This book was terrible. And stupid.It pains me to say so, because (as everyone likely knows by now) The Giver is one of my most favorite books of all time. In this book, we get to see Jonas again (and even Gabe, for a moment) so I thought for sure it would tie things together and give me some emotional resolution. And while it was good to see what happened to Jonas (even though he is never called by that name in this book, it's clearly Jonas) there were too many other major flaws for me to enjoy the story. Major spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.First of all, I was more than a little confused to learn that Jonas literally arrived in Village (also, this trend of capitalizing nouns and not putting "the" in front of them--annoying as fuck) on a sled. The sled is now in Museum in Village. (SEE?! Annoying!) Because the ending of The Giver is so open ended, I kind of thought maybe the sled was a metaphor, or a hallucination, or something. Why was there randomly a sled? He literally rode a sled into town? All right. Okay. I'll pretend to buy that. BUT...Jonas is around 20-21 in this story. He has already been named the leader of this new community (his name is now Leader) and apparently has been for some time. Really? A thirteen-year-old shows up one day on a sled, with an infant, and in a few years he's the leader of the community? This is kind of explained by saying that Leader has a gift, the ability to "see beyond." Yes, I've heard that before. Jonas could see colors when the other genetically engineered people in his childhood community could not. But wait--this is not the same "seeing beyond" that we know from before. Adult Jonas can actually see...beyond...what normal people can see. Like, he can stand in his study and focus really hard on the forest and "see" to the other side. But it makes him really tired. Hmmmm. When did he discover/master this particular skill? We never find out. At one point Matty, the main character in this story, is hanging out with Leader and admiring his many books. Leader says that they arrived one day (when he was about 15) on a river barge--just a bunch of wooden crates filled with books. We are led to understand that these were the books that the Giver had owned, sent down the river to Jonas as a token of forgiveness for leaving them and making them deal with memories and colors. So, what happened in his old community? Is the Giver still there? Did they sort themselves out? Again, we never find out. Jonas has never gone back to his old community, never regained contact with his family, nothing. No juicy tidbits for a Giver fan to hold on to.Apart from the frustrating lack of information about Jonas, we have a strange subplot involving trading pieces of your soul (or your family's health) for things like slot machines that give you candy. There's this shady fellow called Trademaster who is apparently magical in some way, because he's collecting "the deepest self" of many of the people in Village and trading them for these slot machines. This is making many of the people in Village turn into hostile assholes who are mean to each other, and want to close the borders to prevent additional refugees from coming in. So, you would think that this Trademaster fellow would be the Big Bad of the story. Who is he? What does he want? What on earth is he doing? Guess what? We see him once, and then...we. Never. Find. Out.Somehow related to this "close the borders" subplot is the fact that Forest (not THE forest, but proper noun Forest) is thickening, decaying, and killing people who try to enter it. Like, Forest is literally attacking people with vines and sharp sticks when they try to pass through. This obviously has something to do with why people in Village are becoming so mean, and also probably with Trademaster, but none of it is ever explained. Zip, zero, zilch, nothing. The book ends with Matty sacrificing himself by using up all of his healing power to "heal" the forest, which then heals the people in Village (by restoring their deepest selves) and Jonas and Kira (oh, she's here too) traipse out of the woods together. That's the end. The main character dies stopping this malevolent evil that is completely unexplained. Where was it coming from? Why is Forest trying to kill everyone? Are the slot machines evil? Who is Trademaster? What exactly were people trading? WHY IS THIS BOOK SO TERRIBLE?!We never find out.So, if you're looking for a completely nonsensical and frustrating read, I highly recommend this book. Otherwise, if you've read The Giver and are thinking about continuing the series, I strongly suggest that you do not, because you will be sorely disappointed.And yes, I'm still going to read Son. Glutton for punishment, I guess.
Lowry really needs to work on her endings.Gathering Blue had one of the worst endings I have ever read, rushed and so weak, I got the impression that she just didn't feel like writing anymore towards the end. Messenger is no different.But let me not get ahead. Messenger picks up Matt's story, one of the characters from its companion book Gathering Blue. He's older now, called Matty, and has left his old home to live in village, where everybody is welcome. But things are changing around the village, people behave in strange ways and the forest is getting more and more thick.The idea of the book is great. I do not like the hidden message behind it, it's too obvious in my opinion, but the general idea of people mysteriously changing so they behave in a malicious way is a good one. The book was enjoyable to read until the last one or two chapters.Unfortunately, the many good ideas that Lowry had got lost somewhere in between the pages. She could have explored many of the themes more in detail, like the Trade Mart, for example. It's just one of the many story lines that never got resolved.As I already mentioned above, the ending is just as rushed as in Gathering Blue. Nothing prepared me for what would happen. When I saw that there were only a few pages left, the tension had climbed to a point that cannot just be resolved in three pages. I wish Lowry had taken more time to write this, given us more clues about what was to happen and also given the reader a chance to take it all in before reading the words "The End".I liked how Messenger pulled together the storylines of The Giver and Gathering Blue, but at least fifty pages more would have been necessary to make this an enjoyable read.
What do You think about Messenger (2006)?
It's not that this book was bad per se. It is like the others in this series, beautifully written and deals with beloved characters. However, it would be a stretch to say I liked it. First, the plot elements are mystical which has never really happened before and I found totally out of place in the world. The series has toyed here and there with fantastic ideas, but they could be explained, if at a stretch. The Messenger is dealing with things like sentient forests and paranormal powers and it comes out of nowhere. Ultimately though, I didn't like this book because nothing was concluded. The final sacrifice was made yet the main problem is left unresolved. The thing is, you can't force salvation. To save someone, he or she needs to want to be saved and have some idea of what they're being saved from...or they'll go right back where they were. The solution in The Messenger is at best an extremely costly finger in the dike: the problem is still there, the cause of the problem is still there, and the water is still going to drown the populace. This is not a satisfactory end to a book. In fact, I felt I had wasted quite a lot of time reading a story that went nowhere.
—Maurinejt
I thought I will never learn how the first two books will end. Here I would like to give a medal to Lois Lowry how beautifully she connected and intertwined the lives of the characters from both the books that it felt natural and beautiful. The main character of this book is the small tyke Matty we knew from the Gathering blue. Though Matty is not anymore a kid, he’s a young man and one day he finds out he has also a gift like Kira (he didn’t know that at the time). He’s frightened from what he can do, frightened of his own gift so he does not tell anyone. He’s gift is healing, he finds out when he’s able to fix an almost dying frog. It exhausts him a lot though. Matty lives with the old blind scarred man, everyone calls him Seer (Kira’s father). They live in the Village, where everyone is helping those who need it, kids are happy, life is very pleasant. The ruler of the Village is Leader a young man with pale bright eyes with the power to see beyond. Here we again meet Jonas from the first book. There are common Trade Markets once in while where everyone can trade. Recently the markets became more sinister. People are changing and are getting for something they offered and Gaming machine – which is a machine with sweets. Matty gets to know from his friend Jean, Mentor’s daughter, that Mentor his teacher also traded. He traded his deepest self for the widow’s love. His boldness disappeared, also his birthmark and he became taller but he became harsh and starts a petitions so no new people can enter Village. We also see how people who traded became cruel to their children (Ramon’s parents). When Village is about to be closed Matty as was his duty for past six years is supposed to take all the messages from the Leader and deliver them. Seer asks him to go to the place where Matty was born and bring Kira because it’s her last choice to come. When Matty arrives he offers to fix her twisted leg, but she refuses. They set on the trip, but the forest became thick and fights them. The branches tear their clothes and flash, the poisonous saps make blisters on their bodies and they can’t breathe and are near death. Kira for the last time tries to thread and sees that Leader is on the way to save them. But the forest attacks him too, he’s stopped also by vines and is immobilized. Finally my favorite characters Jonas and Kira are meetings and their story lines are connected very naturally. Though the Giver is the best book probably from the series I can’t wait to get to know what happens in the last book. All four books are very beautifully written and are easy to be read. Though I give this book 4 stars for me it was better than Gathering blue, but not as good as the Giver.
—Martina Hlúbiková
This sequel is set in the same fictional-but-strangely-like-our-own world as The Giver and Gathering Blue. In it, in another lively and exciting story, Lowry continues to examine ideals and problems of socialism. She also brings in a heated immigration debate. I've really enjoyed the whole group of these books.However, the very end of this one made me mad. I don't know what I expected, and I probably wouldn't have minded it, actually, except that she chose to include some hints earlier in the book that make the end feel like pretty damn certain allegory.I never thought I'd say it, but Lois Lowry has let me down.
—Lara
