Review: Son by Lois Lowry

Son

Author: Lois Lowry

Publication Date: September 1st, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Genre: Dystopian/YA/Paranormal/Middle-Grade

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Synopsis:

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive?　 She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver,　as well as Gathering Blue　and　Messenger　where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.

My Thoughts: I've really enjoyed this series. It's wonderfully creative, imaginative, and really the possibilities for this world are endless. So it's kind of fun to think of all the things that could be. The only detail I wish was incorporated somewhere, was how the world became to be as it is in this series. With all the divided pocket towns with extremely varying lifestyles. But I guess, that is can be fun too left to the imagination.

I've heard a lot of people say they didn't enjoy the series because they felt it was too loosely connected, and the books didn't relate enough to each other to hold their interest to the characters/story line. And while that may hold true if you've only read the first two, you really shouldn't pass judgement or give up until you've read the whole series. The third book takes a lot from the second, and just a little from the first. The fourth book, being Son, Take a lot from the first, fills you in a ton of awesome details we were missing adds them to what we learned from all the other books and ties them together so nicely. It turns out all the books are actually very connected. That being said, they are all written in such a way that you could read them stand alone. But you will definitely get more from it if you read them all.

As I said above, this ending book was perfect. It tied all the weaving and different story line together so neatly and ended it all on a perfect note. It's probably one of the best books to end a series that I've read. I didn't feel like I was missing anything, that I had a ton of questions. I felt very satisfied and really happy. While those of you who read the other books a while ago may have been waiting a while for this last installment, I would say it was well worth the wait. But I myself just started the series I couple weeks ago and I was lucky enough to be first on the waiting list at my library for a copy of Son so I didn't have much of a wait.

The brand new person we meet in this book is named Claire. Even though we haven't heard of her before she actually plays quite a vital role to the story. From it's very beginning to it all coming together and ending.  Of all the characters I met throughout this series. Claire was definitely my favorite, making this book my favorite one in the series. Claire's determination, bravery, will power and strength was impressive and definitely pulled me towards her.

If you haven't read this series yet, I strongly recommend you do. If you are one of those people who have read the first two and were turned off by it's loose connections, then I really think you should give it another chance! You won't regret it. The way Lowry weaves it all together is really quite brilliant. She is indeed a talented Author and I'm so glad I picked up this series :). If you're a dystopian fan, add this to your must-read list!

Teaser Tuesday (34)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by  MizB at Should be Reading 

To Participate you:

-Grab your current read

-Open to a random page

-Share two 'teaser' sentences from somewhere on that page

-BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS

-Share the Title and Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR if the like your  teaser 

This week's teaser comes from:

Son

Author: Lois Lowry

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Teaser:

"Would you like to see aboard?" he asked suddenly. "I don't think it's allowed," she told him apologetically. "The Captain wouldn't mind. He often has visitors come aboard. We're a sea-river vessel. Very unusual. People like to come aboard and look around." "Sea-river?" "Yes. We don't just stay to the river. We can go to sea as well. Most riverboats can't." "Sea," Claire said. She hadn't the slightest idea what that meant.

I am so excited to be reading the final book in the Giver series. I am so curious to see how it all comes to an end! So far I am really enjoying it. If you haven't read the series, you should definitely check it out.

Review: Messengery by Lois Lowry

Messenger

Author: Lois Lowry

Publication Date: April 26th, 2004

Publisher: Ember

Genre: YA/Dystopia/Fantasy

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Synopsis:

For the past six years, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man, known for his special sight. Village was a place that welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.

My Thoughts: So far in the series this book was my favorite. I said that about the last one as well, so I guess they are just getting progressively better. Which is always an awesome thing in a series, to keep getting better instead of being drug out for too long.

The most interesting thing about this series is that you could pick up any of the books and read them without necessarily having to read the ones before it. But if you do read them, you will pick up on certain things you wouldn't notice otherwise. You could easily pick up this book and read it and enjoy it without having read the first two. But since I had read the first two, it made it even better. This one was different from the others because we actually got to re-visit old characters. Characters from both each previous book.  But of course, we are in a new community. We get to read about Matty, the young troublesome boy from Gathering Blue, and what life is like for him 6 years later now that he lives in  a new village with Kira's father. Kira was the main character in Gathering Blue. So for us to have that connection was something entirely new, since before there wasn't any real connection at all from book to book. Also, although it never straight out says who the leader is in this Village, it makes it pretty obvious who it is, and if you've read The Giver you'll know.

When we read about this village Kira's father came from in Gathering Blue, it sounded like the most peaceful friendly place ever. Where everyone was welcomed no matter what, and everyone helped everyone in any way they could. And life was like that quite a while for Matty, and he grew into a very changed young man. But then things start to take a dramatic change for the worse. But Matty, The Seer, and The Leader seem to be the only ones who are picking up on these changes. When all start to seems lost, Matty discovers he may not be as helpless as he thought. Perhaps he is special just like Kira and Leader. In my opinion, his abilities far outweigh those we've encountered so far. You will just have to read it to find out what he's capable of! But will it be enough to save Village and the people in it? Will he be able to restore the peace?

The ending was really sad, and I was close to tears. I went online to put a hold on Son right away to see what happens next, only to find out it just came out the day before haha. I was totally unaware of that, but I was able to go to the Library and put my name the list of people waiting to read it. I sure hope I'm not waiting too long! Jenn has read it and gave it 5 hoots, so that makes me even more anxious. She also loves to tell me just how good it was, totally rubbing it in! I definitely recommend this series to everyone, especially Dystopia fans! It just keeps getting better and better.

Teaser Tuesday (32)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by  MizB at Should be Reading 

To Participate you:

-Grab your current read

-Open to a random page

-Share two 'teaser' sentences from somewhere on that page

-BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS

-Share the Title and Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR if the like your  teaser 

This week's teaser comes from:

Messenger

Author: Lois Lowry

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Teaser:

"There were so many places. Sometimes, hearing the stories, remembering his own childhood, Matty was astounded. At first, having found his way to Village, he had thought his own brutal beginnings - a fatherless hovel for a home; a grim, defeated mother who beat him and his brother bloody - were unusual. But now he knew that there were communities everywhere, sprinkled across the vast landscape of the known world, in which people suffered. Not always from beatings or hunger, the way he had. But from ignorance. From not knowing. From being kept from knowledge."

I know, my teaser is long this week. But I just thought it was a really great one for the book, and the whole series really. Hope you like it, this series is really good! Don't know what took me so long to read it.

Review: Son by Lois Lowry

Son
(The Giver Quartet #4)

Author: Lois Lowry

Publication Date: October 2nd, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Thank you Thomas Allen and Son for the review copy!

Genre: Dystopia

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Synopsis:

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive?　 She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver,　as well as Gathering Blue　and　Messenger　where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.

My Thoughts: Awesome! I don't think Lois Lowry could have written a better ending to The Giver Quartet. After following all of the characters for so long, I was happy to see them all moving on with their lives, seeing Jonas, Kira and Gabe find happiness. Learning about Claire and her struggles. Son shows just how strong a mothers love can be, even if you're not supposed to feel any emotion, it can have a way of sneaking up on you. Claire is very determined to find her son and will do everything she can to find him.

So in Son we meet Claire. She's from the same place as Jonas and Gabe. She's three years older than Jonas and at her ceremony of Twelves she was assigned the role of Birthmother. Well, with her first birth something goes wrong and she is dismissed from that position. Her Product (baby) is number Thirty-six (who do we know that had that number? ;) ) and someone lets it slip that it was a male child to her. After she's reassigned to the Fish Hatchery she realizes that she can't stop thinking about her son. So she finds out who he is and visits when she can at the Nursery. Somehow, she ends up on the delivery ship that comes to the community, in a storm and is washed out to sea. She is rescued and can't remember anything except for her name, Claire. She knows there is something important that she can't remember and once she remembers, she decides she must leave this safe place and find her son. The only way out is to scale a cliff, which means she's going to need to train for it. Son shows how Claire can overcome anything to find her son that was taken from her. She is a strong character and I can't help but feel terrible for her. She nearly makes it when she has a brush with Evil which almost takes everything from her. She makes huge sacrifices for her son, who in turn makes sacrifices for his mother. Everything comes down to that adorable blue eyed Gabe from the Giver, can he defeat the Evil and save his mother after everything she's done for him.

Lois Lowry is a fantastic storyteller and I continuously find myself completely lost into the story. When I'm reading her works I see and hear nothing going on around me. I first read The Giver years ago, I think I was about 10. I found a copy in my older brothers room and being the bookworm that I am, I devoured it. I picked it up again a few years later in high school, remembering that I greatly enjoyed it and I read it again. Just recently this year, after finding out that there were more books to the series, I knew I had to read them. This past week I've once again reread The Giver and the rest of the series, ending it with this amazing ending. Lois Lowry has once again made me an emotional wreck whilst reading her writing. Dystopias are quickly becoming one of my favourite genres and it's all thanks to this series. If you haven't read The Giver or it's sequels, you really must. You'll be missing out if you don't! These are highly recommended by me!

Review: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Gathering Blue

Author: Lois Lowry

Publication Date: September 25th, 2000

Publisher: Ember

Genre: YA/Dystopia

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Synopsis:

In her strongest work to date, Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, she struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever.

My Thoughts: Even though Gathering Blue is a sequel to The Giver, the two books aren't really related. At least plot line wise. There are ways in which they are a lot a like, but also vastly different. It made the read more exciting I think, because the scheme and main idea was basically the same, but in a brand new world with entirely different details and surroundings and characters. So far, I am really enjoying this series.

So Gathering Blue is the same in the idea that our current way of life has ended and in it's place are these divided communities. No one in this communities has any idea what is outside, I don't think they  have any concept how large the world actually is. All they know is what they are taught, and they are only taught things which keep them in line, keep them working.

But in this community, things are vastly different than what we experienced in The Giver. Here, their technological advancement is minimal at best. The people have pretty low intelligence, and conditions are slummy at best. Of course everyone is ruled by a council, they set the rules that should be followed. Which in this case are pretty base. People are discouraged from trying to leave by being taught that they woods surrounding them are full of man eating beasts. And as their intelligence levels are not that high, they don't really think to question this, even though no one has ever really seen one.

Kira was a child born deformed. And normally these children are taken to the dying fields because they are not strong enough to work and are to much of an incumbrence. Parenting is almost non-existant in this book. There were times I was reading with a grimace on my face or was I was flinching from horrifying parental skills. But Kira's mom fought to let her live, and since Kira's dad was almost council level, she got to live. Unfortunately the story starts off with Kira's mom dead, and her dad died a long time ago. With no one left to stand up for her existence, she is faced with being sent to the beasts to die.  Kira's amazing ability to do beautiful needlework saves her life.

Kira gets to live in a real building, instead of a mud and stick hut. Indoor plumbing and all! She gets fed real food, and gets to sleep in a real bed. As long as she keeps doing her work. Even though everything seems great and wonderful and like her life has actually been made even better just when she thought it was about to be the worst. Kira discovers things that make her question her community, the council, and her purpose.

I enjoyed this installment even more than the first, but if I had to choose one of these community's to live in, I would definitley choose The Giver.  I am already really anxious to read The Messenger to see what kind of life I will get to experience next. Lois Lowry does an amazing job of showing us all these alternate lives we could experience if everything we currently knew was lost. I would definitely recommend this series to any and all :).

Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

Publication Date: January 24th, 2006

Publisher: Ember

Genre: YA/Dystopian/

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Synopsis:

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

My Thoughts: This was a pretty short read so I won't be able to say too much about it. But I can tell you that I really enjoyed it. It was compelling and a definite page turner. I finished it in less than a day, which isn't that impressive when you think how short it is. But as a mom of 3, I don't get a lot of free time haha. It was hard to put it down and I was always excited to pick it back up and get a few more minutes reading in.

Don't laugh, but I didn't even know what Dystopians were until a fairly recently. Once I found out what they were I realized I had already read a few of them, but I have discovered that I really like them. I don't think I've read one yet I didn't enjoy.  This was was really good and probably close to the top of my favorite Dystopians. It reminded me a lot of 1984 by George Orwell. They were the same in the way that no one was in control of their own lives, no one gets to make choices. But in the Giver they take one thing even further. In 1984, they altered history and events to their own advantage, but in The Giver, history doesn't really exist. All these people live in essentially a little box. They only know what the ancients want them to know, which isn't anything at all really. How to do their job and that's it. Even families aren't made by choice. Matches for partners are made by the ancients, and even children are matched to parents. I'm not even entirely sure how kids are made in this world. I know some women are assigned the role of Birth Mother. It's their job to have babies, literally. But, as far as I can tell, there are no such thing as sexual relations in this story. In fact the main character is told to take a pill that wipes out all such urges and thoughts.

So at the age of 12 you are given your job, what your roll for the rest of your life will be. The main character Jonas receives the most important and hardest job of all. He is chosen as the Receiver. The Receiver and The Giver are the ones who hold all the memories of the past. From the really amazing things, like sunshine, and love. To the really terrible things like war and sickness.  Jonas was completely unprepared for what he is about to take in. Immediately upon learning about these things that no longer exist, even colors, he wants to share them with his friends. But that is against the rules. But Jonas and The Giver are looking to change those rules. They agree it's time to give the memories back to everyone.

It was so interesting and fun to read about someone discovering and being amazed by all these things that seem so commonplace to us. I feel like this book also carries a deeper message about freedom and choice and what kinds of things have lead us to the world we live in today. In many ways, this world is better by far. But then again, who wouldn't like to live in a world where there is no sickness or war or hunger. Would you be willing to sacrifice almost everything you know now for those things?

It definitely ended on a cliff hanger! I need to get to the library and read the rest of the series for sure. I would definitely recommend this book. Especially to all Dystopian fans since it's pretty much a classic.