I Am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak
by Markus Zusak
Pages: 357
Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He’s pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery.
That’s when the first ace arrives in the mail.
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?
That’s when the first ace arrives in the mail.
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?
I’m sort of at a loss to say about this book. It came very highly rated by friends, so I really wanted to like it. I’m not sure that I did. I’m not sure that I didn’t.
The book started out with a bank-robbery gone awry that introduces us to the main character, Ed Kennedy. Ed is an underage taxicab driver in Australia that lives in a rundown shack with his atrociously smelly dog. He spends his free time drinking and playing cards with his 3 best friends. He really hasn’t tried hard to make much of himself.
One day, Ed receives a card, an Ace, with three names written on it. He knows he has a mission, but he isn’t quite sure what that mission is. The book takes us on Ed’s journey of discovering and carrying out his mission. It also takes us on the journey of him discovering himself.
There were parts of the book that I didn’t want to put down, but most of the book dragged. It takes place inside of the character’s head and this character happened to be whiny and self-loathing. If I could have heard the Australian accent, it might have helped a bit.
The end of the book finished on a higher note for me than it started out, but it left me going “huh??” I think I might stew on this for a while (maybe eventually post a follow-up once I’ve had more time to digest it.)