I Am the Messenger

There is a difference between living a life and going through the motions. Just enduring the day. I liked that Zusak made an entire book about that difference.

I also really liked the end. I realize the books do not really have anything in common, but this is how I wanted Sophie's World
by Jostein Gaarder to end.

Damn it.

I'm having a really, really hard time rating this one. I spent most of the book thinking, "This is definitely a 3 star for me. I don't know what all the hype is." I was so disappointed about this because I wanted to love this book.

And then. Oh! And then I reached right around page 300 and was just floored. So I am compromising with 4 stars.

I'm not going to rehash what the book is about - it's just not my style. I also don't have any crazy gushing to do, so it's going to have to be a brief LIKE vs DISLIKE review.

Disliked:



The way I kept waiting for something to happen. Something that would make this worth all the 5 star reviews and "AHHHHHHH SOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!!" ravings.

That I just could not get a good grasp on these characters. I'm not sure why. I am positive that a year from now - no, three months from now - I will not remember any of their names. It is not that I found them unlikable; I just more or less didn't give a crap about most of them. That bums me out!

The way it made me feel like a moron...even after all the goodness near the end of it. Like I was supposed to get more out of it that I did. Like maybe I'm just not deep enough to get it. Eh.

Liked:

The writing style. No, scratch that. I loved Markus Zusak's writing style. It is as if every line is so perfectly thought out. Not a breath is wasted. And while there are so many good lines to choose from, for some reason, my very favorite is:

I didn't know words could be so heavy.

I am pretty sure that this line will stay with me a long, long time. It will stay with me much longer than the characters.

The way the last 10% of the book hit me. I was a smiling, crying mess. I love when a book hits me that way.

Honestly, I found that the writing style was the house for me. It almost didn't matter what was inside the house, what it was filled with. This could have been a book about the procedure of making sausage links, and I still would have wanted to savor each line...each word. The story alone is not something that I am going to run and tell anyone about because I didn't find it that remarkable on its own. I'm going to give [b:The Book Thief|19063|The Book Thief|Markus Zusak|https:d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352395325s/19063.jpg|878368] a shot because of this.

This was absolutely beautiful. The writing, the characters, the suspense, the moral... All of it. Zusak's style is stunning; this is gorgeously written. It had just the right amount of humour, action, and reflection to keep me totally engrossed, and the ending was one of the most original and surprising endings I've read in a long time. I liked this more than The Book Thief, and I loved The Book Thief.

This will stay with me for a long time.

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*** I Am The Messenger. Huh… where do I start. I liked the content of the book, for the most part, but absolutely abhorred the execution and writing style. I can appreciate narratives however the author tore down the fourth wall multiple times and directly addressed the reader. I find this to be a huge writing faux pas. It was often difficult to visualize events being portrayed. This may be due to the Australian/English slang, but I think the layman’s approach in writing style greatly attributed to it as well. I liked Ed as a character. The way he communicated with others was unique and I could very much appreciate that. I did not like how the author continually referenced his sexual desires and wants. It became redundant. I found myself being irked by his lack of sexual prowess and shy libido more than empathetic or piteous of. I noticed the author repeated himself a lot with other details as well. Was this to meet a page number quota? Was it supposed to emphasis aspects the author found important? Whatever the reason, it too was redundant. The remaining characters…TRAGIC. Absolutely tragic. There was no personality, nor any character development aside from the Ace of Hearts section (and let’s be real, if there wasn’t any character development in that section, the book would had been a total flop). Most of the supporting characters were downright toxic. Mean bitch level toxicity. Back to Ace of Hearts section. The most important part of the book, getting his one true love Audrey to fall for him, was so rushed it came across laughable. He danced one dance with her, to a song never mentioned, moments after she bumped uglies with her current boyfriend.…AND THAT WON HER OVER?! AND NOW SHE’S MOVING IN WITH YOU?! AND ALL HER CHILDHOOD TRAUMA THAT KEPT HER FROM LOVING DISAPPEARED?! Good god. Then the BIG reveal. The man behind the ace cards that made Ed the Messenger. It was… *dramatic pause* …nobody we knew. Nobody who had any relevance to the story. Just some dude who moved into town a year ago and felt compelled to fuck with Ed’s life, orchestrating a robbery “full-well knowing” Ed would do what he did to save the day. That the dominos would start tipping over in random guy’s favor to bring forth this grand scheme of challenging Ed’s life and somehow make it better. What a joke. I do not recommend this book. Sure, I am the Messenger had some good parts. There were just too many poorly written, poorly executed, and poorly thought-out plot lines to ever be considered of mentionable quality.

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Despite the book being written with choppy thoughts and sentences, I enjoyed it. Luckily, poor writing skills is something I'm usually able to get past. It probably come from reading a bunch of cheap Kindle books. I feel like there was really good character develop. I think all the characters grew in some way but especially Ed. I didn't think I would like the book at first because he was fairly boring and wishy-washy. The only thing he had going for him was being quick witted. Also, his love for Audrey got tiresome to keep hearing about but luckily dies down as the book progresses. Maybe because he had more to think about. By the end, he had more confidence in himself, more self appreciation, and is more optimistic about his future. I love the relationships he formed throughout the book as well. I will say, though, that I had a hard time relating to everyone being so inviting to a stranger. Maybe it's a cultural difference. Inviting in a 20 year old who's been creeping around your house for days isn't something that would happens in the slums here in the US. The ending was super anticlimactic and I still don't understand all the cryptic things the guy behind the cards said. It actually left me a little frustrated that Ed didn't ask more questions and just accepted it. I think the book had a good message; "Maybe everyone can live beyond what [they think] they're capable of." However, I don't think it's something I would recommend unless someone was looking for a very specific type of book and I Am the Messenger fell into that category.