I recently finished the third installment of Lois Lowry’s The Giver Quartet, Messenger.

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Unlike Gathering Blue, which felt very separate from The Giver, Messenger begins to tie together the pieces. Matty, the young boy who was Kira’s friend, has now moved on from his home village. He is growing up in a place where people who are perceived weak are given shelter, purpose, and a new start at life. Every person plays their part, and where they have weakness, they also have special strengths and abilities. The person who created this community, Leader, is someone we might recognize. He came to Village with a companion and on a sled.

Matty is waiting to receive his assignment, he assumes he will become Messenger, because of his knowledge of the dangerous Forest. He is able to communicate with other villages and walk through Forest without being attacked. But Forest is now becoming angrier, and no longer wants travelers to come through, including Matty. He is discovering what his special ability is, but it scares him. He is advised to keep his special ability to himself until it’s absolutely necessary that he use it, and he may need it when called upon to retrieve an old friend and bring them to Village before it closes to newcomers.

I liked this book more than Gathering Blue. Right away, it felt more like a book in a series. It was nice to see what happened to some of the beloved characters we’d met earlier. And Matty was the most entertaining character in the previous book anyway. It’s certainly an easy read. it only took me a couple of days. I was only disappointed by the end which is why I had to rate it a little lower. I’m looking forward to the last book in the quartet, called Son. 

I rate this book a 3/5.

Related Reviews:

The Giver

Gathering Blue

I don’t know how or why I never managed to read this book in high school, but Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been on my list for years. With the film coming out this Friday, I knew I had to read it, and with a cross-country flight last week, I finished the entire thing (only 140 pages). There’s so much I want to say about this book, but the short length doesn’t let me say much without spoiling it! So, I guess I’ll try to be generic, but not trite.

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Perks is the story of Charlie and his first year of high school. In letters to a pen pal, he tells us all about going from a bullied loner to making friends with Patrick and Sam, seniors who are step-siblings. Patrick and Sam find that Charlie is genuine and take him in, giving him a group to belong in, and experiences that make high school high school. Charlie internalizes so many of his feelings and thoughts, but he is an astute observer of the world around him. I often wondered if he was on the spectrum, as his candor and awkwardness are in line with the spectrum. When I was reading, I was often reminded of Christopher from Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. But Charlie isn’t on the spectrum. He just sees and experiences life differently than others and is honest about it. I suppose that would be the definition of teenage angst.

Through one year of living, we see that Charlie’s story has a lot to it, and even though he appears socially awkward and out there, he is completely genuine. As a reader, I really felt for Charlie. He just explains what it feels like to be the different kid in school, without ever saying that he is.

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After reading the book, I’m really looking forward to the film version, as it was written and directed by Chbosky himself. And it’s starring Emma Watson! Of course, we all love her as Hermione, but I have no doubt that she can break out of that role and reinvent herself. In real life, she carries herself with poise and an internal beauty that her character, Sam, has as well. Mae Whitman is also in the film, and she is spectacular on Parenthood, so I’m just going to have to watch it, even if I’ll cry my eyes out.

Sorry about the vague summary and review. This book was candid and angsty and one of those coming-of-age classics.

4/5

I knew I would be in for a tearjerker when I picked up The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. But beyond the parts that made me cry, I was really impressed with how this story about a romance between two teenagers with cancer was not a Lifetime movie, but smart story-telling.

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Hazel lived through a miracle that has bought her time, but hasn’t removed any threat of cancer. She has to tote around an oxygen tank, and can’t walk far without feeling breathless. She is an avid reader who is too smart for her own good and who can fill up a whole afternoon with a marathon of senseless reality television. But no amount of reading can prepare a girl for her first love, for that aching attraction. And Hazel is not ready to let somebody fall in love with her and hurt them when she dies and leaves him alone. She doesn’t want to handle that, and barely can, when she meets Augustus Waters.

Augustus is the typical too cool teenage kid, except that he has given up one leg to orthopedic cancer. He plays violent video games, reads science fiction, and answers everything with a smart remark that maybe only someone with cancer can get away with. But he is sweet to the people that matter to him in an unsentimental way. He makes grand gestures unassumingly and is someone that you fall in love with even if you think it’s a bad idea.

This book had me laughing and crying. Hazel stands out with her quick wit. Augustus reminds us that even though their situations seem bleak, funny things can still happen. I enjoyed how even if the language made the two seem older, no amount of sophisticated language could hide the reactions of a spurned hormonal teenager. This wasn’t a long read, but it was a good one. It was emotional and youthful, and a lot better than a Lifetime movie.

4/5

Divergent and Insurgent are the first two parts of a trilogy by Veronica Roth that has filled the void The Hunger Games series left behind.

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The series takes place in Chicago in the future. There are five groups called factions that inhabit the area. Each faction is dictated by the main characteristics and mannerisms of its people. For example the Abnegation are the selfless faction, always giving of others. And the Dauntless are the courageous, although often reckless, faction, always seeking thrills and training in combat. At the age of sixteen, every boy and girl is given the option of staying in their family’s faction, or switching factions to join a society more suited to their demeanor. And this is where our heroine Tris begins the book, choosing either to stay with her family or leave them for someplace she is better suited. Unfortunately, for Tris, the decision is not easy, because her brain is not wired for only one faction, but for multiple. She is Divergent. Keeping her dangerous Divergent status a secret, she moves on and trains in a new faction to hide. But in the process, she struggles with potentially giving away her identity and gaining information about major power play between factions.

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Insurgent immediately follows where Divergent left off, and for those of you who, like me, can’t wait to find out what happens next this is perfect. Without giving away too much, Tris’s Divergent status has put her in even more of a difficult situation as she struggles to decide who to trust and what to do in her current state of turmoil. Insurgent was a mind-bender with twists at every turn. Not only Tris is tested, as whole factions are divided, and rebellion is coming to a boil from several directions. And of course, the book ends in a twist that leaves you wondering what could possibly be next? And when are we going to find out?

Both books are quick and easy reads that grab you right from the beginning. Tris is an amazing heroine whose faults sometimes outweigh her qualities, just like any other teenage girl. While Tris does have a love interest, there is no triangle, and the love story is not the overwhelming plot line in the story. It acts as a plot mover and displays Tris as a full and complex character. These books do have a lot of violence though, so I do not recommend it to anyone that does not like a lot of violence or is easily scared by it. I do recommend it to fans of Young Adult fiction, stories centered around dystopian societies, and badass heroines.

I give both of these books a 4/5. I can’t wait for the third one!