Book Review: The Giver Quartet

On a lonely Friday evening, I went to watch The Giver in theaters alone. It got a lot of bad reviews, but I enjoyed it. The Giver is another book I enjoyed since childhood. When I got home, I downloaded The Giver quartet (by Lois Lowry) to my Kindle account and blazed through the series. In order, the series includes The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

As a warning, I've included a bunch of spoilers.


The Giver
The first book in the series, we are introduced to Jonas and his utopian society where there is no music, no color, no dancing, no love, no real emotions. Life and death is planned. Climate is controlled, and there are no animals (except fish). Everyone is assigned a position in life at their special coming-of-age ceremony, but Jonas is selected. He is the Receiver, who will go to the Giver every day for training. The Giver is a man who holds all the memories (good and bad) before the time of the community. These are passed down from Giver to Receiver (who then becomes the next Giver) in order to remember why the community is the way it is. The good intention of this is to have knowledge of war but to keep everyone from the pain of what war was.

Jonas, although hurt by the pain of war, also sees the importance of joy, of love, of emotions. It isn't until they plan to kill (which he now understands the meaning of) Gabe, a baby who has failed to thrive. Jonas kidnaps Gabe (rescues Gabe?) and leaves the community. He arrives safely on a sled in the snow, to a warm cabin with music in the distance.

Gathering Blue
The second book focuses on Kira, a girl in a community very unlike Jonas' community. It is less technology-based, and it feels somewhat like a medieval town. There is sickness, murder, and cruelty. Kira has a crippled leg, and some of her community is known for killing members of society who they deem unfit. After her mother dies, she is targeted and brought before a court. Luckily, Kira has an excellent gift for threading. She can weave amazing patterns unlike anyone else. She is recruited by the community's higher council to fix a cloak worn by the Singer at an annual ceremony. Her living quarters are improved, and she befriends another young boy who can carve and a young girl who can sing. The boy's task is to carve the Singer's new staff. The girl's task is to learn the lengthy song, for she will be the next Singer.

Of course, not is all what it seems. Kira's mentor mysteriously dies. She discovers that the young girl (Singer in training) and boy (carpenter) are also orphans. Kira's young friend Matt (Matty) goes off to find her blue (as the flower that makes the blue dye is unavailable in the community), and he meets a blind man named Seer. Seer lives in a community of healing, and he accompanies Matt back to the distopian community. This is when Kira sees at the annual ceremony that the current Singer is chained (!) and that they are all really prisoners whose gifts are being suffocated into work. The story on his cloak is about how terrible things had happened in the past, but there is a blank spot, on which the higher council will decide what Kira should sew onto it.

After this discovery, Kira meets Seer. We discover that Seer is actually Kira's father, who was attacked by members of the community. Kira decides that she can change the story of her community, with help, and decides to stay in her community. She is happy about the reunion, and she says she will soon follow Matty and Seer to the healing community.

Messenger
The third book is Matty's story. Matty's secret power is the ability to heal, even though it takes much of his energy. Matty is living with Seer in the kind community. Matty's job is to be a messenger, for he is one of the few people who can survive and navigate the forest between their community and other communities. Some people are killed by the forest, so his job as messenger is important.

Soon things start to go amiss. People are changing, becoming greedy with their possessions and unwelcoming to outsiders. We learn the leader of the kind community is Jonas, or Leader. He has the ability to "see beyond." Matty soon witnesses people going to the trade market and returning changed. The Trademaster, who stands on the stage, asks people what they desire most, and they quietly trade something they have. Their requests are either approved or denied. It is ruining the town.

Seer sends Matty to get his daughter Kira, for he fears the town will be shut down to outsiders altogether very soon. To get Kira, Matty navigates through the forest, but this time it warns him, with snags and cuts and decaying forest parts. He knows that his next time through will be his last, as the forest usually gives a small warning like this. Kira is happy to see Matty, and she packs her things to go home to Seer, her father. Kira also shows that her gift of sewing/threading includes being able to magically thread future (or current) events. Her images come to life briefly, and then they subside into regular decoration.

The return trip through the forest is not easy. Kira is attacked by the forest constantly, forcing her to bandage her feet (remember, she already has a crippled leg, so they cannot move very quickly). Jonas "sees beyond" with Seer at his side, to keep track of their trip. He realizes they are in trouble and goes into the forest to give assistance. Soon, the forest seems to be swallowing all three of them whole, taking every ounce of their life. Matty falls face down, and touches the earth of the forest.

This heals the forest, in turn, also healing all the members of the community. This came at a great cost, as Matty (now Healer) gave his life so that they may live in peace again.

Son
The fourth book returns back to when Jonas was still living in the utopian community. Claire is a Birthmother, who has to undergo a C-section to give birth to her son. The C-section deems her unfit to continue to give birth, so she is relocated to the fishery. Claire grows sad and curious about her son, so she tracks him down at the nursery and makes time to spend time with him. Claire realizes that she loves her son. The Birthmothers don't take the pills that control emotions while they are pregnant, and Claire has been off her pills for a while. When she realizes that she has emotions because of missing the pills, she decides not to take them. Claire learns that her son is under the care of the caretaker and his son, Jonas.

One night, there is a ruckus. She hears that everyone is looking for Jonas and her son. There is a lot of commotion, and Claire escapes on one of the river boats that makes deliveries to the community.

Claire wakes up with very little memory, except of her name. A community near the sea and at the bottom of a large cliff rescues her and takes her in. Claire learns about being a midwife, and all her memories of having a son return when she witnesses a birth. This puts a new goal in her mind--to find her son.

Claire seeks the help of a crippled man. He was known for being able to climb to the top of the ledge to escape the community, but he returned crippled and needs crutches to walk. He coaches her to run, to strengthen her whole body, to climb, to balance. Over years, she gets stronger and stronger, while he tells her about parts of the climb and how to overcome each of them.

Finally, she is ready. She is told there will be a man at the top and to say "yes" when he asks if she needs his help (as saying "no" will probably result in being crippled too). Claire climbs up the cliff, even overcoming a wild bird protecting its nest. At the top, she meets the Trademaster, who agrees to bring her to her son in exchange for her youth.

Claire instantly becomes an old woman, and she feels the pain. For years, she just watches her son grow in the community. Meanwhile, her son yearns for a mother. As Claire nears death, she decides to tell Jonas her whole story. Jonas tells the story to Gabe, who has trouble believing this at first. Claire's health is in decline quickly. Jonas decides that the Trademaster needs to die, so he sends Gabe to go kill the Trademaster, in hopes that it keeps his mother alive.

Gabe's power is to "veer" into people (he can become one with them and their thoughts and emotions for a few seconds). He does this successfully with the Trademaster, and he is able to defeat the evil power. Claire, who was on the brink of death, is now youthful once again, as her son comes home.