Patrick's review
I Am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak
Patrick's review
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Patrick's review
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novelist-reviews
Like the late great Robert Cormier did in We All Fall Down, Zusak takes what sounds like a plot for a Stine/Pike style thriller and turns it into a brilliant coming-of-age tale riding on the back of a suspense story. Ed Kennedy is an Australian slacker: drifting through life, unable to make a commitment to much of anything, expect maybe his coffee-drinking dog and playing cards with his mates. That is, until he gets caught up in a bank robbery and becomes an object of attention for a mysterious stranger who sends him playing cards as messages. Ed's got to figure out the message, then act upon it. The fun in the read is figuring out these puzzles, and watching Ed move to become an active participant in life, rather than just a spectator. But above all here is what makes great teen fiction: an authentic voice telling the tale of his own self-discovery. This book won the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award in 2002 for older readers' fiction, and with good reason: because it's not...more
