Just moments ago, I finished Markus Zusak's I Am The Messenger, and I am reborn! No, not really, but I am excited about this novel. The writing is clever, witty, and pretty raunchy at times. Even more endearing is that the story takes place in an Australian suburb. 20-year-old cab driver Ed Kennedy has a basic, ordinary routine in his life. He drives cab in the nearby city, he plays cards with his three closest (possibly only?) friends a few times a week, and he spends the rest of his time drinking coffee with his stinky dog. Yeah, the dog drinks coffee. And he stinks to high heaven. Ed's life changes in a flash when, after interceding in a bungled bank robbery, he receives an Ace of Diamonds in the mail. The playing card has three addresses scribbled on it. And the game is on.
This book is an excellent read! It has cursing, drinking, a fair amount of violence, and of course, sentimentality. Zusak has scripted a realistic portrait of a wide variety of characters, and though I am once again disappointed in the ending (notice a theme, anyone?), I would recommend this book to any reader. The messages delivered by Ed are not easy to swallow, and the moral/ethical dilemmas that drive the novel are beautifully woven together. In fact, I would love to read this novel alongside the advocacy unit I created for Deb's class. The impact that one person can have on a life, on a family, on a community is an important theme for students (and pretty much everyone) to explore.
The swearing and violence could be problematic with conservative readers (ahem, those parents), to which I have but one thing to say: the text is authentic to the bone. When we sit in a room with our closest, dearest friends, we do not wax poetic in flowery language as we divulge our innermost secrets. We laugh, we jostle, we provoke, and we curse! Well, at least my friends and I carry on that way. If words like "shithouse" and "twisted bastard" are too harsh for a reader, s/he can put the book back on the shelf. If those words sound strikingly familiar to a reader, then we know the novel is a good fit. More importantly, we know that the language supports the telling of Ed's story, and isn't vulgar for the sake of itself.
Well done, Markus. Well done.
I'm about two thirds through this book, and I am loving it. The opening bank robbery scene took me by storm, and I have been enjoying the characters (even the dog)ever since. Now I'm not so eager to see how it ends (thanks a lot, Cassandra) but hopefully I'll not mind it too much.
ReplyDeleteI think the main thing the book has going for it is the narrator's attitude. He is irreverent and full of bluster, and I especially enjoy watching how he interacts with 'normal' people. I like the unrequited (so far) love story going on with his friend Audrey, and the love/hate relationship he has with his guy friends. Deciphering the Australian lingo is kind of entertaining, too. The dilemmas he gets into while chasing after the Aces are sometimes a little trite, but I guess that's life, too, isn't it? All in all, more good than bad so far.
One thing I'm stuck wondering (with the whole censorship issue fresh in my mind after last week) is at what age it would be safe to introduce this book. It is a little 'advanced' compared to the other books I've read so far, and I know several of my son's friends' moms who would not appreciate their freshman boys reading something this scandalous. In my personal opinion, though, this book looks like a safe-ish gateway into adult literature. And no, I'm not talking about Penthouse Forum.
I know which book I'll be reading next! After hearing some of the language the kids used with each other in the middle school during my practicum placement, and considering the countless hours many kids spend playing video games that revolve around killing people or stealing cars, I think a book with some foul language can be seen as completely harmless. Kids in real life cuss, they know about sex (more than some adults I know), and some of them have had encounters with drugs and alcohol. A book like this has the potential to relate and appeal to the kids in a way that can help to inspire them to want to read more(and that's the point of all this, isn't it?).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about the language. While harsh, if it were anything else, it wouldn't be the truth! Why were you disappointed in the end? Were you hoping for the love story to pan out or some sort of revelation beyond being a messenger? For me, the only disappointment was the brevity of it all. Though I know that's how the story best plays out, but the characters were so intriguing to me that I wish Ed would have maintained relationships with the good ones (like Sophie and Angie). The only one that had a bigger role was Milla, but she just made me kind of sad. Regardless, I just want to know more about all of the characters than what was presented. I guess that's the sign of a good book!
ReplyDeleteSo, if you've read my posts this is going to be repeated information and I apologize. if you haven't, read on...
ReplyDeleteI first read this book in 2008 when my little brother, Sam, suggested it. As both a statement on the novel's potential with reluctant readers and a suggestion for when to offer/teach it: Sam, who actively avoids reading, read it as a junior in high school during a choice unit and then ardently recommended it to me.