I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak Book Review

The novel “I am the Messenger” by Markus Zusak is the story of an average 20-year-old Cab driver named Ed Kennedy. At the very beginning, Ed receives some ace cards, which gradually change his life. He is given various tasks on ace cards that force him to choose between acting as a hero or simply maintaining his regular life as a cab driver. A few of the messages Ed gets are as straightforward as buying ice cream for a single mother who is suffering, where others find Ed in the complicated position of trying to determine whether to kill a man for the sake of the wife and children of the man or let him go. Angie Carusso and Edgar Street woman are just two of the many turning points in Ed’s life. Two very different women, but they have more in common than Ed might realize. 

On the one hand, Ed is forced to be courageous by Edgar Street’s mission and by standing up for this woman who has no one to defend her from her abusive husband.  “He has sex with her and the bed cries out in pain. It creaks and wails and only I can hear it. Christ, it’s deafening. Why can’t the world hear? I ask myself. Within a few moments, I ask it many times. Because it doesn’t care, I finally answer, and I know I’m right. It’s like I’ve been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask. The answer is quite simple: To care.” (53).  He feels embarrassed when he first tries because of the fact that he got terrified to act. As time goes on, however, he feels that it is time to act now, and he gets the courage to challenge the Edgar Street man. After Ed helps her by scaring away her husband, the woman and her daughter finally feel safe and live peacefully in their home.

On the other hand, in Angie’s life, she spent to the point of exhaustion looking after her children. After school, she buys her kids ice cream but not herself. So what Ed does to support Angie Caruso, the young woman, is by giving her an ice cream cone to make her feel loved. "In a way, I feel sad and empty, but I also feel that I've done what was intended. Just once, an ice cream for Angie Caruso. I'll always remember the color on her lips." (200). The primary duty of a mother is to protect and educate her children and to help them grow up to become human beings who are productive. She is doing a great job, the thing is mothering constant hard work. Stopping caring for yourself or becoming overwhelmed is so simple. Your child's care is affected and the ability to enjoy motherhood is affected. What Ed did to Angie Caruso, if they had paid enough attention to her, is something that anyone could have done.