THE GIVER QUARTET

I have recently finished reading the books in The Giver quartet. I had decided to re-read The Giver after seeing that it was being released in movie form in theatres August 15. I did not know that there are three companion books and I enjoyed reading those as well and getting to know some of the characters from The Giver more in depth as central figures in their own novel. The Giver is a 1993 Newberry Medal award winning book by Lois Lowry and is part of many middle school reading lists. In 1990-2000 it had the dubious distinction of being the most frequently challenged book to be removed from a library or classroom. The story is told as seen through the eyes of twelve year old Jonas, who is living in a utopian, possibly a dystopian community. This community values uniformity for all to maintain peace. No individual decisions or actions are even considered an option in this village where everything from who will be a family unit to what your job assignment will be has been decided for you by the Council. The book opens with Jonas awaiting his chosen job now that he has turned twelve. He is chosen for the most unique position of being the new “Giver.” The Giver lives apart from the rest of the community. He has been entrusted by Givers before him to preserve memories of the past. Memories of things which no others in the community have any concept of: war, hunger, disease, discrimination, poverty. The community has been “protected” and shielded from such issues, however in doing so have also sacrificed love, joy, even color and music, things they have no knowledge of ever having existed. The Giver alone has this knowledge for the purpose of being called upon by the Council to advice on matters, giving his perspective in remembering the “mistakes” of the past. As Jonah begins his training and is introduced to memories of what his world once was, he questions the only life he has ever known. The final blow comes when he witnesses his father, whose role is “Nurturer” or caregiver to the infants “releasing” a less than perfect child which is in fact injecting the child with a lethal serum. Together Jonas and the present Giver decide that changes must be made and the first step will be Jonas leaving the community which will somehow transfer all the memories of the past that he has learned to now be absorbed by all in the community. The hope is that together the people will reject the control they live under now. The book is left open ended.. Does Jonas survive the journey? Will he acclimate into a new society? What will become of his old community as they absorb memories of the past and experience new feelings? Continue reading the books in this quartet for answers! Gathering Blue is the second book in Lois Lowery’s The Giver quartet. Written in 2000 it is a companion novel to The Giver and although the timeline is unclear I picture it taking place parallel in time to The Giver, now however with a different central figure, a different village. The story opens with Kira, a perhaps twelve year old girl who is shunned by society because of her deformed leg, grieving at her mother’s grave. In a village where those who cannot contribute to the overall good are cast out to “the Field” and left for death at the hands of “the Beast”, Kira luckily is determined to have worth as she possesses a unique gift for embroidery. She is taken to live in luxury, asked only to work on restoring and soon adding to the intricate robe worn yearly by The Singer. There she meets others who also have gifts of carving and singing. Each of these three gifts proves to be magical in telling the past as well as the future of their village. Initially Kira feels blessed to be taken in, however she soons finds that her free room and board come with a price and she may in fact be a prisoner. Kira maintains one friendship outside of her walls through a young boy named Mattie. Mattie has traveled outside of their village and found a community of disabled people, rejected from their own individual societies and now living together and helping one another. One member, a blind man named Christopher, turns out to be Kira father, thought to have been killed in the Field. Will Kira attempt to leave and find him, or stay and help change her own village? Once again, answers are found in the books that follow. The Messenger was written in 2004, and takes place six-eight years following the events in the Giver and Gathering Blue. Kira and Mattie, our characters from Gathering Blue, return as the central figures. Kira has remained in her village to continue her work on the Singers robe and to help bring change. Mattie, now Matt, has chosen to live with Kiras blind father Christopher. His village is altruistic, a welcome change from his previous life and he is happy here. He awaits his calling, hoping to be named “Messenger” as he enjoys delivering messages between the villages, at times visiting Kira and maintaining contact between her and her father. In his travels he must pass through the Forest, which possesses a life of its own. The forest can protect or kill someone at its whim, using poisonous insects or plants or suffocating vines. It has chosen to protect Matt and allow him safe passage on his journeys. Things begin to change in Matt’s village with the introduction of The Trader. Villagers are allowed to make mysterious trades at the Trade Mart, coming away with something tangible while having left something intangible. The harmonious spirit is threatened and people begin to turn on each other and discuss closing their borders to others in need, something unheard of in the past. Christopher upon hearing this recruits Matt to go to bring his daughter Kira to him before it is too late. The novel tells the story of his journey, while revealing more about the lives of the villagers. The Son, the final book in The Giver Quartet, is divided into three sections, each in a different time frame.” Before” takes place simultaneously with the timeline of the Giver, and is told as background to the timeframe as the story opens in “Between”, followed by “Beyond”. The main character is Claire, who turns out to be the birthmother of Gabriel, the infant Jonah left his village with in The Giver. Claire was given a new job following her role as birthmother, but was overlooked in the system and never began retaking her pills that suppress emotions. Consequently, she finds herself longing to know what happened to the child she had born. She locates him in the nursery and begins to visit with him under the guise of volunteering and develops a deep love for him. She finds out that Gabriel is to be “released” and before she can form a plan to save him, he is taken by Jonas , as we know from the Giver. Claire attempts to follow on a boat leaving the village, but is shipwrecked. The story then moves to the time frame of “Between”, which finds Claire suffering from amnesia, with no memory of her former village or her son. As her memories return, she determines to return and find out what became of Gabriel. She is assisted by the Trademaster, whom we know of from previous books. His motives in helping are self-serving and detrimental to all. He gives Claire the knowledge she needs in trade for her youth. We now move to “Beyond”, where we find Claire living back in her former village, having instantly aged into an old woman. She watches over her son from a distance, never revealing her identity. Gabriel, now a young man has developed his own gift which allows him a sort of ESP ability. We also are reintroduced to Jonas, now wed to Kira. The main characters from this quartet of books are now tied together in a satisfying conclusion, letting the readers know what became of their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series! Reviewed by Bobbi H, August 2014

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I just finished reading The invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  This book is based on the story of the Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina, who were raised in Charleston South Carolina and whose family owned slaves.  They disagreed with the tradition of slavery and became the first female abolition agents and public speakers for feminist ideals.  

The book follows the relationship between “Handful,” a slave who was owned by the Grimke family and given as a handmaid to Sarah Grimke on her tenth birthday, and Sarah Grimke.  Handul always wanted to be a free woman, and Sarah always wanted to have a profession and do more than was acceptable for a woman of means at that time.  In many ways they were both slaves to their environment.

The book follows their relationship from fiends as children, to the more complicated relationship that developed as they grew older and were on different sides of the slave/master line.  Even though Sarah never believed in slavery she eventually could not tolerate how Handful was treated and began to speak out against the institution of slavery at her own peril.   

Sue Monk Kidd does extensive research for each of her books and if you enjoy a historical fiction which brings the Civil War to life you will definitely enjoy reading  The Invention of Wings.   

reviewed by Becky Gold

Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke by Rob Sheffield

To preface, I’ll say that I began this book as a fan of the author and his work – I devoured his two previous books, Love is A Mixtape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time and Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut, so I was excited to pick up his latest release. Rob is a rock journalist who writes for Rolling Stone, so it’s safe to say that music is a very influential force in his memoirs. Anyone who considers themselves an audiophile or a fan of pop culture will probably appreciate his obvious passion and authority on the subject, as well as his frequent witty references and asides.

While his other work discussed his grief after unexpectedly losing his wife at a young age and revisited his youth growing up in Brooklyn in 70's and 80's, Turn Around Bright Eyes revisits Rob as he tries to make sense of the world again and rebuild his life prior to the tragedy that ended his marriage. The real delight that comes with reading Rob’s writing, for me, is how masterfully he weaves his love of music and his emotional connection to it into philosophical and heartfelt observations on life and human nature. Many a quote from his writings have made their way into my personal quote book.

Be warned, this book is less about karaoke itself and more about the feelings of empowerment and catharsis it has allowed the author to tap into. If you come in expecting a primer to a pastime you’re curious to learn more about, you may be disappointed. That stated, as someone who has always been too shy to find karaoke appealing – I tended to think of it chiefly as a means of embarrassing one’s friends after a few drinks in a bar - it did open my eyes to another perspective on the subject entirely. Turn Around Bright Eyes is, more correctly, about how music allows people to connect and find comfort in one another through song, and about the times in life where enthusiasm outweighing actual talent is totally okay.

Depending on your preference, you may either find Rob’s exuberance and penchant for making metaphors out of any piece of obscure pop culture detritus geekily endearing or annoyingly pretentious (there’s an entire chapter about how the stages of a man’s life can be paralleled with Rod Stewart, and another chapter that talks about how the changing perceptions we have about love in our teenage years and in our twenties can be defined by The Beatles’ songs “She Loves You” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”). I, personally, am in the former camp.

If you’re looking for an introduction to the author, I wouldn’t recommend this book, but rather his first, Love is a Mix Tape, which is an unofficial prequel. This is still a fun read that will satisfy fans and newcomers alike.

Reviewed by Paige

I finished Jody Picoult’s The Storyteller several weeks ago, but it was such a complicated story that I had to let it marinate for awhile before writing a review. The Storyteller is about a young woman, Sage Singer, who spends her nights baking and is a recluse during the day. Sage’s face is scarred. When she attends a meeting for people who are grieving, we learn that Sage has tremendous guilt because she was driving an automobile and had an accident in which her mother was killed. At the grief meeting Sage meets an elderly man, Joseph Weber, who was attending the meetings because his wife recently died. Sage learns that Joseph is a soft-spoken well-liked member of the community. They soon become friends. Joseph asks Sage to do a favor for him, to kill him. At first she says no, but after he tells her his story of being an S.S. officer during the holocaust, and when she learns that he was at the same concentration camp that her grandmother survived will she re-think her decision? Woven throughout The Storyteller is another story, written by Sage’s grandmother during her years in the death camps. Her grandmother’s ability to spin the riveting tale ends up being her salvation in the camps. Her brutal descriptions of the holocaust are sometimes hard to read, but Jodi Picoult’s shocking ending to The Storyteller will have the reader contemplating forgiveness and salvation long after they turn the last page. Reviewed by Becky G.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

 

I recently finished Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which had been recommended to me in an article entitled “65 Books You Need to Read in Your 20s” that piqued my interest. The novel is a 2001 Pulitizer Prize winner, so I assumed the commendation was not without merit. 

The novel follows two Jewish cousins, Sammy Klayman (soon to be Sam Clay) and Josef Kavalier, in their rise to comic stardom from humble beginnings in Brooklyn. Josef has just escaped Prague in the tumult of pre-World War II pandemonium, and has come to America with the ambition of earning enough money to pay for his brother’s fare to follow him. Sam, currently employed in a dead-end job as an illustrator for a novelty products company, has dreams of becoming a comic artist in the template of his heroes, Will Eisner and Jack Kirby. His own drawing skills are limited, but once he discovers that his cousin Joe’s talent far superceedes his own, they collaborate to create what will become one of the most iconic and bestselling characters of all time – The Escapist. 

Empire Comics is formed, and unanticipated fame and fortune soon result. Soon Sam and Josef are rubbing elbows with celebrities (a notable scene features Joe saving Salvador Dali at a party when his latest artistic foray goes awry), as well as falling in love (Joe with the inimitable Rosa Saks, fellow artist and daughter of a famous wealthy art dealer, and Sam with Tracy Bacon, the actor who plays The Escapist in the radio adaptation of the comic). All is not well for long, though – as murmurs of a second World War mount, Sam and Joe both suffer grim tragedies and uncomfortable realizations, which leads Joe to once again “escape” just like his titular character into the service, resurfacing only years later in a more astounding way than anyone could’ve imagined. 

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was a book I just could not put down. It is a bit slow to start, and at 639 pages, it’s not a light read, but the characters were so engaging and the world that they inhabited so vibrant and fully realized that I felt as if I was right there on the page with them at times. Chabon’s prose is masterfully crafted and his descriptive language and character notes are truly a joy to read. It has been a long time since I read a novel that caused me to become so emotionally attached to a set of fictional characters. Be prepared to invest some time (and possibly some tissues) if you choose to read it, but the journey is worth it, especially if you enjoy character-driven fiction, comics, and historical settings.

Reviewed by: Paige

The All Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fanny Flagg
Fannie Flagg is an author,who everyone can agree, is fun, light hearted and a great storyteller. I have only read one other book of hers, but enjoyed Fried Green Tomatoes when made into a movie. Of course the response is "you have to read the book!"
The book starts out with the character Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama.  Sookie has just married off the last of her daughters and was ready to settle in with her husband and an empty nest. Having received an odd phone call about a letter that is to be delivered to her mother, Lenore, Sookie intercepts the letter. The letter had information involving her past, her family and everything she knew to be true.
The story weaves between Sookie’s present life and the lives of Fritzi Jurdabralinski and her 3 sisters. The story of the Jurdabralinski sisters is set in the 1940’s, during the war, in Pulaski, WI.  Fannie Flagg gives us a lesson on the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) and the difficulties women had being treated as equals.  Got a little bogged down with the WW2 bomber jargon, a little too text book. The cast of characters more than made up for the history lessons.
If you are wanting something easy going, funny, with a little mystery, this is it! I really enjoyed this book. It made me smile and I felt happy when I came to the end.
Reviewed by Caryl

I recently finished reading the novel Labor Day by Joyce Maynard. I am trying to branch out of my favorite authors and genres and as I intend to see the film adaption soon I decided to pick up this novel. (Always read the book before seeing the movie if you want to envision the characters and settings through your own imagination and not Hollywood’s take!)

I was not familiar with Joyce Maynard or her writings before reading this novel. She seems to have quite an interesting background – beginning with an affair at the age or 18 with a then 53 year old J.D. Salinger which she revealed in her 1999 memoir At home in the world. She has been a reporter for the New York Times, been a columnist and book reviewer before writing her first novel Baby Love.  Her published works include true crime based novels as well as nonfiction. 

The following quote is from the Washington Post which I found very interesting in relating the author’s life to the lives of the characters in her novel. “Maynard has had her own share of unsuitable attachments, including an intense pen pal relationship with a convicted murderer. She understands the deep yearnings that drive people to impulsive decisions and sometimes reckless behavior.”

Labor Day covers a time frame of five days in the life of thirteen year old Henry who lives with his agoraphobic mother Adele. On a rare venture out of their home, they are approached by Frank, a wounded escaped convicted murderer. They hide him in their home over the long holiday weekend, during which time his presence begins to change both of their lives. Adele comes out of her long period of depression and Henry begins grudgingly to learn things from Frank in a way he has not from his own father whom he sees weekly for a dinner date along with his father’s new family.

As the story draw to a close, these three misfits are forming a family. Plans are set to leave the country together when the sheriff arrives following up on an anonymous tip about Frank’s whereabouts. The story concludes eighteen years later as told by a now thirty-one year old Henry. 

I found the writing style of this novel interesting. It is told in a narrative point of view in its entirety by Henry, with no conversation taking place at all between the characters. I enjoyed this book and look forward to seeing the story on screen.  Reviewed by Bobbi H.