Markus Zusak is not an author. He does not put lines of ink onto paper and bind them in between slabs of cardboard. He does not makes letters into words and words into a book. No. Markus Zusak is not an author. He is a magician. He is an artist. He is a teacher and a philosopher. He does more than write a book. He tells a story.
I fell in love with Markus Zusak’s work the moment I read the first page of the The Book Thief, and I was utterly devoted to it the moment I turned to the last page of I Am The Messenger. I Am The Messenger is about a nineteen year old boy named Ed, who works as an underage cab driver, and the only two things that he loves in life are his coffee-drinking dog and a yellow-haired girl named Audrey. He lives a completely ordinary, unexceptional, below average life. That is, until he gets a card in the mail. Not a normal card. A playing card. An Ace. To be more specific, an Ace of Diamonds.
This Ace of Diamonds changes Ed’s life forever. His extraordinarily ordinary life is turned upside down as he is sent on mission after mission. Ed doesn’t know it at first, but he has turned into a Messenger. With every address, name, and mission he receives, he helps those that deserved to be helped.
Zusak entrances his readers with his poetic technique and insightful language. He strives to teach his readers something about self-respect, dignity, life, and love. Through his characters, you find yourself and you live alongside them as they journey toward the better and happier life waiting for them. As you complete the book, not only is your mind sufficiently and thoroughly blown, but you also walk away with a better understanding on what it really means to live.