I am the Messenger

Through all of these book reviews, I have come to a realization about the strata of books.  (I'm sure I kinda already knew this, and that you do too, but it has been made abundantly clear now..)

There are bad books.  Badly written, bad/unexplored characters, bad/confusing/nonsensical plots, and almost worse than all those, bad/terrible theme or message of the book.  (We all know to whom I refer, here's looking at you Twilight.)

There are good books.  Books that have quality writing, engaging characters, plots that draw you deeper into the world of the book.

Then there are books that affect you.  That are not just good, they leave a mark on you.  They can make you feel, or change your way of thinking, or cause you to do something.  They are why we read books.  They are why we write them.

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak is one of those books.

Rather high praise, I know.  But this is the second book I've read by him and the second book I've been wildly impressed by.  (The first was The Book Thief.  Fabulous.  Read it.)  A couple pages in, I knew this was going to be a good book.  And 357 pages later I am not disappointed.

It's about Ed Kennedy who is an underage cabdriver going nowhere in his life.  It begins with him and his 3 friends, Marv, Audrey and Ritchie, in a bank as it's being robbed.  Events tumble from there and soon a playing card, the ace of diamonds, arrives in Ed's mailbox with 3 addresses and times.  He has to go there and do something at those times.  But what?  After visiting these homes he begins to understand he has been sent to help them, to deliver a message.

I finished it yesterday while eating lunch at Noodles and Company.  I teared up a couple times.  In public.  This book has also made me laugh.  Which I think speaks to the range of this author, that humor and emotion can be done well and in such a moving way.

Aside from one small issue I had at the end about who is giving Ed his mysterious and challenging messages to deliver, I have no complaints.

The characters are messy and realistic and pitch perfect.  The narrator has a clear voice that can be sarcastic or heartrending depending on the situation.  In fact this narrator reminded me in a weird way of the narrator in The Book Thief, who also happens to be Death.  It's because it's the same writer and the style is so evidently the same, but it was still kind of interesting to conflate Ed and Death.

Oh, and the author is Australian and the book is set in Australia.  So I love it that much more.

Anyway,  the end is very moving and I am again impressed by the skill of Markus Zusak.  His poetic prose  and personifications kept me engaged and engrossed throughout the entire book.  I think y'all should read it.