I am the Messenger

Markus Zusak's book I am the Messenger is aimed at the young adults. It is funny, edgy, and at times, crude. His attempt here is to write something that the teenagers might actually read, and hence, get the moral messages woven into the story.

Unless you've first read about the author, you don't know if the story happens in "any city" in the US or somewhere else. He purposefully avoids picking a specific place as the backdrop. In doing so, in my view, the story loses the richness an established city name can provide. Then again, what I read was the US publication of the story. Either the author himself or the US editors/publishers may have deliberately decided to remove the Australian references in order to appeal to a larger market. In a couple of other places in the story he uses generics or meta-statements in order to appeal to everyone and loses the sharpness of a point he attempts to make. It is like someone saying "Hey, I've got the funniest story to tell you. So, these two guys walk into a bar, right. Now think of the funniest 'two-guys-walk-into-a-bar joke you know' and that's what happens. Isn't that hilarious?" Technically, if you follow the advise, you've got the funniest story. But, by being a meta-story, and by trying to appeal to everyone's best joke, it loses the appeal and the purpose.

As for the moral undertones of the story itself, Zusak loses a couple of points for giving mixed messages. While the drinking age in Australia is 18, the supposed moral compass of the story getting wasted on booze at the age of 19 doesn't set a good example for the young adults, IMHO. Same with the casual sex one of the leading characters goes through at age 19 versus the supposed shame of getting pregnant at age 16. Then again, that is probably what the author is attempting to say anyway, that life isn't all good or bad, black or white, cut and dry; that life is messy and complicated and not all what it seems to be on the surface.

As mentioned earlier, I got the feeling that someone has sanitized the story by removing some of the Australian-ness from it. But then, they had to keep the reference to Merv Hughes and put in an explanation. Had they added or kept more Australian quirks in, the story would have been far more interesting, at least to me.

Still, it is a good, easy read with a funny dialogue. (I ended up picking this book because it was among a pile of books someone had given my teenage son.)