by
Markus Zusak
Page Count: 357
Stand Alone.
My Rating: ★★★★★ LOVE
Current Average Rating on Goodreads: 4.11
Synopsis:
This teen gem about an unambitious teenager whose life is suddenly turned upside down by anonymous messages has it all - mystery, humor, romance, friendship.Meet Ed Kennedy - underage cab driver, pathetic card player, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack, and he's hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That's when the first Ace arrives...That's when Ed becomes the messenger.
Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains. Who's behind Ed's mission?
Michael L. Printz Honor Winner
First thought: Markus Zusak never fails to amaze me.
Well fair enough, i've only read one other book of his (The Book Thief) , but that one is like my second favourite book EVERR. Second to Harry Potter, of course ;P
This story had a different .. what's the word..er mellifluous? feel to it. Maybe because it was in a muuch more modern setting.. I dunno. The Book Thief was magical, and this was beautiful.
How people write like this is beyond me... Really the only person who can write like this and pull it off is dear Mr. Zusak! The metaphors weren't deliberately confusing, they weren't used to make the book more fancy, or to make the characters look more smart, it's just all in the writing that I can't explain.
And we all know my incapabilities of writing reviews for books I love.
Which sucks epically.
In short, it will be quite a small review with lots of gushing and forcing. *clears throat*
Now if you're thinking 'metaphors? Yuuckkk! Metaphor overloaded books are horrible!' theen I say go read it anyways. Why? Because I hate badly written metaphoric overloaded books too, and this was definitely not one of them XD Zusak- (can I call you Markus pretty please? Yeyy) has one of the most unique styles of writing i've seen so far. How he uses his words are absolutely brilliant, and you can just imagine them tumbling out of his mind like fairy dust falling to the ground or something (*cough* Yeah..)
I paced myself with this book because I seriously did not want it to end. I mean, Ed has to wait ages to solve his message or get a new one! Who am I to read through his hardship in one sitting?!
Plus the best things come in pieces :P I would recommend reading a few chapters at a time, on contrary to that thingy... you know those little review comments publishers put on the cover? Mine was a library copy so I don't have it anymore :/ But it said "Don't pick it up until you have the time to read this in one sitting" or something similar.
Me: Noooo don't ruin the magic in a few hours!!
That's my advice anyways xD If you can't help it, I won't blame ya.
So the characters were realistic, and the story was unique. The secondary characters were also nice, even if they weren't my favourites. We can see Ed developing as a character and a person, and his point of view on the world and it's beauty. It's really lovely :)
The ending was a shockerr.... totally unexpected. *winks and zips lips*
I don't want to give too much away because where's the fun in that?
But really, you should read it. And the Book Thief if you haven't. Don't be put off because it's historical fiction! I don't read historical fiction either.
Markus Zusak has pushed both his books to my Top 5 Favourites so far :P *claps* Well done! I do hope you write more<3 The Book Thief was published in 2005 :( 9 Years ago! Rahhhh.....
P.s Well done for representing Aussie writers xD Come to think of it, I don't really know that many...huh o.O
—MissOddball™ Over and Out.
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Did you read this? Thoughts?
Do you want to read this? Or no? Teeelll meh xD My side whispers to your side of the world..
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