[Book] #20. Messenger by Lois Lowry - The Village You Can See Anywhere, Everywhere
Title: Messenger
Author: Lois Lowry
Other: Third book of The Giver series. (4 books)
This book is the third of The Giver series. If you want to read my bookreview about the first and second one, please click here.
#19. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry - Maybe We Can Make It Different
I'll have to explain a little bit about this book in case you haven't read the first and second book of this series. The world was rebuilt after disaster-like wars. Survivors gathered around here and there, and made their own societies. Some were very advanced with high-tech science, while others were relatively primitive. They were living in the same time, but there was a big discrepancy among societies regarding standard of living, law, science technology, medical skills, etc. There were rumors about other societies, but due to societal, geographical and legal reasons they didn't know what happened in other societies.
Source: Goodreads
Utopia where everyone helps one another
The characters in the first and second book appear in Messenger, which is set about 10 years after the second book. Teenager Matty (who used to be Mat in the Gathering Blue) was happily living in this Village. Contrary to his hometown, the Village he was currently living in was peaceful utopia where everyone was helping one another. But there were other communities just like his old hometown that were strict and oppressive to people. They mutilated people for minor offenses and kicked out disabled people into the dangerous forests.
Due to societal, geographical and legal reasons they didn't communicate with other communities, but news always travels fast and far. Words got around that the Village gave warm welcome to people from other societies, even disabled people, and helped them to settle in. Hence people started to trickle into the Village. There were no mass transportation nor paved roads, so that people had to walk for several months with the threat of a gang of bandits. As it'd happen, the people who wanted to go to the Village were usually disabled - the ones kicked out from their hometown - so that many of them died even before they arrived at the Village. But they had hopes. That people in the Village would welcome them, that they could live a happy life as a human being. Matty, Matty's guardian, and even the Leader of the Village were also from other societies.
Then things started to change.
They are not us.
As more and more people came to the Village to seek freedom and well-being, the Village people started to complain. They had to give them places to live, food to eat and help them to settle in. We're not angles, we're not saints. We've done enough for them! Now people in the Village wanted to draw the line between "them and us". Now they decided to make walls and doors at the front of the Village and lock the door.
We can't help them forever. We've done enough!
That was not the only change in the Village. While the people became more and more selfish, the forest around the Village had become toxic. The forest had become dense and ferocious and it started to attack people with its vines and branches. And Matty had realized that he had some kind of special powers but didn't know what he could do with it.
Matty was the Messenger of this Village. He delivered messages to all around the Village, sometimes even to other societies. Now he had a mission: he had to let other societies know that the Village would close the door to outsiders. Matty's guardian asked him that on his way to the mission please go to the neighboring community and bring someone precious to him, before the door of the Village would be closed forever. Could Matty accomplish this mission, when the forest had become lethal?
You can see the Village anywhere, everywhere.
Reading this book reminds me of many things: America, Donald Trump, Mexico boarder wall, refugees in Europe... It's amazing that this book was published 14 years ago, and still predicted the future with shocking accuracy.
If you loved reading The Giver and Gathering Blue, I'd like to recommend Messenger, too.
A Few Good Lines from the Book
1.
Where Matty had come from, flaws like that were not allowed. People were put to death for less.
But here in Village, marks and failings were not considered flaws at all. They were valued.
2.
It was so important to him and he made it important to me: poetry, and language, and how we use it to remind ourselves of how our lives should be lived…
3.
Kira was born disabled. Matty wanted to help Kira, to heal Kira so that Kira could walk with two straight legs, so that Kira could become whole. But Kira said she was already whole.
“You can use that time to become accustomed to being whole…”
“I am whole,” she said defiantly....
A lifetime of walking in that way had made it, as she had pointed out, part of her. It was who she was. To become a fast-striding Kira with two straight legs would have been to become a different person.
Disclaimer) There's only first part of the storyline in this review to introduce the book. No major spoiler included.
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If you follow @bree1042, you can read many more interesting bookreviews!
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#19. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry - Maybe We Can Make It Different
Sounds like a great book. I am an avid reader but in recent years caring for young children, I hardly have time to read. I am giving you a follow to read more about your reviews.
Thank you for following me. :) The Giver series are really great. I highly recommend. :)
It's amazing how much our past dystopic literature (fictional and fantasy) finds itself relevant in today's society. Empathy! The Giver and 1984 have so many fascinating lessons embedded within them.
Thanks for this review of Messenger @bree1042! Always enjoy reading your thoughtful work.
I've recently read 1984, too. I read it when I was in college, but I'm so much more impressed by it now. I'll try and write about it later. Thanks for your comment! It makes me smile! :)
와 영어를 잘 한다는 것은, 이곳에서 엄청난 무기군요! 부럽습니다. 글로벌한 교류가 가능하다는 것이요~~^^ 외국인과 소통하다보면 앉아서도 견문이 넓어질 것 같습니다.
외국인 시장이 넓긴한데, 그만큼 살벌하기도 해요. KR처럼 서로서로 살뜰히 챙겨주는 게 없어요. 전 다행히 좋은 친구들을 만났죠. ^^
Thank you for your great book review. I read focus on the your expressions. It is helpful to me.
Thanks for reading my review. It's been a while since I wrote bookreviews in English, but it's still difficult. I'll try my best. :)
I hate to admit it but even though I consider myself an avid reader, I have yet to read the Giver! Would you say the series reads distinctly middle grade or young adult in terms of the language and style used etc.? Because that can sometimes put me off from enjoying an otherwise story.
The level is middle grade, but it's not a typical YA book. Even though the main character is 12 years old, it doesn't show puppy love, rough language/jargon of teenagers, rebellious bullies, etc. I highly recommend this book. I haven't watched but there's a movie based on the Giver. You can watch it first if you want. But I bet the book will be better. :)