I Am The Messenger-- SPOILER ALERT!!!
Ed Kennedy is an underage cab driver going nowhere. His mother hates him and makes him help her whenever she needs it. He has a dog, the Doorman, who loves coffee and stinks like he's already dead. Ed stinks at playing cards but always plays with his friends. He is in love with his friend Aubrey but she feels like she can't love anyone. His friend Marv gives new meaning to the word penny-pincher and Ritchie doesn't seem to care much about anything. Ed's sorry excuse for a life turns upside down when he stops the most pathetic attempt at a bank robbery ever.
After the would-be robbery Ed gets a card in the mail, an ace of diamonds to be exact. On the ace are three addresses and times. Ed feels compelled to go to each address at the given time to find out what they mean. When the first address shows him a man raping his girlfriend each night Ed realizes that he has been chosen to help those in need. He has been chosen to care. Ed gets a new ace after "completing" each assignment on the previous ace.
Some assignments are simple but touching while others are painful and grueling. Through each assignment Ed becomes a better man and even a genuine hero. The last ace, hearts, has him help his three closest friends. With Ritchie Ed learns that Ritchie has no ambition and forces him to face the truth. The only thing Ritchie wants, is to want. He learns that Marv saves up money for his kid that the mother's father has never allowed him to see. He helps Marv meet his daughter. For Audrey, Ed must make her want to love again. He has to make her see that she loves him.
Ed is taken on a heartbreaking journey and the only question left is: who sends the cards? At the end the man behind it all comes to him. He tells him how he orchestrated everything from his father's death to the bank robbery to that very conversation. When asked why he says "If a guy like you can stand up and do what you did, then maybe anyone can. Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of." Ed realizes that he has written everything down from his journey, and the reader understands that maybe his is the writer of the book. In a startling moment of clarity Ed realizes that he wasn't a messenger after all, he was the message.
Ed Kennedy is an underage cab driver going nowhere. His mother hates him and makes him help her whenever she needs it. He has a dog, the Doorman, who loves coffee and stinks like he's already dead. Ed stinks at playing cards but always plays with his friends. He is in love with his friend Aubrey but she feels like she can't love anyone. His friend Marv gives new meaning to the word penny-pincher and Ritchie doesn't seem to care much about anything. Ed's sorry excuse for a life turns upside down when he stops the most pathetic attempt at a bank robbery ever.
After the would-be robbery Ed gets a card in the mail, an ace of diamonds to be exact. On the ace are three addresses and times. Ed feels compelled to go to each address at the given time to find out what they mean. When the first address shows him a man raping his girlfriend each night Ed realizes that he has been chosen to help those in need. He has been chosen to care. Ed gets a new ace after "completing" each assignment on the previous ace.
Some assignments are simple but touching while others are painful and grueling. Through each assignment Ed becomes a better man and even a genuine hero. The last ace, hearts, has him help his three closest friends. With Ritchie Ed learns that Ritchie has no ambition and forces him to face the truth. The only thing Ritchie wants, is to want. He learns that Marv saves up money for his kid that the mother's father has never allowed him to see. He helps Marv meet his daughter. For Audrey, Ed must make her want to love again. He has to make her see that she loves him.
Ed is taken on a heartbreaking journey and the only question left is: who sends the cards? At the end the man behind it all comes to him. He tells him how he orchestrated everything from his father's death to the bank robbery to that very conversation. When asked why he says "If a guy like you can stand up and do what you did, then maybe anyone can. Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of." Ed realizes that he has written everything down from his journey, and the reader understands that maybe his is the writer of the book. In a startling moment of clarity Ed realizes that he wasn't a messenger after all, he was the message.