I Am the Messenger: Markus Zusak

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This is written for young people, and while Zusak does love to play with words and unusual phrasing and language (as in the initial quotation), there’s never any confusion about what he means. This, for example, is pretty straightforward. Ma shouts at him over the phone and swears all the time, but he always stays calm. There’s an eeriness slipping over my hands. It makes its way inside me and travels, quietly gnawing at my thoughts. I read: I think there are a lot of kids who might relate to this love-hate relationship with their parents or elders. His mother does ring him up, although he knows it’s because he’s the only one who still lives in town and is actually available to do her favours.

Ever had a fit of the giggles or a laughing jag? Ed Kennedy is a nineteen-year-old taxi driver in a small town outside Sydney. An Aussie reader will recognise the characters and the rites of passage, but really, young people have a lot in common all over the world. Some still live with parents and wish they could move, while some are on their own but have mixed feelings about their independence. I understand why Zusak ended it the way he did, and I didn't entirely hate it, but I just wanted more. More of an explanation, more of a conclusion. I probably would've given this a solid four stars, had that had happened. I couldn't help but fall in love his brutal honesty a bit. Mostly when I meet male protagonists they are unabashedly meretricious and boastful about their sexual prowess. So it was nice to have someone different like Ed. But only later did I begin to realize how unique a protagonist Mr. Zusak had presented. I think the first thing that pulled me in was that Ed is a lot like I was at nineteen. I like to think I had a little more confidence but I had no idea what I wanted to do either and I'm reasonably sure I was secretly in love with a girl who was only interested in being friends at the time as well. And hell, I'm damn sure I would have taken up the messenger role like Ed did had I gotten playing cards in the mail. Ed Kennedy is a nobody. An underage cab driver in a small town, he goes to work, plays cards with his friends Ritchie, Marv and Audrey, hangs out with his dog The Doorman; and this is his life.

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The protagonist is Ed Kennedy, an uninspired 19-year old Australian taxi driver. Ed laments his mediocre life and strained relationship with his mother, as his father died recently and left Ed with only his dog, the Doorman, but does nothing to improve his situation, instead preferring to continue living alone and playing cards every week with his friends: Ritchie, who is unemployed and generally apathetic about life; Marv, a stingy carpenter; and Audrey, a fellow taxi driver whom Ed is in love with, although she does not reciprocate. After accidentally foiling a robbery he is proclaimed a hero by the public, though the robber leaves him a warning that Ed is "a dead man" before being taken away by police. With the bizarre ending, Zusak geniusly wraps up all the messages and cards in a nice gift box and hands it to us so that we might—or he might, because the starting point is always our own selves—glimpse the horizon beyond our noses and live as if it’s a blessing and not a choir. Marv shares a personal loss, Suzanne Boyd. Ed wants to follow up because he cares about Marv, but the conventions of their friendship preclude that kind of intimacy. He changes the subject to ask how Marv might feel about having a duty but not knowing how to accomplish it, and Marv’s answer foreshadows his conflict with Suzanne Boyd. The two best friends share a sense of frustration, but neither knows the other’s circumstances causing it, like two ships passing in the night nearly colliding. Honestly, I put off reading this book for a long time. I love The Book Thief so much that I was a little afraid to read more of Zusak's work just because my standards for his writing were set so ridiculously high.

In my opinion, the author didn't try at all to make any of the side characters have any kind of layers. This was most obvious in how Ed's mother was portrayed. I have the feeling that Zusak decided that she's is a bad mother, and that was that. He didn't try to show another side of her or try to explain her stand point. So she made her react badly and overly upset about every little thing. It was so incredibly over the top and ridiculous. The Book Thief is one of my favorite books ever (if not my favorite book ever), then how is it possible that I loved I Am the Messenger even more? Ed is both the messenger and the message. But the book has a translucent plane of dubiety and one can interpret it in different ways. Me: * shoots audience an accusing look, hair gone wild and skirts all twisted up* What’re you still doing here?? Shoo. * presses enter and shoots readers to the next line*I am the Messenger tells the story of Ed - who, in his own words, is "nineteen, a cab-driver, with no real career, no respect in the community, nothing" - the utmost epitome of ordinariness. Until a bank holdup gets in the way. Ed starts receiving Aces in his mail directing him to people he must deliver messages to - only, Ed must figure out the message himself. The audiobook is narrated by Australian Marc Aden Gray. The story is set in the vicinity of Sydney in the year 2002. While the dialect does fit the story it just didn’t appeal to me. Australian slang is used. Keep in mind I do not let the narration influence my rating of the book. I gave the narration two stars. Choosing a favorite quote this time was just like choosing a favorite child, but there was one I needed to share:

The envelope contains a note and the ace of clubs. The sender’s note praises Ed’s handling of the three ace of diamonds tasks, particularly the man from Edgar Street, whom he says fled to an old mining town. The note ends with the cryptic observation that Ed’s life depends on completing the tasks. The ace of club's message, “say a prayer at the stones of home,” baffles Ed. Summary: 4♣ just edThe creativity, persistence, and belief in himself required to deliver the first three messages have begun to affect Ed’s everyday life. Ed’s appearance at Audrey’s door shows the change happening in him. Her appearance indicates she had passionate relations. He normally is philosophic about her promiscuity, but today Ed has a frustrated reaction. Ed wants Audrey to be his lover, not just his best friend. Alice the sex worker triggers Ed’s needs and he projects his fantasy of loving Audrey onto her. Ed’s one of the latter. He tells the story in his own words. His dad’s dead and he’s always been the least favourite of Ma’s kids, so his relationship with her is awkward. It’s not what he would choose, but it is what it is. But the unfortunate byproduct of Ed's unfortunate obliviousness to the reality of the world around him is that Ed is missing out on the big things. Like he says at one point "Big things are just the small things you notice." (Or something like that.)