I mean this in the nicest way possible: I hate Markus Zusak.
I finished I Am The Messenger almost two weeks ago. Even now, I can’t stop thinking about the book. He wrote the type of novel that is both inspirational and entertaining. He wrote a moral story without being too moral. He reminded me why being an author is so important to me.
I know what you’re asking yourself: So if the book is so great, then why do you hate him?
Simple: He broke the rules.
In my opinion, he broke a big, big, big rule at the end of the novel. At first, when I realized what he was doing, I was furious. There’s no way an author like me could have pulled a stunt like he did at the end and still got published. In my opinion, it was something that a first time author would do.
But in spite of myself, as much as I want to hate the novel, I can’t. Because, quite simply, it’s brilliant. Over the two weeks since I’ve read the novel, I’ve found myself thinking about how well he pulled the novel together. He manipulated the readers of the novel just as much as he manipulated the characters. But for some reason, I’m okay with the deception. He wrote a book that I will never forget, and for that, I can overlook the path he took the reader’s on.
Markus Zusak is the messenger, and a damn good one at that. I highly, highly recommend this novel.
While I disagree about the ending, I agree in how awesome Zusak is. As for the manipulation, what I did like about the ending is it’s a huge reminder that all books manipulate; it’s just sometimes you notice and sometimes you don’t.
Have you read The Book Thief? Amazing, amazing book.
Liz,
That’s an interesting way to describe the ending. I guess, in a way, all authors manipulate their readers.
The Book Thief is sitting on my desk now. I have a few other books ahead of it that I want to read first, but I plan to get to it in the next few months.