[Review] I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak

Title of Book: I Am the Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Borzoi Books
Publication Year: 2006
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 360


protect the diamonds
survive the clubs
dig deep through the spades
feel the hearts
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?

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Markus Zusak is such a beloved author especially in booktube community because of his book The Book Thief. But if you’ve read The Book Thief expect this book to be like that one, you won’t get it here. I Am the Messenger is completely different from The Book Thief. The premise is Ed Kennedy, a cabdriver, one day got caught in a bank robbery situation. Somehow, he managed to stop it and became a hero. Then a suspicious envelope containing a playing card arrived in his mail. It’s an ace of diamonds with three addresses written on it. After asking around and getting no answer as to who send it, he decided to visit the addresses and let the card guides him what to do next.

I Am the Messenger is a book that I think is best started knowing nothing except for what I wrote earlier. Place yourself as Ed, but instead of a playing card, you get this book. Let this book guide you through Ed’s journey being the messenger. After finishing an ace with three tasks, Ed will get another one; completing a set of diamonds, clubs, spades, and hearts. Each card has different task with different message from the simplest one as buying someone an ice cream to the hardest one as pulling a trigger on someone.

I realize that nothing belongs to her anymore and she belongs to everything.

This book is easy to read. Although it is different from The Book Thief, it is the same in writing style as The Book Thief. The narrator is quirky and speak as it is, which I appreciate. This book also has a hint of mystery in it.The mystery of who sent the cards to Ed in the first place. But I don’t think that’s the point of this book. Because with each task comes a message. That’s what I think is important to notice while reading this book.

I love the feeling this book gave after getting each message. Sometimes it’s harsh but unfortunately true, sometimes it’s touching and heartwarming. In the end, I don’t want to be the only one receiving these messages which is why I highly recommend reading this book. If you do decide to read this book though, I suggest to not focus too much on the who behind Ed’s weird mission. Just enjoy his journey and reflect on the messages he tried to deliver.

Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are.

“It’s the person, Ma, not the place. If you left here, you’d have been the same anywhere else.”


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