I Am the Messenger | Markus Zusak | Another great read from Zusak

I Am the Messenger | Markus Zusak | Gripping...!

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I Am the Messenger

	I Am the Messenger Markus Zusak Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2006 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 66 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Meet Ed Kennedy?underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he?s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That?s when the first Ace arrives. That?s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who?s behind Ed?s mission?

Winner of the 2003 Children?s Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Another great read from Zusak

Between working as a cabdriver, playing cards with his friends, and taking care of his coffee drinking dog, Ed's life is anything but stimulating. When Ed foils a bank robbery everything changes and the first mystrious message arrives in the mail. Ed's adventure begins; delivering messages that he must himself learn, to people he has never met. In doing this, his view of the world changes forever, and he learns more about his friends and family than he could have thought there was to know.

Originally I read I am the Messenger because of how much I liked The Book Thief (written by the same author) but the story kept me going all on its own. From the start I was hooked on I am the Messenger. The narration by Ed leaves little room for improvement and the story kept me guessing until the end. The book shows you that even people who think they have very few talents and lead very unexceptional of lives can make a big difference in the lives of others -- just by caring enough to do so.

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Gripping...!

This was an amazing book, the ending is splendid, such a masterpeice ending! A moving message

bad level of reading, good book

this book is overestimated. i think that a book that swears like in every sentence and talks about adult matters is a teen book if not an adult book. but this book was a good one overall.

The Message is Poetry over Plot

Markus is an immensely talented guy - I flipped over every page where he described something with such clever beauty that actually caught my breath while reading it. As result, my copy has so many bent pages it looks like it lost a fight with a rabid cat. This man is a unique author who can capture many fringe emotions (poignancy, heartburn, shame) that most authors ignore because they lack the talent to adequately describe them.

Is the story particularly gripping? No.

Is the pacing appropriate? No. There are many scenes that seemed irrelevant. In fact I once read that a "tight story" is one where no scene or character could be removed without the whole thing falling apart. This is not a tight story.

Is the ending satisfying? Sort of. Yes. No. Although I give him credit for balls. The ending is a ballsy cop out.

I also wonder why this is classified as a young adult novel. If "young" means that most of the main characters are "young" and they are struggling to find their way in the world, then yes it is properly classified. However the reality is that this is a fairly adult book and I wonder what criteria the editor ultimately used to put it in the YA category. The heavy emphasis on alcohol and sex (even rape) seems a bit ragged for the generally softer category of YA. Does this book fit in with the Twillight series? I don't think so....

However I don't want my review to sound as negative as I fear it does. This is a fascinating work by a talented individual. Keep an eye on him, I think he has great work in him.

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Outstanding Read

Once I started getting into this book, it was definitely one that I could not put down. Each twist and turn in the story line engrossed me even more. I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a good read.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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