Book Review: I Am the Messenger
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this book is loaded with swearing
and sexual references and fantasies. There are also several
bloody beatings, a husband rapes his wife, and characters smoke
and drink to excess.
Families who read this book could discuss the concept of slackers, and what exactly is wrong with an unambitious life. Also, how can you help others in real life? Is it really possible to change other people's lives for the better with simple acts? The disappointing ending is worth some discussion too. What would have been a better ending? Why might the author have resorted to this trick?
Common Sense Media Review
When it's good, it's very good.
This award-winning novel about a slacker whose life is altered when he starts receiving mysterious playing cards in the mail has glimpses of brilliance. Aussie author Markus Zusak has that down-under way of being relaxed and hard-edged at the same time, allowing him to deal with some pretty serious subject matter in a way that's both light and powerful.
He also has a way of making his slacker characters so intelligent and appealing that it makes the reader wonder just what exactly is wrong with a life lived small and free of ambition.
And when it's bad, it's horrid.
Aside from some rather ridiculous fixes to some of the problems Ed encounters (he unites two fighting brothers by letting them beat him up together), the biggest problem here is the disappointing, out-of-left-field ending.
Instead of being clever and literary and philosophical, as the author apparently thinks it is, it's just lame. The resolution to the big mystery of who is sending the cards reads as if Zusak just couldn't figure out how to get out of the hole he'd dug for himself, so he just slapped this on.
But if you can ignore the last 10 pages, this is a terrific, at times moving, and thought-provoking story that can lead readers to look at their own worlds in a slightly different way.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
