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shakespearesgirl 's review for:
I Am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak
I HAD SUCH HIGH HOPES FOR THIS BOOK AFTER READING BOOK THIEF, BUT THIS WAS JUST FUCKING HORRIFYING. THIS BOOK IS A TRAIN WRECK. THE MAIN CHARACTER IS A BASTARD, THE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS ARE EITHER ASSHOLES OR IDEALIZED FEMALE TROPES. I JUST. WHAT WAS ZUSAK THINKING? HOW DID THIS GET NOMINATED FOR THE PRINTZ AWARD? IT'S SHIT, IT'S UNCLEAR, IT'S PATCHY IN IT'S COHERENCE, IT ENDS BY UNDOING ALL OF THE GROWTH ED'S GONE THROUGH BY DROPPING AN AUTHOR AVATAR INTO THE NARRATIVE TO TELL ED AND BY PROXY THE READER THAT EVERYTHING THEY'VE EXPERIENCED WAS A CONSTRUCT TO TEACH A MORAL LESSON.
THIS IS THE KIND OF SHIT THAT "INSPIRATIONAL NOVELS" GET SO MUCH FUCKING SHIT FOR AND I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS BOOK IS A BESTSELLER. FUCKING HELL.
NO FUCKING STARS.
EDIT: Okay, sorry. I just really hate that fucking pretentious meta bullshit dropped into the very end of a story that has, until that point, been straight literature. I hate being told I'm reading one thing only for the author to make some big reveal later in the book and pretend he's clever for actually having been writing something else.
In general, this book was not horrible. It was a solid three stars for most of the novel. I liked the idea of being given anonymous tips about people you could help in some way. I liked that Ed was asked to tread in morally gray areas, right up to being asked to maybe kill someone.
The protagonist was difficult to connect to, though, which kept me from really investing in the book, despite it's interesting premise, and by the time we got to Hearts, I was ready for the book to just be over already. I felt like Ed spent a lot of his time hemming and hawing and talking about how he was putting off doing the thing he was supposed to do because he was so scared of what he'd find.
The ending was convoluted and trite on top of being a fucking dirty trick, and I am just so done with supposedly "smart" teen literature being pretension and card tricks.