderi...more

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Anne rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

12/04/08

Read in December, 2008

recommended to Anne by: Lauren
recommends it for: anyone who can read

Let me just start off by saying that this was one of the best books I've ever read. Zusak has a very unique writing style, but that's not the primary reason for liking it. It refuses to be put down and practically screams at you to be picked back up. Ed is a great character, both morally and in the words that make up his character. Despite the fact that the circumstances of most people are radically different from Ed's, you can still relate to him as an average kind of guy. The end of the b...more

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Amber rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

12/04/08

bookshelves: listened-to

I love this book so much. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would (that should make you smile Elizabeth...inflation!). Of note, I did listen to it on CD as opposed to reading it, so not sure how that differs, but from the reviews I have read it sounds like others enjoyed it as well. Like Zusak's other book, The Book Thief, I fell in love completely with the characters. He has a way of making his characters so endearing and real. I love the idea of this book...delivering messages to people i...more

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Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836675)

11/12/08

Read in August, 2008

Our narrator is Ed Kennedy who, as he points out, is the 'epitome of ordinary'. He lives in a poor town, the only one of four kids not to have moved to the city. He rents a fibro shack where he lives with his indescribably stinky dog, Doorman, with whom he has an almost psychic connection. His life consists of little more than work, his weekly card games and his 'nervous' unrequited love for his best friend, Audrey. What's more, he is quite aware that his life so far has amounted to nothing.

...more