Markus Zusak: I Am the Messenger

I got I Am the Messenger from a Christmas book exchange, and I was excited to read it. I loved The Book Thief (and have decided to reread it), and I was hoping this book was every bit as good.

Ed Kennedy is 19. He's an underachieving cab driver in an unknown city and country. Ed has no prospects, no future, and he's not even supposed to be driving a cab since he's underage. All of that changes when he and his friends inadvertently stop a bank robbery and help the police capture the robber. Shortly after the incident, Ed starts receiving playing cards in the mail. Each one has some sort of clue written on it, leading to a person in desperate need of help. Can Ed figure out what each person needs?

This is a hard review to write. On the one hand, I absolutely loved The Book Thief, and I was really hoping this book would live up to my expectations... but it didn't quite get there. Don't get me wrong, this book was highly entertaining. Ed is hilarious and I loved his character. He acts like he's such an idiot, but he really isn't, and I liked most of his solutions to the problems in the novel. I liked the pacing of this book, and I really enjoyed the twists and turns, and the unexpected problems and solutions. Even the end twist was fantastic. I enjoyed many of the characters Ed interacted with, and what he learned from each of them.

The other characters, especially Ed's "friends" I can't say that I really liked them. Audrey doesn't give Ed the time of day, Marv is just a jerk, and Ritchie is a really flat character. Marv ends up having some significant depth to him, which I really liked.

I also didn't like that Ed objectified almost all the women in this book. Except for Milla, he was almost creepily interested in their legs, and it bothered me. If I could change one thing about this book, it would be to take some of the focus away from sexuality. I think that there could have been other ways to have a conflict between Audrey and Ed with it not going in that direction.

In all, I ended up enjoying this book. It was hard to put down, and I thought it was overall hilarious. I laughed, I admit I cried a little.

I rate this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Comments

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

This is a book that I read for the first time around four years ago when I first started teaching. This novel is one that I have loved ever since then. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak takes place in World War II in Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger is not quite an orphan, but she is placed in foster care because her mother can't provide for her. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, and they completely change Liesel's life. On her way to the Hubermann's, Liesel's younger brother dies on the train. In the graveyard where he was buried is where Liesel steals her first book: The Grave Digger's Handbook. Hans teaches her to read it, and inspires her love of the written word. The Hubermann's will then hide a Jew in their basement for a time. What will become of that hidden Jew? What will become of Liesel? What will become of Himmel Street, her friends, and her family in the wake of a violent and terrible war? This book is probably one of my all-time favorite...

Brene Brown: Daring Greatly

Brene Brown is one of my favorite TED speakers of all time. I have listened to her TED talks numerous times and used them in my classroom each year. I love her message: that we can't have success, innovation, change, and creativity without first having vulnerability. I love that she is seeking to demystify vulnerability and teach what shame is and how it destroys our ability to accept ourselves and others. I am not normally into the self-help kind of books, but of the books I've read this year, this is one of my favorites! Daring Greatly by Brene Brown discusses the concepts of shame and vulnerability and how we need vulnerability, but not shame. She gives strategies for combating shame and becoming "shame resilient." She gives strategies to use as parents, teachers, friends, and spouses. For one thing, I love Dr. Brown's Texan accent (she narrates the audiobook herself! 💗). Her voice and personality are all throughout this book. She is not afraid to use persona...

Art Spiegelman: The Complete Maus

This is again another book I intend to use for AP. Something I love about this is the rhetoric is two-fold - you not only have to look at the dialogue but the drawings as well. Art Spiegelman relates the story of his parents' experience as Jews in Poland during World War II and all that they went through in the camps. This book goes through conversations Art had with his father in the present (he lived in New York before his passing) and their World War II story in the 1930s and 1940s. Vladek (Art's father) owned a textile mill in Poland. He was drafted and sent to the border to fight the Germans before the onset of the War. He was captured and sent to a POW camp before being released and sent home. Once the Germans took over Poland, Vladek lost his mill and he moved his family in with his in-laws. Things gradually got worse for them. They lost Anja's (his wife's) grandparents, then Anja's parents, and their young son was sent to live with extended family for his s...

Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

Search This Blog