And I love the other two books in the series, Gathering Blue and Messenger. And true, Messenger is a little messy at times, but in my mind, it does tie up the series.
But then I found out she wrote a fourth book. I FREAKED. In a good way. Actually I was in my Teen Library Materials class and we were discussing dystopias and of course, The Giver came up. I mentioned it was one of my favorites and another girl casually mentioned "You know she's coming out with another book, right?" I SQUEALED with delight, promptly minimized the e-classroom and bought the book on Amazon. Let's just ignore the fact that I'm a terrible online student, please.
And finally, after six months of waiting, I got to read Son.
First off, I was surprised to find that Son is quite a bit larger than The Giver or any other books in the series; it clocks in at 400 pages, almost twice that of The Giver. I'm totally okay with that though, I haven't met a Lois Lowry book I don't like.
FANGIRL MOMENT: I think Lois Lowry is possibly the greatest children's book author of the 20th/21st century. Her range is absolutely astounding. The Giver breaks my heart every time I read it, and I fall in love with it over and over again each time I read it. But her Sam Krupnik series is so hilarious there are TEARS OF LAUGHTER streaming down my face every time I read it. Seriously, the woman has mad skills and I want to be her when I grow up.
Anyways, Son is the story of Claire, a Birthmother from the community featured in the The Giver. The book covers quite a large span of time (about 15 years), starting with the action running parallel to The Giver, then to Messenger, and finally, seven years after the events of Messenger. Part 3 also tells the story of Gabe, the baby Jonas takes with him when he leaves the community. While it was INSANELY hinted at in the previous 2 books that Jonas had survived his escape from the community, in Son Jonas is actually a major character so you know he survived.
I know a lot of people are disappointed that Lowry confirmed that Jonas survived The Giver. But in mind, Jonas always survived. Personally, I never thought that ending was all that ambiguous to begin with, especially when you consider what "Elsewhere" really means in the context of the book. There's about a thousand other things that make The Giver so interesting. Part of what makes it so fascinating is that you have this EXTREMELY varied world. On the one hand, the community where Jonas, Gabe, and Claire live is very technologically advanced. But the villages that Kira and Water Claire come from are rustic, almost medieval. What the hell happened here? How did these varied societies come into existence? But we never find that out. That alone is worth hours of speculation.
Anyways, the end of part 1 of Son takes place the same time that the The Giver ends. But because Claire loses her memory, all we know about that time is that it's "hazy." We never actually find out what happens to the community. Part of me hates the fact that we're never told what happens to the community. Or what happens to The Giver himself. But the other part of me thinks that's part of the beauty of this series. The most we get is a line in Messenger, where Jonas tells Matty that he was sent all the Giver's books from the community, so he believes things have changed for the better. But he simply believes. He doesn't know. So the reader doesn't know either. On the one hand, it's maddening, especially since we're given a chance to find out in Son, given the timeline of events in the book. But on the other hand, it's just absolutely brilliant of Lowry. She maintains the mystery of The Giver. So maybe the question is no longer "Did Jonas survive?" but "What happened to the community?" Which, in my mind, was the far more important question.
I guess why I think her dystopias are so amazing are the fact that she doesn't tell you everything. Most people agree that the beauty of dystopias are that they make you think about the society that you're in, and if our society could become that place. Recent dystopias often fill in those blanks for you, explaining how society arrived at that state (I'm looking at you, Suzanne Collins). But Lois Lowry doesn't, and there are many possible conclusions that can be supported by the text. IT'S FUCKING BRILLIANT, PEOPLE.
I realize that I've talked mostly about The Giver here, but let's face it, I could talk about that book for DAYS. IT'S AMAZING. But Son is a nice companion to the series. It provides answers, sure, but it still leaves many more questions for readers to speculate on. Do I think it's the end of the series? Perhaps. But then again, I thought the same thing about Messenger and was treated to Son eight years later. I'm sure Lois Lowry is always willing to leave the door open.
