Another shot of brilliance

Markus Zusak has done it again. Well, "again" for me, as this book is the older of the two that I've read. I Am the Messnger is astounding. Once again, he has created characters that are extremely real; this comes through so strongly in the dialogue, which flows almost as naturally as speech. What I love most is his ability to take a serious situation and throw in a really funny line and actually make it work. The message (ha ha) of this book is a good one, and through it the protagonist really grows by the end of the book. (Also hard to do properly!) This book in particular is especially creative, as well as mercilessly frank, sometimes sarcastic, yet charming and funny all at the same time. Even though a story like this is highly unlikely to ever happen in real life, Zusak makes it all entirely believable, and that, I think, is the mark of a great writer.