Rest of the Giver Quartet

Author: Lois Lowry
Genre: Dystopia for young adults
 

Title: Gathering Blue
Published: Kindle edition is from 2014, book from 2000.
Pages: 215


I wasn't going to read the whole Giver Quartet straight away but it kind of just happened. There was the first chapter of this one at the end of The Giver, and damn it but it's easy (and mostly cheap) to buy books on the Kindle!

There may be some spoilers ahead, but I'm going to try and keep them down.

Gathering Blue is set in the same world as The Giver, but in a different village, where a person's worth is measured with what they can do for the community. Kira, born with a lame leg, is considered pretty much useless, and once her mother, her only protector dies, most of the other villagers want to get rid of someone who, to them, is just a waste of food and space. But Kira can do something the others can't: she can create beautiful images with a needle and thread, and the village council decide that there may be a use for her after all.

Like The Giver, Gathering Blue was a fast read but not at all childish. Full of social issues but not preachy. And as soon as I was done with it, I moved straight into the next one. Because I'd gone and peeked ahead at the end of The Giver...


Title: The Messenger
Published: Kindle edition 2014, book 2004.
Pages: 169


Shortest of the four, and damn it but the end broke my heart. The Messenger starts to tie up the series as we meet again characters from both The Giver and Gathering Blue. Our main character is called Matty, a young man who dares to travel through the forbidding forest that surrounds his small village, a place that used to be peaceful and nice to live in. Lately, though, things have been getting strange and hostile, and a village where all travelers and refugees were welcome is planning to close up from the world around it. Matty is sent out for one more trip, to let people know not to come knocking anymore.


Title: Son
Published: Kindle edition 2014, book 2012.
Pages: ~400


And the last one! Son is longer than the other three, and set in three parts: Before, Between and Beyond. It's the story of Claire, from the same community as Jonas from The Giver. Where Jonas was given a very esteemed position when he became a 12, Claire had become a birthmother. Not very flashy or demanding, considered a dull job for the not-so-useful ones, but important all the same, as newchildren are always needed to keep the community going.

Unlike other birthmothers -or really, all the people in the emotionless, colourless community!- Claire can't stop thinking of her child, a little boy to be given to a chosen set of parents once he's past that pesky baby-phase. When what happens at the end of The Giver happens, Claire despairs and leaves the community, but never forgets her son and goes to great lengths with only the smallest hope of ever finding him again.

What I liked about the books -in addition to all I've already mentioned- is that they're not the typical Save the World! -fantasy books. The themes are universal but the 'heroes' are normal people, not out for glory but just to make their own worlds better, to reach things that are important to them, to make the future a little bit brighter. And I wish these books would be translated into Finnish, too. Maybe with The Giver having become a movie there will be a call for it.