“I did it because you are the epitome of ordinariness…”
Markus Zusak once again cleverly goes into the readers’ minds in I am the Messenger (published by Random House) and keeps you guessing about the real story’s message until the end.
A bunch or ordinary card playing, boozing mates are intertwined in a game of discovery of ones self and the greater person.
Ed, twenty something, is sent a playing card and instructed to follow the clues by a mystery source. The journey creates extraordinary ramifications for ordinary people. Simple acts of kindness involve bank robbers, priests, wife beaters, old ladies and even ice-cream. We also observe Ed’s relationship with his trusty dog ‘Doorman’ that gives the story some commonness.
I relate to Zusak’s descriptive writing. He brings everyday situations alive with his personifications: “a small tear lifts itself up in her eye. It trips out to find a wrinkle and follows it down.” Sounds so much better than “she cried.”
Zusak has created a book that we can all assimilate life with. The times we could have mowed the neighbours lawns when their kids were sick, cooked an extra batch of Bolognaise for a new Mum when we had the chance and simply paid an honest compliment, at the risk of sounding contrived, when we thought it was due. His message is a powerful one that centres on our collective vulnerabilities and innate ability to reach out. It could be perceived as a little ‘schmaltzy’ with its deeds but the fact the deeds are simple everyday ones most of us could do, gives it credence.
Zusak even gets Ed to say: “What would you do if you were me?” He invites and involves the reader like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. “Your fingers turn the strongness of these pages that somehow connect my life to yours…the story is just another few hundred pages of your mind.*”
This book cannot be compared to The Book Thief. It is written in a different time and language. However, like all of Zusak’s books it talks about hardship and overcoming adversity with human spirit.
I like hopeful endings.
"Stories have always told me where I was from," Zusak told Teenreads.com interviewer Tammy L. Currier. "[My parents'] hardships and struggle to live decent lives are probably the basis of everything I approach. Also, when I see my friends, we laugh and carry on, and it's our stories that give us that laughter. I guess without stories we'd be empty."
*I am the Messenger, Zusak Markus, Random House Publishing, 2003, p.89
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