By Markus Zusak
In this review, I look back at Markus Zusak's book, I Am The Messenger.
THE SHORT
Ed Kennedy is just your useless, everyday cab driver when one day, he accidentally stops a bank robbery. Then he starts receiving mysterious aces in the mail and he becomes the Messenger... While Zusak clearly had an original idea in a Messenger that helped (or hurted), it seems as though he didn't think it through, and we never get a satisfying conclusion or closure as to who is directing Ed's mission. Zusak races towards a rushed ending, and the ending is so ambiguous, one is left confused. And indeed confused is the word as Zusak uses way too much figurative language in his book, and one can't tell if the thing is really happening, or if it was just another linguistic trick by Zusak. Moreover, what Ed is supposed to do is also left unclear, as well as how he figures out what to do. In fact, the main pushing point of the story, the secret, all-knowing society, is completely glossed over! A major disappointment, both for the underdeveloped society, the ambiguous ending ("modern twist" my foot), and for the book in general. Clearly, Zusak has a lot of room for improvement.
THE REVIEW
Ed Kennedy is, perhaps, the least relatable of Zusak's characters. He is snobby, and doesn't even contribute anything to the story overall. Despite being the main character, one never truly connects to Ed in the human way that Zusak later created in Liesel in The Book Thief. Perhaps one reason this is so is because we never get to know Ed, never know his motivations, what caused him to give up university in the first place. Too much is left unknown about Ed, and this hurts the story overall.
Next up we have the backdrop of the three characters, Audrey, Marv and Ritchie. While they are indeed supporting characters, one expected them to be more developed to the underdeveloped nature of Ed. And here Zusak sorely lets us down once again with his blend of unclear and ambiguous figurativ language which doesn't explain a single thing about the three supporting characters. This results in a group of mostly unrelatable main characters. Also, the four of them never actually undergo any development from the start to the end, and we never see how Ed's messages affect the three of them. Indeed they undergo so little development that Zusak actually has to resort to Ed giving them messages to kickstart the developmental process.
In fact, this book is so unfulfilling that it doesn't even have a main antagonist. Most of the novel is spent residing in Ed's brain, but the confusing use of words and nouns all jumble up to form an incoherent narrative that can never achieve lucidity. Zusak tripped up here and none of his figurative comparisons survive to make a meaningful impression on you as he just vomits all of his metaphors and similes out to you.
One of the major themes in this disappointing book is the theme that ordinary people can do great things. Being consistent with the other things in this book, Zusak aimlessly and themelessly wanders around for like 90% of the novel, before rushing to a conclusion in the epilogue part. In fact, a large part of the novel, you have to ask yourself "Where the hell is this going? What kind of impact does Zusak want to impress on us?" And it turns out, he's going nowhere with his rushed theme which feels squeezed in just for show, and he doesn't want to impact you at all. Not in the slightest with his useless theme. Underdescribed, it just doesn't permeate throughout the whole novel and give you a resounding moral lesson at the end of it.
In terms of plot, there are so many holes that I don't even know where to start. First off, there's the whole issue of Ed knowing exactly what to do and how the cards know that he'll know what to do. In fact, Zusak doesn't even explain Ed considering just giving up and not caring about the cards. Zusak, meanwhile, makes things even worse by showing up at the end and saying that he killed Ed's father. HELLO? And Ed doesn't even respond when it was shown earlier that he loved his father! Meanwhile, how Ed knows what to do is just supposed to be accepted, no questions asked. Most people in his place would have put it down to a hoax or a scam. And what does the shady character at the end of the book (speculated Zusak) have to gain from all of this? Reassurance that ordinary people can do great things? And how does the shady character spy on Ed? This never gets explained, and tons of other questions that Zusak never answered because of his unsatisfactory ending that explains ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! A secret society with murderous members would have served it way better and tied up so many loose ends than Zusak's "modern twist".
<<Positive things about plot not found>>
All in all, this book was a severe letdown. Zusak's irritating diarrhea of figurative language bogs down the book, and the ending is unsatisfactory and doesn't explain a single thing at all.
Rating: 2.1/10
Advice: Just skip it. Just skip this horrid mess of a book.
Reading this book was absolutely torture. I sincerely hope I never read another book as horrible as this.
Next week: I return to the Hunger Games franchise with my review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. While the 74th Hunger Games may be over, sparks of a rebellion are present in Panem, and Katniss Everdeen has not quite finished her run of Hunger Games yet... Did Suzanne Collins manage to deliver a successful sequel to her first book? Or was Catching Fire thoroughly boring and unentertaining? Find out next week in my review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire!!!
In fact, this book is so unfulfilling that it doesn't even have a main antagonist. Most of the novel is spent residing in Ed's brain, but the confusing use of words and nouns all jumble up to form an incoherent narrative that can never achieve lucidity. Zusak tripped up here and none of his figurative comparisons survive to make a meaningful impression on you as he just vomits all of his metaphors and similes out to you.
One of the major themes in this disappointing book is the theme that ordinary people can do great things. Being consistent with the other things in this book, Zusak aimlessly and themelessly wanders around for like 90% of the novel, before rushing to a conclusion in the epilogue part. In fact, a large part of the novel, you have to ask yourself "Where the hell is this going? What kind of impact does Zusak want to impress on us?" And it turns out, he's going nowhere with his rushed theme which feels squeezed in just for show, and he doesn't want to impact you at all. Not in the slightest with his useless theme. Underdescribed, it just doesn't permeate throughout the whole novel and give you a resounding moral lesson at the end of it.
In terms of plot, there are so many holes that I don't even know where to start. First off, there's the whole issue of Ed knowing exactly what to do and how the cards know that he'll know what to do. In fact, Zusak doesn't even explain Ed considering just giving up and not caring about the cards. Zusak, meanwhile, makes things even worse by showing up at the end and saying that he killed Ed's father. HELLO? And Ed doesn't even respond when it was shown earlier that he loved his father! Meanwhile, how Ed knows what to do is just supposed to be accepted, no questions asked. Most people in his place would have put it down to a hoax or a scam. And what does the shady character at the end of the book (speculated Zusak) have to gain from all of this? Reassurance that ordinary people can do great things? And how does the shady character spy on Ed? This never gets explained, and tons of other questions that Zusak never answered because of his unsatisfactory ending that explains ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! A secret society with murderous members would have served it way better and tied up so many loose ends than Zusak's "modern twist".
<<Positive things about plot not found>>
All in all, this book was a severe letdown. Zusak's irritating diarrhea of figurative language bogs down the book, and the ending is unsatisfactory and doesn't explain a single thing at all.
Rating: 2.1/10
Advice: Just skip it. Just skip this horrid mess of a book.
Reading this book was absolutely torture. I sincerely hope I never read another book as horrible as this.
Next week: I return to the Hunger Games franchise with my review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. While the 74th Hunger Games may be over, sparks of a rebellion are present in Panem, and Katniss Everdeen has not quite finished her run of Hunger Games yet... Did Suzanne Collins manage to deliver a successful sequel to her first book? Or was Catching Fire thoroughly boring and unentertaining? Find out next week in my review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire!!!
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