Book: SON by Lois Lowry

Title: Son
Author: Lois Lowry

Series?: Yes;  The Giver Quartet

Published: 2 October 2012

Synopsis (from GoodReads): 

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. 

Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver, as well as Gathering Blue and Messenger where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.

I didn’t want to read this book. I love The Giver and Gathering Blue, but Messenger seemed like it didn’t fit. So when I saw that Lowry had written a fourth novel in a series I thought should have ended with “book 2″ (really, the companion novel to a fascinating story), I rolled my eyes.

Still, I picked it up. I’m not sure why, beyond curiosity.

And I fell in love with Claire. I fell in love with her story, even if I didn’t always love the way that Lowry played it out. I would suggest reading this book if you are curious, but I wouldn’t say you absolutely need this “resolution” (if you can call it that) to her Giver quartet.

ALRIGHT, MATEY. THAR BE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT.

I loved getting the perspective of a birthmother — that role in The Community always fascinated me. And Claire’s story was especially poignant: a complicated birth, leaving her unable to bear another, and her subsequent move to the Hatchery. As if that would fix everything. And then she realizes she loves her son, and needs him, and tries to find a way to save him.

Sometimes, I forgot that in those first chapters, she was just fourteen, fifteen. Which would be a problem, if I didn’t care about her so much and believe that this kind of event would truly change her.

If you don’t know this, but want to, the novel is structured into three parts — each corresponding to one of the three other novels in this haphazard series. The first aligned with the events of The Giver. Those overlaps and connects seemed amazingly drawn, and I was excited to see who else Claire would meet and whose lives would intersect.

The Gathering Blue section of Son is by far my favorite. I loved the development of Claire’s relationship with Alys, with Einar (though I wish we could have known him more as readers). I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the narrative progression here — the dialed-in “memory loss” trope was frustrating in its shallowness — but I loved reading this section. There was something about it that felt nostalgic yet genuine, beautiful and yet painful.

All of this, in my opinion, is tainted by the final section of the novel. I don’t want to give too much away and ruin your reading experience, but much like my feelings regarding Messenger (to which the third section of Son corresponds), I felt like the conclusion didn’t align with my idea of where the story was going. I like a little ambiguity in my endings, and it felt like Lowry neatly wrapped up the lives of the characters involved.

All in all, I generally enjoyed reading this novel. Getting through those final chapters was more strain than I think fun reading should be, but hey, at least grad school has helped me master it.