Messenger (novel)

Messenger is a 2004 young adult fiction by author Lois Lowry. It forms the third installment of The Giver Quartet, begun by her 1993 Newbery Medal-winning novel The Giver. It takes place about eight years after the events of The Giver and about six years after the events of Gathering Blue. Characters from the two earlier books reappear in Messenger, which gives the novels a stronger continuity.

Messenger
First edition
AuthorLois Lowry
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Giver Quartet
GenreYoung adult fiction
PublisherHoughton Mifflin[1]
Publication date
2004[1]
Media typePrint (hardcover, paperback)
Pages169[1]
ISBN978-0618404414
OCLC53215694
[Fic] 22
LC ClassPZ7.L9673 Me 2004
Preceded byGathering Blue 
Followed bySon 

Set in an isolated community, known simply as Village, "Messenger" focuses upon a boy, Matty, who serves as message-bearer through the ominous and lethal Forest, which surrounds the community.

Plot

Matty was introduced in Gathering Blue. Matty now lives with Seer, originally named Christopher, a blind man rescued by the people of the Village years before.

Outside the safe boundaries of Village is the Forest, a unwelcoming realm that most of the Villagers fear because of its powerful harm. In spite of the lack of dangerous beasts, Forest is animated.

People who trade at a gathering, Trade Mart, change from being compassionate and generous to angry and impatient. The temperament of Villagers changes and they decide to close their borders and stop permitting the displaced and unwanted of other communities to enter. Seer, in the wake of this sudden change, decides to send Matty to travel through the Forest to retrieve his daughter, Kira, who lives in a town several days away.

The gift is a special ability that Matty possesses but hardly understands, which makes him mad and results in a fury: a power of healing, which causes wholeness from the inside out. Matty puts his hands to the ground and manages to restore the integrity of Forest and people alike, at the expense of his own life. Leader names Matty as "the Healer."

At the end of the novel Matty perishes from the thickening forest. His soul drifts deep into the earth, which saves the villagers and Forest. The chaos turn peaceful as Matty's powers become a part of the perishing earth.

Main characters
  • Matty has a special power.
  • Seer is Christopher, a blind man first introduced in Gathering Blue.
  • Kira is Seer's daughter and the main character of Gathering Blue.
  • Leader is Jonas, the main character of The Giver.
  • Mentor is the school teacher in Village.
  • Forest is a living representation of greed in Village that surrounds it.
  • Trademaster is the leader of Trade Mart who only speaks two lines of dialogue-"Trade for what?" and "Trade away what?"

Reception

This book was nominated in the 2008 Young Hoosier Book Award. [2]

References
  1. [ Messenger] Amazon
  2. https://www.fictiondb.com/author/lois-lowry~book-awards~21491.htm

[1]

  1. https://www.fictiondb.com/author/lois-lowry~book-awards~21491.htm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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