I Am The Messenger is another book by Markus Zusak, the author of the wonderful novel The Book Thief. (If you haven't read The Book Thief, I'll say that I consider it worthy of having a permanent spot on a shelf next to To Kill A Mockingbird and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It is stunning.) I Am The Messenger is about Ed Kennedy, a 19-year old cab driver living in a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Ed and his friends are from the wrong side of the tracks. They're pretty aimless, going nowhere fast, and working in dead end jobs, if they have jobs at all. Then one day Ed thwarts a bank robbery, after which he finds his life taking some unexpected turns.
I loved this book! Really, really loved it. The story had elements that reminded me of A Christmas Carol or It's A Wonderful Life. In another way it reminded me of a book that I read a number of years ago: The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. But I Am The Messenger is utterly original and beautiful. It is labeled a young adult novel, but please don't let that keep you from reading it. Zusak is a gifted writer and this is an outstanding book.
(Cross-posted at, yup, the Spring Reading Challenge.)
