Messenger Review

| Tasha

HoustonChronicle.com – ‘Last in Lowry’s trilogy brings back characters, conflicts
A glowing review of Messenger by Lois Lowry, the concluding book in her trilogy that started with The Giver, which still ranks as one of my favorite children’s books of all time. I can’t wait to get my hands on this final book! Beware the review, since it seems to reveal quite a bit of the plot.

9 thoughts on “Messenger Review”

  1. I’m glad to have a link to this review. I, too, am waiting impatiently to get my hands on the new volume, but given the info in the review, I think I’ll check out all three at the same time and re-read the first two before hitting the third. Thanks for the heads up!

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  2. I just finished THE MESSENGER and am confused.
    Lowry’s THE GIVER is among my all-time favorite children’s books; it’s near-flawless. GATHERING BLUE is not nearly as thought-provoking, but it too is an excellent book.
    Then along comes THE MESSENGER.
    Is Lowry desperate for money? Is she trying to appease those parents and still the crying of the kids who noted that Jonas and Gabe died at the end of THE GIVER? “The Leader” (wink wink) and the rambunctious eight-year-old Gabe (more winks) are established in Village.
    Matty’s appearance in Village makes sense, and going to get Kira makes sense. But Jonas died.
    No, he is not named in the book, but the pale eyed Leader who sees “beyond”; who’s first inkling of his gift was “an apple”–it’s an exhumed Jonas.
    For those who refuse to accept the death of the two children at the end of THE GIVER (and Lowry has always been evasive in her comments about this, though the obvious event has made the book one of the most challenged books in contemporary literature), the sled is the Giver’s first memory; the warm family memory is The Giver’s favorite memory. The ending smacks heavily of the bittersweet transcendence of Anderson’s “The Match Girl”–another brilliant story.
    IF the dead (though not quite really) Gabe and the dying-of-hypothermia Jonas actually do find a sled and swoosh down to that Christmas image, then THE GIVER is not profound and thought-provoking; it’s trite. Those conicidences are far beyond any thinking reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. And Lowry is not a cheesy writer; at least she wasn’t until she insisted on tying a sci-fi/dystopian novel to a fantasy novel (THE GIVER and GATHERING BLUE are not even in the same genre).
    If Lowry really imagines the three books as a trilogy, then she has cheapened THE GIVER, or she has lost all critical sensibility, OR she just wants more strokes for her past work.
    THE MESSENGER is an OK sequal to GATHERING BLUE; it is a shame that Lowry felt the need to involve THE GIVER.

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  3. hey jrc, you are such a freaking dumb idiot. jonas and gabe DIDN’T die in the giver. and Leader IS jonas. god, you are the first i know to think that they died in the ending of the giver. do you know how to read english? suppose not. don’t go insulting lois lowry if you can’t even read properly. i don’t think lois lowry cares much about making more money and pleasing idiotic parents. dead or not, the giver is still as profound as ever.

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  4. I think that she as good books but i also think that she should have finish the story. In the second book and just made the first book longer and made the second book longer and just add things from messenger to th second to finish the story and add things from the second one to the first and tell them differently. She told Giver and Garthering Blue better than she told Messenger. Messenger is kiinda confusing at the beining and middle but the book is becoming to make more sence. jonas is leader for anyone who dont know that and he does not die at the end of giver. And dont leave any retarded notes like boo did .

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  5. umm, boo, the idea that jonas is dead at the end of the giver is pretty widely accepted. it’s what has made the book so controversial, and is the way most teachers explain the book to students. if jonas really rode off to christmas dinner on a red sled the book would be too sugary sweet to cover the themes it does.

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  6. LISTEN Lois Lowry doesn’t completly say that Jonas Dies, She Allows The Reader To Choose The Endind Of The Book. In her Meaning She Doen’t Allow Jonas Or Baby Gabe to DIE!!!!!! So get off of her case!!! I THINK THAT SHE IS A WELL SAID WRITTER. HOW DO YOU THINK SHE WON THE NEWBERY AWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shes The Author Not you, Unless She says SO!!!!!!!!
    -Justin

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  7. does any one have the notes on the book “Messeneger” school starts in a week and i need them i read the book but i didn’t take notes. please help!

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  8. hey guys–
    do you all go to the same school or something? i’m not sure if this is a school chat but i’d like to say that i finished The Messenger about thirty seconds ago and i felt that it was a wonderful book but the ending confused me. Does Matty (Healer) die? Or is he in a deep coma that Leader and Kira can only fix once back in Village?
    Does anyone know or have an opinion on if he dies or not?

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  9. of course jonas doesn’t die in the giver. how else would he reappear in the messenger. its confusing but it doesn’t matter he still appears.

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