Markus Zusak
Lent to me by my book-loving friend who periodically exchanges books with me, I had not known the author before and started to read without any expectations other than it should be good, since so far everything I have borrowed from this friend has met my taste.
It turned out that I really, really liked this book, for various reasons. The setting is - unusual for me - Australia, in a part of town that has seen better days. Not that the Australian factor is over-emphasised, but it is unusual for me to read of a "typically hot November day" or Christmas spent in shorts and t-shirt and drinking cold beer in the shade of the porch.
The main character is Ed, a 19-year old cab driver, flanked by a cast of quirky characters like his three best friends, one of whom he is deeply in love with while she keeps saying that he is her best friend and therefore she doesn't want to spoil their friendship. There is also Ed's Mum and memories of his late Dad. The other love in his life is his old dog, very much a character in his own right.
With an unqualified, low-pay job and no real perspective or ambition for more than playing cards with his friends, walking the dog, occasionally visiting his Mum, Ed's life could go on like this for years and years.
But when he and his friends are accidentally caught in a bank robbery, and equally accidentally Ed manages to stop the gunman, everything changes.
After his unwilling 15 minutes of fame, Ed starts to receive playing cards in the mail, with cryptic messages on the back, sometimes more, sometimes less difficult to decipher. In any case, he has to act on them, and act he does.
I am not going to spoil things for you by telling you what he has to do and about the people he meets along the way, but by the end of the book, loose ends are tied up and Ed - as well as the reader - learns what it was (and is) all about.
An unusual story, quirky characters and the language to match - I can recommend this if you want a story that is mysterious but not a mystery as such (no murders, detectives or crime-solving), not a historical drama or family epos and neither romance nor comedy, but with elements of both.
More about the author can be found on wikipedia.
As you know I don't often read fiction, but this book sounds interesting! He also wrote "The Book Thief" and even I know that one!
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, I had never heard of Markus Zusak before! And although the title "The Book Thief" did ring a bell when my friend told me that the author was famous for that one, I've never read it.
DeleteI did love his "The Book Thief" and will check this out when I head to the library today. They have it in the "teen" section there. Thanks, Meike, and have a nice weekend with O.K. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen! My Mum remembers a film based on The Book Thief, but I haven't seen that, either. Maybe I can borrow the book from my friend.
DeleteInteresting! "The Book Thief" is a favorite in our school library but I must say I've never read anything by him. I might give this one a try!
ReplyDeleteThis is the one I mentioned in a comment on your blog a while ago, Steve. I can really recommend it.
DeleteDear Meike,
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with your blogpost. I have copied and pasted this opening from a current BBC News report:-
"The owners of a 700-year-old castle and estate have said it has been a "privilege" to have been its custodians.
Ripley Castle, near Harrogate, has been the home of the Ingilby family since the 14th Century.
However, Sir Thomas and Lady Ingilby have put the property up for sale with a £21m price tag.
The baronet and his wife said the decision was due to a desire to retire and do other things after decades working to maintain the large estate.
"There are days when we are very positive about it, there are other days when we are sad for what we will miss," Sir Thomas said.
"I've been looking after the place for over 50 years, so this has been my whole life. I don't want to be carried out of here feet first, I've got things I want to do."
...I thought you might be interested.
Neil
Thank you, Neil. My sister and I knew about this, as I have posted here:
Deletehttps://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2024/08/saturday-in-ripley.html
If we had the money, we'd buy the place and make it our home away from home - although I dare say that "our" beloved Matchbox Cottage feels much more like a home to us than what Ripley Castle could ever be.
I wonder who is going to buy it, and what they are going to turn it into.
Riley Castle run by Lady Meike and her staff could serve different functions - including prestigious wedding venue, film set and a retirement home for old bloggers. Of course, every room will be painted yellow.
DeleteA retirement home for bloggers, I like that idea!! I could charge enormous rents from everyone (and we'd need the money to keep the old pile from crumbling), and of course I would allow people to have their rooms painted in other colours than yellow.
DeleteThe author's name rang a bell, and reading the article I too recognised the title of that other book mentioned by several others above, The Book Thief. Checking my own list of books read in the past, I find that I read it in 2012, in Swedish translation.
ReplyDeleteMost people seem to know The Book Thief, it's just me who was totally ignorant :-) Did you enjoy it?
DeleteAt least enough for the title to ring some sort of bell in my memory. 12 years ago though and I must have borrowed it from the library.
Delete