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

Prince Harry: Spare

My coworkers were all reading this, and I have to say that I'm fascinated by the royal family, so I gave into temptation and listened to this on Audible. Listening to the audio book was totally the way to go, since Prince Harry reads it himself. Spare by Prince Harry is a heartbreaking memoir outlining Harry's treatment by the British tabloids. He outlines his experiences with the tabloids from the time his mother died until his departure from the royal family. This fascinating memoir gives an inside look into the workings of the royal family, and their relationships with the press. The memoir certainly makes it look as if all is not well in the house of Windsor, and attempts to set the record straight (from Harry's perspective) of what happened among the family members. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I loved the way Harry writes (and because I listened to it, the way he reads). I found his descriptions of events and places beautiful, and wish I could use it in AP! His p...

Brandon Sanderson: The Lost Metal - Wax & Wayne (Mistborn Era 2) Book 4

I finally finished Mistborn era 2! I loved this series so much (though I think I love era 1 the most still). This story was an incredible addition to Scadrial's story. In this final installment, we pick up in Elendel at a time of great uncertainty. The outer cities are threatening war, their tentative alliance with the Malwish is falling apart over the Bands of Mourning, and Wax is still in the middle of all of it. Now serving on the senate, Wax is desperately trying to help the Elendel nobles maintain peace while hunting the Set. Unsuccessful thus far at locating his sister, the leader of the Set, Wax is still trying to uncover her plans. Can Wax, Marasi, and Wayne uncover the Set's plans before the invasion of Trell crushes Scadrial? This was a fitting conclusion for Mistborn's second era. I loved the character development we saw in each of the characters: Marasi, Wax, Wayne, and Steris. I love the involvement of some era 1 characters (one who I am not going to spoil), a...

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...

Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

Search This Blog