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I Am the Messenger
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I Am the Messenger (2002) (edit title/settings)

by Markus Zusak (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

"I Am The Messenger" is a book about mystery, friends, and the social life of an accidental hero. Ed Kennedy, a big-city cab driver, has been chosen by an unknown source to save people from their trapped life. Different victims create a different puzzle for Ed to figure out. From a lonely... read more

Summary edit see section history

Ed Kennedy was a nobody whose life changed when he received an ace in the mail. The ace has three addresses and times and obviously he is supposed to go to these places. Ed first wonders who's sending them then debates on whether he should go to addresses at all. He convinces himself to go. At... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Ed Kennedy was a nobody whose life changed when he received an ace in the mail. The ace has three addresses and times and obviously he is supposed to go to these places. Ed first wonders who's sending them then debates on whether he should go to addresses at all. He convinces himself to go. At the first address, he witnesses something terrible that happens every night. He knows he's supposed to stop it, but he is a scrawny cab-driver, what can he do. He decides to move on to the next address. There he succeeds. The events that go down there touch his heart, it was a beautiful moment. He moves on to the third address and he succeeds there too. He witnesses the beauty and determination of a young runner and helps her out. With only one address left, he receives a gun in his mailbox. After a drugged drink and attempted murder, he succeeds with the final address.
He receives the aces one by one, each one leading to different locations and different situations. Between addresses and aces, Ed hangs out with his friends, Marv, Ritchie, and Audrey, playing cards and talking. He drinks coffee with his dog and argues with his Ma. His brother and two sisters have left the town and are living good lives, while Ed is hopelessly driving his cab around. His Ma doesn't like Ed very much. Ed is in love with Audrey, but Audrey won't let it happen and Marv and Ritchie aren't making much of their lives either. The guys participate in the Annual Sledge game, which is a game of drunken barefoot soccer that lots of people show up to. At the games, he receives the 3rd ace. Daryl and Keith are the two guys that delivered the 2nd ace. The 4th ace he gets at the cinema after watching a creepy video of himself carrying out the deeds on the aces.
The fourth ace leads him to his three best friends. He helps Ritchie start to make something of his life. Marv gets to see his long-lost girlfriend and their baby that he'd never seen before. Audrey lets herself love Ed, if only for three minutes. After he completes his tasks, he receives the joker in his mailbox, with his own address on it. He gets to meet the one who's been orchestrating all what Ed has been through. If someone hopeless like Ed can change 12 peoples lives, then why can't everyone else. That was what it was all about. In the end, Ed is a better person, and he gets the girl.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Ed Kennedy: 19-year-old man, main character, the Messenger.
  • The Doorman: Ed's beloved coffee-drinking smelly dog, who sits near his door and eats his food.
  • Audrey O'Neill: Ed's best friend. Ed has a not-so-secret crush on her, but she can't seem to want to love him. Audrey consistently says that she likes Ed too much to have sex with him.
  • Ritchie: Ed's friend whose real name is Dave Sanchez. He is called Ritchie because the tattoo of Jimi Hendrix that actually looks more like Richard Pryor. He plays cards with Audrey, Ed, and Marv and never lets anything get to him.
  • Marv: One of Ed's friends who lives with his parents and never spends a cent of his money. He's attached to his clunker of a car. He's argumentative and he and Ed have been best friends since they were children.
  • Ma: Ed's mother, who calls once in a while and is quite rude to him. She has "a bit of a swearing habit."
  • The Gunman: The man who fails to rob the bank. He tells Ed at his trial every time he looks in the mirror, Ed should remember he is looking at a dead man.
  • Simon: Audrey's taxi-driving boyfriend. They have a lot of sex
  • Sophie: A runner involved with the Ace of Diamonds. She runs at 5:30 every morning barefoot and never seems to perform as well with shoes. Ed helps her to realize that she is beautiful.
  • Daryl: Mysterious man; seems to be part of the mystery people sending messages.
  • Bernie Price: The owner of a run-down cinema.
  • Keith: The second mysterious man.
  • Tommy: Ed's brother who has "made something of himself."
  • Milla Johnson: An old and lonely woman involved with the first card Ed gets. She likes tea and eats soup and salad every day.
  • Angie Carusso: A woman involved with the Ace of Clubs.
  • Jimmy Cantrell: Milla's husband
  • Gavin Rose: One of the Rose brothers, involved with the Ace of Clubs. Ed has to bring Gavin and his brother Daniel together through some unlikely means.
  • Father Thomas O'Reilly: A priest involved in the Ace of Clubs whom Ed is to deliver a message to.
  • Angelina: An eight-year-old girl involved with the first card Ed receives.
  • Lua Tatupu: Lua and his family are the recipients of the Ace of Spades card.
  • Marie Tatupu: Lua's wife- she and her family are the recipients of the Ace of Spades message.
  • Jessie Tatupu: Lua and Marie's youngest son
  • Luke: Add a description of this character.
  • Margaret
  • Henry Boyd
  • darlin
  • Jerry Boston
  • Casey
  • Merv Hughes
  • Ingrid
  • Tony O'Reilly
  • Sarah Bishop
  • Daniel Rose
  • Mimi
  • Kieren
  • Clem
  • Reggie La Motta
  • Alice
  • Suzanne Boyd
  • Bob Dylan
  • Katherine
  • Misha
  • Melinda Boyd
  • Boss Hogg
  • Joe
  • Dad
  • Leigh
Show all 47 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “A dark wind makes it through the trees.The sky is nervous. Black and blue.My heart applauds inside my ears, first like a roaring crowd, then slows and slows till it’s a solitary person, clapping with unbridled sarcasm.”
  • “My first memory is of being four years old and getting a piggyback from Gregor Kennedy, my father. That was when the world wasn't so big and I could see everywhere. It was when my father was a hero and not a human.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “Believe it or not - it takes a lot of love to hate you like this.”
    Ma
  • “Marv, you will kiss this dog. And when you kiss him, you're going to like it.”
    Ritchie
  • “No. I won't. I won't be okay just for the sake of it. Not anymore.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “Sometimes, people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.”
    Ed kennedy
  • “I try to figure out which is more shattered - the window or Marv's face.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “The gun feels warm and sticky, like melting chocolate in my hand.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “I'm treading water in my thoughts.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “I tell me to stop. It's an inner voice and it's loud.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “You can kill a man with those words. No gun. No bullets. Just words and a girl.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “The night is alive with stars, and when I lie down and look up, I get lost up there. I feel like I'm falling, but upward, into the abyss of sky above me.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “Have you ever noticed that idiots have a lot of friends?”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “What would you do if you were me? Tell me. Please tell me! But you're far from this. Your fingers turn the strangeness of these pages that somehow connect my life to yours. Your eyes are safe. The story is just another few hundred pages of your mind. For me, it's here. It's now. I have to go through with this, considering the cost at every turn. Nothing will be the same. I'll kill this man and also die myself, inside. I want to scream. I want to scream out, asking why. The scattered stars shower down like icicles tonight, but nothing soothes me. Nothing allows me an escape. The figure in front of me collapeses, and I stand above him, waiting. Waiting.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “When her hands reached out and poured the tea, it was as if she also poured something into me while I sat there swearing in my cab. It was like she held a string and pulled on it just slightly to make me open up. She got in, put a piece of herself inside me, and left again. In there, somewhere, I still feel it.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “This isn't about words. It's about glowing lights and small things that are big.”
    Ed Kennedy
  • “I didn't know words could be so heavy.”
    Ed Kennedy
Show all 17 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

The gunman is useless.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Part One: the first message
A - the holdup
2 - sex should be like math: an introduction to my life
3 - the ace of diamonds
4 - the judge and the mirror
5 - watching, waiting, raping
6 - pieces
7 - harrison avenue
8 - being jimmy
9 - the barefoot girl
10 - the shoe box
J - another stupid human
Q - edgar street revisited
K - murder at the cathedral

Part Two: the stones of home
A - aftermath
2 - the visit
3 - the envelope
4 - just ed
5 - cabs, the hooker, and alice
6 - the stones
7 - the priest
8 - juveniles
9 - the cops show up
10 - the easy one and the ice cream
J - the colour of her lips
Q - blood and roses
K - the face of clubs

Part Three: trying times for Ed Kennedy
A - the game
2 - twenty dollars for the dog and the card
3 - dig
4 - the benefits of lying
5 - the power and the glory
6 - a moment of beauty
7 - a moment of truth
8 - clown street. chips. the doorman. and me
9 - the woman
10 - front porch cyclone
J - a phone call
Q - the bell street theater
K - the last reel

Part Four: the music of hearts
A - the music of hearts
2 - the kiss, the grave, the fire
3 - the casual suit
4 - to feel the fear
5 - ritchie's sin
6 - god bless the man with the beard, the missing teeth, and the poverty
7 - the secret marv
8 - each to each
9 - the swings
10 - audrey, part one: three nights to wait
J - marv's afterthought
Q - audrey, part two: three minutes to take
K - the end

Part Five: the joker
J - the laughter
J - the weeks
J - the end is not the end
J - the folder
J - the message

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Acts of Kindness: A big idea from the book is that you can impact the world with both small and big actions.
  • Live life: Ed learns that he needs to live life and enjoy life. This is the meaning behind Ed becoming the messenger.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Summer YA Reads. (community list)
This is book 976 of 986 in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Markus Zusak (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. David Goldin (Cover Artist)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Country: Austrailia
Publication Date: January 10, 2002
ISBN: 0375830995
Page Count: 368

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PZ7.Z837 Iae 2005
  • Dewey: 823

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

Might want to read before just to clear it. Constant sexual reference, violence, and profanity.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Wikipedia: Learn more about this book at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • All-American Girl
  • You & You & You
  • The Butcher Boy
  • How I Live Now

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