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lyramadeline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Cursing
Moderate: Violence
funyuns_the_movie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Physical abuse and Rape
Moderate: Sexual content
caskraft's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
feelsattack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I feel like the ending made it "not as good," and I'm attributing it to the HEAVY HANDEDNESS.
One thing that was really glaring was the way he writes. I don't even know how to explain it, and oddly enough I watched a AClockworkReader's video where she tried to describe this style of writing. It's like, when Zusak writes really short sentences, sometimes even only two words, and then moves to the next line. Let me find an example:
"Lua kisses her.
Just softly on the lips.
And she kisses back.
Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are."
AND IT'S SO ANNOYING. I understand this is an intentional writing choice but it's so annoying. I feel like Zusak has some sub-group of John Scalzi-itis Syndrome, where John Scalzi literally adds "said" after EVERY dialogue, Zusak can't help but use this format of writing ALL THE TIME. It gets annoying after a while. Usually I only see it used occasionally in other books because this style of writing can really enhance a scene, especially if it is an emotional scene, but because Zusak used it so much it lost its effect very quickly.
Otherwise, the book was fine. I enjoyed it.
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
amberacks12's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Enjoyment: 3.5
Educational value: 3
Emotional impact 4.5
Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual content
Minor: Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Pregnancy
mikki_9's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The reason for 3.5 is because the author uses awful descriptors for people of colour, and the main character’s attraction to a friend is written really creep-ily at times. There’s also villainization of fatness a couple times and a weird sexualization/infantilization of most women/girls in this story. Also, at one point they misgender a man, calling him Mimi, saying he looks like a woman.
Maybe those things didn’t bring down my rating as much as they normally would’ve because the character acknowledges his… lack? And because he experiences a lot of character development? Idk.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Stalking
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Rape
shoohoob's review against another edition
Moderate: Rape and Sexual content
erenrinren's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The plot kind of hinges on the mystery, while the other events supplement it
Our main character, Ed, shows tremendous growth throughout the novel. He becomes obsessive with the mystery, to the point of harming himself
There was so much intensity at certain points within the novel that after reading a significant chunk of the book, I had to put it down to process everything that had happened. This wasn’t to the novel’s detriment, however.
In terms of details on content warnings, I will post them below in the drop down.
Near the end, when we find out the mystery, it seemed very unsatisfactory to me. Maybe if I ruminate on it for a while, I will think differently but for now it seemed very convenient. I also found some of the “messages” Ed had to perform were lacklustre compared to others. Maybe that was the point, but it seemed very off kilter.
This is why I docked down the percentage rating.
All in all, I am the Messenger was not as good as The Book Thief, but it shares the same intensity and character growth. I really do recommend it, if you can handle some of the content.
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Grief
Minor: Grief, Vomit, and Sexual content
-Fat-Shaming/Fatphobia, there is one scene that appears in the novel that constantly refers to a minor character’s weight and is not addressed, but it doesn’t happen anywhere else in the novel. -There is a mention of a sex worker who takes Ed’s cab one night, but is never mentioned again -Rape/Sexual Assault, within the first 50 pages it appears