I Am the Messenger

How it reads

I Am the Messenger is contemporary fiction (coming-of-age inspirational fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are redemption, identity and friendship. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 357 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.