In reading the book, I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, I have learned something.Everything truly does happen for a reason. Ed Kennedy is introduced into the story as 19 year old boy who is out of high school but not going to college who has pursued a job in can driving, even though he is underaged. The book opens in a bank during a robbery. Ed ends up being the hero and shooting the robber as he tried to get away after the robber accidentally dropped his gun. After this Ed is in newspapers and people know who he is which is different than normal. Soon after this, Ed starts receiving strange playing cards in his mail, and by strange I mean playing cards with addresses on them with a time to go there. Ed was chosen for this “mission” for a reason. Someone, whoever this mysterious person is, knew the many sides to Ed Kennedy and knew that if given a gun, he would kill the man who was sexually assaulting his wife, in front of their daughter or that he would know how to help the girl with her track meets or that he would stay with Milla and keep her company or that he would even acknowledge the cards at all. If Ed hadn't shot the man robbing the bank, the mystery person would have never found him and Ed would never have gotten the playing cards and he wouldn't be where he is now.
Another thing I learned from reading I Am The Messenger, is that you shouldn't underestimate people. Ed Kennedy is just a 19 year old who has never killed anyone before. He never seemed like the person that would be conned into being an “assassin”. When I was reading the last few pages of part one of the book, I couldn't believe it. “Ed just shot him! Killed him”, I thought. It was so uncharacteristic for Ed to do this because he talk about having few friends and just hanging out and playing cards. Does that seem like a person who would get a gun in the mail and go murder someone with it? I automatically disagreed with his decision and it led me to think of a few things. What if he has to kill again? What “messages” is he supposed to be sending? And of course is he going to get caught for murdering the man? I am excited to read the book more because I NEED to find this out.
