I Am the Messenger

Book Title: I Am the Messenger

Author: Markus Zusak

Date Started: February 22nd 2015

Date Completed: March 6th 2015

Genres: Mystery, Contemporary, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I Am the Messenger was not what I expected, but impressed me in how genuinely heartwarming it was. Ed's quest to make people's lives better through the hints he gets in the mail was a really interesting idea and I loved the way his connections to these people were more complex than just helping them and disappearing. I can see why some people might not like it because of the repetitiveness for the majority of the book - but for me I think the ending was worth it, however illogical and silly it seemed.

I absolutely love Zusak's style and it definitely translates from his masterpiece - it's more subtle here since in a way the things presented aren't quite as overtly meaningful, but it's definitely still there. Some quotes are just beautiful and it definitely made the slower parts of this book interesting. It also enhanced the atmosphere - something else I really liked about this book. There's the wonderful heartwarming feel, but there's also a underlying sense of danger if Ed doesn't do everything that's expected of him. I have to say this didn't exactly span the entirety of the book, and the laid-back attitude of the narrator for most of it made everything seem a little less serious than it might otherwise have been.

The opening chapter of this book is brilliant - but it's not what the whole book is. I think some readers have been surprised after that suspenseful, exciting first scene and then become bored with the slower development of the plot. Personally however, I really liked this story: the concept of getting little missions to help strangers was nice, and the execution of it was good. But the main issue with this novel is that it really gets repetitive: Ed gets a card with clues to people he needs to help; he visits them a few times and solves their problems; he moves on in time and as a person. Of course, each person he has to help is a little different, but there were further ways Zusak could've varied how it happened. In his defence, I liked how he did it, and I can definitely see why he did it that way (you have to make it to the end to find out), but it is understandable why some people might find it hard to come on with.

The ending was really good in my opinion though. It wasn't logical, and there isn't any explanation as to how this all happened, but I couldn't help thinking it was cool and quite clever. In many ways it wasn't a very good conclusion at all, but it hit home what the whole story was about and it satisfyingly fit with the story.

I like the characters in this book, but I wasn't wild about them. I suppose it's about the messages sent through the characters rather than the people themselves. Though I do think perhaps if I'd been closer to the characters as people rather than their part of the story.

Ed was a nice protagonist, and I think his true ordinariness (not your typical 'normal but with a hidden talent' protagonist) made the reality of the story a whole lot more important - there is a very clear idea that this is supposed to send a message to readers themselves, and Ed's character really hits home with it. I also thought he was a really realistic guy and I can think of a few people I know that face the exact problems with motivation he has - and seeing him grow so much during the book was just lovely to follow (this is also where I can support the slow pace, because it increased the realism a fair bit).

The pacing of events wasn't too bad actually; one of the positives from this idea of a constant quest is that there's always something important to the plot happening. In this respect the pacing is good; but there still comes the issue that the actual action itself becomes repetitive after the first few times.

I would recommend I Am the Messenger to fans of Markus Zusak's writing, but be aware it's very different from The Book Thief. For me it was a still just as lovely (most of the time). It does require a bit of patience, but if you're willing to really get immersed in the story I think it's a really nice read. And the ending will either infuriate you or blow your mind.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19057.I_Am_the_Messenger