"Messenger" (The Giver, #3)

by Lois Lowry, 2004, 169p, rating=4

"Six years earlier, Matty had come to Village as a scrappy and devious little boy.  Back the, he like to call himself "the Fiercest of the Fierce," but since that time, Matty had grown almost into a man under the care of Seer, a blind man whose special sight had earned him the name.  Now Matty hopes that he will soon be given his true name, and he lopes it will be Messenger:  But strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village's closing and try to convince Seer's daughter to return with him before it's too late. But Forest has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand." (book's synopsis)

Reference:  The Giver (book #1), Gathering Blue (book #2), Messenger (book #3)

Let me begin to tell you that I had to re-align my thinking since book #2 because for some reason I had a wrong name in mind.  I was quick to forget that the main character in book #1 was Jonas.  For some reason when reading book #2 and saw the name Christopher, I pictured Jonas.  So throughout book #2 and most of book #3 Christopher was Jonas to me.  You can imagine how the story must have been different for me.  I suppose knowing that now, I have two versions!!  ~I think I need to take some Gingkoba 'cause I'm loosing it!!

Okay, now for Messenger.  Well, Matt in book #2 is now Matty and speaker in this book  He is six years older from where book #2 left off.  We find that he ends up living in Christopher's village.  There he learned manners and proper grammar.  He found place as courier of messages between villages and does so going through the Forest with ease.  Then Matty's new village started to change as the Trade Market comes to bloom.  The kind-hearted people basically traded their souls for vanity and trivial amusements.  The people changed so much that they got tired of welcoming in the damaged and voted to close their doors to newcomers.  This charge compelled Matty to go back to his old town to get Kira to her father before the the closing.  At this point, the Forest was not kind as well.  In fact, it seemed to live to torture and kill those in its path, even fierce Matty.  That said, Matty and Kira's journey back to Christopher became hell-like.  In the mean time, Leader (with powers to see beyond) kept Christopher updated in his children's (Christopher had considered Matty his son) travel.  When Leader saw that Matty and Kira was at death's door, he went after them.  Kira with powers to depict what's ahead through her threading saw that Leader was on his way to meet them.  But Leader too was at death's door.  It became apparent that it was time to use Matty's power though he felt it wouldn't do much considering his condition.  Then, ... you'll have to read the rest!

The whole trilogy was dark and dreary for most of it's story.  It was painful to read but we find hope in the courage of it's amazing characters.  We were reminded that a society can slowly and easily be corrupt.  We are challenged to look around about us and know that individually we have power to help it to thrive well.  We are all advocates to maintaining a civil society and securing that for our posterity.  We are invited to discover and use our individual power for good.  These are some of the things that I got out of these books.