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conuly
But it answers the age-old question about the book The Giver...And the answer is no. They didn't die. They go on to live apparently healthy and happy lives, and Jonas becomes quite respected in his new village, with the name of Leader, so. Yeah.
Okay, now that this is done. It can officially be confirmed that we have a crossover from The Giver into Gathering Blue, which was a very good book in its own right. The third one, though, I read it today, I didn't like it as much. It's called Messenger, and it just seemed less in-depth than the other two, as well as a little too influenced by current politics.
Also, some things were never explained at all... for example, how the villagers were able to trade away what they were, and why the trademaster accepted this, and how it started. Or how people managed to come from miles away to join the village when people outside the village didn't really know about them in the first place. And why, exactly, the collapse of civilization as we knew it made certain people develop marginal psychic abilities. These were much more focused on in this book than the other two, and I doubt there'll be another (because there's been a happy ending there AND in Kira's village, and possibly in Jonas' community as well), so that issue should've been dealt with here.
And of course, it's shorter. I never like that in a book. There's some short books I like, such as Letters from the Inside, but they are the exception. Books need to last me through most of my commute, or they aren't worth buying.
Still, despite all that, I'd say you should read it, if only to finally finish off the trilogy. Can't leave things unfinished. And besides, it DOES clear everything up nicely. Finally.
*wanders off again*
I wonder, this is called Messenger because our main character (Matt from Gathering Blue wanted this as his name. He carried messages around the village and through the forest, so he reeeeelly wanted it for his name... Anyway, it refers to him but we find out at the end of the book that he really should've been called Healer because, in addition to an unexplained skill to heal physical wounds, he could heal some mental wounds as well, and eventually healed his entire village (not that they were likely to thank him for it) and possibly even some of the rest of the world. Could this be taken as some sort of religious metaphor, or am I thinking too much?
Okay, now that this is done. It can officially be confirmed that we have a crossover from The Giver into Gathering Blue, which was a very good book in its own right. The third one, though, I read it today, I didn't like it as much. It's called Messenger, and it just seemed less in-depth than the other two, as well as a little too influenced by current politics.
Also, some things were never explained at all... for example, how the villagers were able to trade away what they were, and why the trademaster accepted this, and how it started. Or how people managed to come from miles away to join the village when people outside the village didn't really know about them in the first place. And why, exactly, the collapse of civilization as we knew it made certain people develop marginal psychic abilities. These were much more focused on in this book than the other two, and I doubt there'll be another (because there's been a happy ending there AND in Kira's village, and possibly in Jonas' community as well), so that issue should've been dealt with here.
And of course, it's shorter. I never like that in a book. There's some short books I like, such as Letters from the Inside, but they are the exception. Books need to last me through most of my commute, or they aren't worth buying.
Still, despite all that, I'd say you should read it, if only to finally finish off the trilogy. Can't leave things unfinished. And besides, it DOES clear everything up nicely. Finally.
*wanders off again*
I wonder, this is called Messenger because our main character (Matt from Gathering Blue wanted this as his name. He carried messages around the village and through the forest, so he reeeeelly wanted it for his name... Anyway, it refers to him but we find out at the end of the book that he really should've been called Healer because, in addition to an unexplained skill to heal physical wounds, he could heal some mental wounds as well, and eventually healed his entire village (not that they were likely to thank him for it) and possibly even some of the rest of the world. Could this be taken as some sort of religious metaphor, or am I thinking too much?
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-01 11:48 pm (UTC)I'm rather disappointed that they answered the question about them dying. I've always liked the mystery of the ending, it's part of what makes it such a good book. I don't like that it's been answered, especially not if the author has neglected to answer/resolve other important issues like the ones you mentioned.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-01 11:55 pm (UTC)But anyway. We could've known that Jonas was a respected person who came from a place with some deep secrets and he COULD be Jonas but maybe he wasn't... and we didn't need all this knowing. *le sigh*
no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 07:53 am (UTC)I'm a little disappointed that it connects the two books, I think I would've been happier if they'd just stood on their own. I may read it, I may not.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 12:39 pm (UTC)As for collapse of civilization / psychic abilities, there are many who say that humans have some pretty well developed and effective innate non-linguistic communication abilities, which are lost to us because of the way we live... Somewhat difficult to prove or disprove, and possibly not related to the book.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-01 11:48 pm (UTC)I'm rather disappointed that they answered the question about them dying. I've always liked the mystery of the ending, it's part of what makes it such a good book. I don't like that it's been answered, especially not if the author has neglected to answer/resolve other important issues like the ones you mentioned.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-01 11:55 pm (UTC)But anyway. We could've known that Jonas was a respected person who came from a place with some deep secrets and he COULD be Jonas but maybe he wasn't... and we didn't need all this knowing. *le sigh*
no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 07:53 am (UTC)I'm a little disappointed that it connects the two books, I think I would've been happier if they'd just stood on their own. I may read it, I may not.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 12:39 pm (UTC)As for collapse of civilization / psychic abilities, there are many who say that humans have some pretty well developed and effective innate non-linguistic communication abilities, which are lost to us because of the way we live... Somewhat difficult to prove or disprove, and possibly not related to the book.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-02 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-26 07:14 am (UTC)I agree that this book has less depth than The Giver or even Gathering Blue. I am also sort of wishing I had not read it. I agree with the comment that the way Lowry ended The Giver was good. That we didn't have to know exactly what happened. I now feel that Lowry "dumbed-down" the whole experience with this last book, although I didn't mind the obvious current event parallels.
That said, I am still wiping tears from my eyes as I mourn for Matty.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-26 07:14 am (UTC)I agree that this book has less depth than The Giver or even Gathering Blue. I am also sort of wishing I had not read it. I agree with the comment that the way Lowry ended The Giver was good. That we didn't have to know exactly what happened. I now feel that Lowry "dumbed-down" the whole experience with this last book, although I didn't mind the obvious current event parallels.
That said, I am still wiping tears from my eyes as I mourn for Matty.