Son by Lois Lowry (Giver Quartet #4) (audio)

After something went wrong with the birth of her product, Claire is sent to work in the fish hatchery. But a slip-up of an official allows her to know that the baby was a boy assigned the number 36. Claire finds herself becoming attached to the baby. So when Jonas, a young boy in the village, takes the baby, Claire sets out to find her son.

This follow-up to The Giver and companion to Messenger and Gathering Blue follows Claire through her life in the Community and beyond on her quest to find Gabriel. It's interesting because you get to see more of life in the Community from an adult's point of view (relative term because Claire is only 15) and more about Gabriel and Jonas' father. It's been a while since I read The Giver so I don't remember all of the story, just the major plot points. But still I got along fine.

I liked Claire and how strong and determined she is. I enjoyed seeing her grow from a young girl to a woman. It was nice to see Jonas again and see how he has grown and matured and made a nice life for himself. And it was also nice to see the village that they live in growing and thriving after the events in Messenger. There is also a lot more of Gabriel and his perspective. I was frustrated a bit though that the first two thirds of the book were from Claire's POV and then it switches to Gabriel's for the last third. It's like we spend all this time with Claire and then she is left out. I know the reason and it probably couldn't have been written any of the way but it bothered me a little. Also the ending bothered me too. It felt so abrupt after a four book journey to get to this point. I wanted to see a little more.

Still it was a solid ending to this series. It is very well written and flows so well with the others in this series. I am sad to see it over but glad that there was a happy ending.

Bernadette Dunn is the narrator and she does a beautiful job with this book. I enjoyed listening to her and she carried the book very well.

8 hours, 11 minutes

Messenger (audio)

Six years after Gathering Blue finds Matty living in Village with Seer, the blind man.  Once a peaceful and welcoming, the villagers are becoming angry and mean.  They have voted to close Village against newcomers.  Now Matty must convince Seer's daughter, Kira, to come back with before Village closes.  But Forest has given Matty a warning against entering its depths.

*highlight white for spoilers

After being a little disappointed with Gathering Blue, I was happy with Messenger.  It was so sweet and good and answers many questions.  It's funny because Gathering Blue and Messenger seem so different from The Giver, but together they give a complete picture of this world.

A big motif is names.  In The Giver, names are handed out and are reusable unless the person has committed an unthinkable travesty.  In Gathering Blue, length of names is based on age.  So the young tikes have only one syllable names and the older they get the more syllables their name becomes.  In Messenger, once a person reaches a certain age, they get their true name which signifies who they are and what they do.  So Jonas has become Leader and Kira's father, Christopher, is Seer.  All Matty wants is to become Messenger, which he thinks (hopes) is his true name.  But Matty is destined for greater things and it is interesting to see the little thieving funny boy grow up into this sweet and loyal young man.

I admitted to crying when Matty dies on Twitter.  I was so saddened when that happened, but I am amazed by the choice he makes to heal everyone.  It is a  poignant moment in the book and I wonder what it means for the world at large.

All in all, there is an a big difference between the villages shown earlier in the series and Village in Messenger and it was good to see what happened to Jonas.   But I don't remember a mention of Gabriel.  And I'm pretty sure Leader and Kira get married.  I was highly satisfied with the ending of this series even if it was sad.

David Morse is the narrator and I loved his sad, gentle, reassuring voice.  He was a great choice for narrator and he did an excellent job with the vocals.

Gathering Blue (audio)

Kira is orphaned, but the village is not eager to keep her.  With her twisted leg, she is considered worthless.  After a dispute with a local woman, Kira is taken in by the Council of Edifice for her threading talent.  She is given the task of fixing the Singer's robe, but she is missing one thing: the color blue.  In the course of restoring the robe and finding blue, Kira learns some shocking secrets about her village.

Kira's village is so cruel and horrible and they don't even realize it.  The casual cruelty that they employ to dispose of the sick and the weak as well as the way they treat each other is sickening.  I will say that this was a very good book, just not as good as The Giver.  The Giver has a quiet creepiness about it so when the twist came, it was truly shocking.  The callousness of the village does not lend itself to any surprise.  I almost expected it when the shocker was revealed so it was less than astonishing.  Other than that, Gathering Blue is an excellent book, very well written with beautiful imagery.  I hoping The Messenger will clear up some of the questions and give me more on Jonas.  

The Giver

Jonas lives in his own Community, where people are assigned everything in their lives from wives to house to jobs, where emotions are dampened by a pill and food is always available, where everything is orderly and rules are to be obeyed without question. At the onset of the book, it seems like an ideal world and Jonas does not question it. Until at his 12th ceremony, he is named the new Receiver of Memories. Once he meets the old man, the Giver, he starts to learn of how things were before the Communities and how even a perfect world contains its own horrors.


Amazingly I had never read this Newbery Award winner before. I genuinely liked it. There were parts that I found especially disturbing, like when Jonas finds out what it means to be "released" and the pills they start taking at the onset of puberty. Lowry creates a world here that shows that a "perfect" society comes at a price. I know this is an oft challenged/banned book but I don't think that I would have really understood certain things when I was younger. I think this is one of those books that you see differently as you grow up.

I actually listened to this one and Ron Rifkin, the narrator, does an excellent job. He gives Jonas the perfect voice and creates tension when needed. The only thing about the audiobook was the little music accompaniments to the memories. I found those distracting.

*Read for the Take a Chance Challenge - Public Spying book
*Also counts for Audio Book Challenge