The only thing I can think of that was positive about the storm was that everyone seems to have read more. Luckily, I took the final book in the Giver Quartet home and finished it very quickly.
It has been many years since I read the first book in this quartet. “The Giver” was written in 1993 and was probably one of the earliest utopian children’s stories of modern times. Yet, from the very first page of “Son” the same eerie, unsettling quality of the early book is evoked. Claire has been chosen as a Vessel and at the age of 14 she gives birth to her first child. Something, however, goes wrong with the birth and Claire is reassigned to another job. Gradually, driven by emotions she cannot, at first, understand, she makes contact with her “son.”
“Son” can be divided into three distinct parts. In part one, Claire learns about her son. Then after having escaped from the community, she is washed ashore after a hazardous ocean voyage. At first, she has no memory of her previous life but gradually, her memory returns. In this new home, she learns the ways of the people who live a very basic existence. In the final third of the novel, Claire is able to find her way to the community where her son lives.
Lois Lowry has crafted a very dramatic story. Influenced by events in her own life, “Son” is a very emotional story of the bond between mother and child. Although, reviews have suggested that you don’t have to read the previous novels in the quartet, I would advise readers to start at the beginning and don’t skip “Gathering Blue” and “The Messenger.” By reading all four novels in order, I feel Lowry’s creation has more impact and power.