Reviews

The Underdog by Markus Zusak

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mcfade28's review against another edition

3.0

I only picked up this novel because it is by Markus Zuzak, the author of the global phenomenon The Book Thief, which happens to he one of my favourite books. I suspect many others are in a similar boat.

Not much of note happens in this story. We follow Cameron Wolfe who is a teenager in Australia. He has a close relationship with his brother, and most of the novel is about their exploits. It is a simple enough tale, with nothing overly poor or brilliant to report on.

jacqui_des's review against another edition

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3.0

Memorable Quotes

"If the prime minister was a dentist, the country wouldn't be in the state it's in right now, I can tell you. There'd be no unemployment, no racism, no sexism. Just money."

"My heart beat big."

"He's fighting the world."

"I'm a fighter', I concluded, 'not a loser. There's a difference."

asma_aj's review against another edition

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3.0

This is quite a different tone from Zusak's other books. Not quite a masterpiece like I Am The Messenger, but it still packs a little rawness. The setting Zusak paints for his characters is quite bleak, and yet, they fit so well in it. Cameron, his family and friends, the people he interacts with-- it's all so well crafted into this short story that I was still captivated by it. The format was also interesting, ending each chapter with a little of Cameron's dream that feeds into his reality somehow. This is the first of three books, and while it doesn't delve too deep into Cameron's life yet, I enjoyed reading about his "beginnings".

It's a little rough around the edges compared to his other works, but it's still a page-turner.

dreareads100's review against another edition

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3.0

I had high expectations for this book because I've read "I am the Messenger" and "Book Thief" by Zusak which are two of my favorite books. Underdog had absolutely no plot, however, I did see some points that had that beautiful Zusak writing that I saw in his other books. I understand this was his first book and I did enjoy it because of his beautiful writing, but I didn't LOVE it like his others because of the lack of plot. (I won't be continuing with the other two)

abduldotrehman's review against another edition

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3.0

This was the first book by Markus Zusak and as he himself states that he isn't really proud of this book much and wishes that he could publish a more improvised version of this. The book seems to be written in a hurry. Anyways, The plot of this book is wonderful, a 15 years old middle-class guy who along with his roommate brother makes many plans but they never bring that plan to life which reminded me of my own childhood. LOL.
There are only some books with this tone which is pretty unique but the story doesn't seem to have a motive and doesn't come to any conclusion. Not a waste of time but not worth it as well.