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