Matty lives in Village, a Utopian society in a future world marked by “cruel governments, harsh punishments, desperate poverty, and false comforts.” The world around Village is filled with ignorance. In Village, though, everyone is welcomed and freed from beatings, hunger, and being kept from knowledge. Village is run by Leader, a grown up version of Jonas, from “The Giver.” When Matty came to Village he was taken on by Seer, an old blind man who helped him to escape from his past and become a better person.Matty plays an important role in Village. He is a messenger, delving deep into Forest, the dangerous place that surrounds Village. In Forest the trees and plants are dangerous creatures that sometimes entangle people, strangling them horribly. But to Matty Forest has always been friendly, almost ushering him through on his travels.
Village begins to change, however, when Trade Mart starts visiting. At Trade Mart people can trade their most precious possessions for things that they think they need, such as fancy clothing, or a coveted Gaming Machine. However, there are dark secrets behind Trade Mart, for some people trade their deepest selves, their very souls, just to look prettier or appear stronger.
As more and more people visit Trade Mart they come back changed, with attitudes that Village never experienced before. They want Village closed to outsiders. No longer will Village accept the refugees of the external world, because the people of Village no longer want to feed and teach them.
Matty must make one last journey through Forest to deliver the message of Village's closing and get Seer's daughter Kira, the heroine of “Gathering Blue” to come to Village before it is to late. But Forest has changed. Now it is a dangerous place, full of evil and fear. Matty's only help is a strange emerging power that he can not understand.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Messenger,” especially after reading the foundation books “The Giver” and “Gathering Blue.” Lois Lowry has created a vast future world that embraces the greatest hopes and fears of today while teaching deep lessons about looking beyond the surface and never shunning others because they are different. “Messenger” is bolstered by its amazing world, but its characters are also attractive. Readers of “The Giver” and “Gathering Blue” will enjoy reading more about the main characters from those books, while Matty himself is an amazing creation that captures reader's hearts from the start.
I definitely recommend that you read the entire Lois Lowry science fiction series, “Messenger” included.
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35 replies so far. What are your thoughts?
its a very good book
I'm glad that you enjoyed it.
Thanks for commenting.
Nathan
how is this a utopia?
The world of "The Giver" is a dystopian/utopian book in that areas of the world have embraced a more advanced lifestyle very different from our own. Parts of the world have created their own versions of "utopia" but in truth they think the world is a utopia simply because they have learned to forget what the best parts of living are.
Just as in all utopian novels, what seems to be utopia is really not.
what name does matty get?
If you read the book you will see that his name is Messenger because of his unique job delivering messages through the dangerous forest.
who's that person in the cover?
His name in the book is eventually Healer, because of his ability to heal.
The person on the cover was photographed in the woods in Maine, near where Lowry herself lives.
Both I and my daughter read this book and were very disappointed. The set up for the story was good but there was no satisfaction in Matty's death-it doesn't stop the 'trading' or future problems so it feels like Matty died in vain. This book has the feeling like the author had to end the book in so many pages. The climax was a big let-down.
My children had a schoolwork on "The Giver". When they were done with the book, I decided to pick it up and read it. I couldn't put it down. After I read the first book, I went to the bookstore and bought the next 2 books. I love all of them. Thank you Lois Lowry for such wonderful stories we can learn from.
What is the Climax in the story?
Matty in the end of the book was given the name; Healer.
the story was very good
what is the plot of this book?
What is the climax in the book? I thought it was when Matty died but I wasn't sure.
whats the plot of the story????
will someone please answer... i think i know the plot but im not sure!
I enjoy reading the giver but I really didn't like that for the little boy that jonas had with him to survive he had to give most of his memories that the giver had given him...and in the book gathering blue I really didn't like the ending how she just say bye to her father and it dosent say what kayra draws on the empty space she was given to draw the future on the robe...now on the book messanger after everything that happens why in the world matty had to die? I think that it should have ended a different way.
In the book The Giver it shows a world that everybody is equal,black&white, everybody is the same, no envy or evil, people that were so old were killed and if you had a twin they had to choose and kill one of them. Then in the book Gathering Blue the village is full of a group of people that are poor like matt, envy, and at the same time people that did something wrong like annabella case she was killed because she made the mistake of saying that there wasent any beast at all or other were left in the forest. In the book Messanger people there are nice,decent,they care about each other, and I believe because of Jonas they were like that. My point is our world is the same today there's so much envy,jealousy,hate,people killing others, and at the same time there are nice,good,peaceful people left but in nature there never could be a world like in the book the Giver were everything is equal and people are the same. And there never could be a wolrd fill with only good people because evil is the balance of good and were ever there's good there's evil.
i need to read this! i read gathering blue this summer for school and i just finnished the giver. the giver (i think) is much better than gathering blue and i really wished it was longer. i love jonas so much. is he in messenger alot??? or is it mostly matty?
sucks xD
What's the plot summary of the story?
I think this was a great book and see nothing wrong about it
It is such a nice book. I like the ending of this book though, although it is quite sad.
Crystal
it stinks
characterss and explanation of ittt????
It sucked it was so depressing lol
it didn't say the place where it was in, or the year evrything was depressing and lonely, and everyone died it made me feel so sick i would not reccomend it to ANYONE!!!!!
His name that he got was Healer because he "healed" everyone in Village.
I've had Messenger on my bookshelf for quite some time, along with Finding Blue and two copies of The Giver (so I can loan one out). It wasn't until yesterday that I started the 3rd book, and managed to read it off and on in the course of a few hours.
Now, I absolutely LOVED The Giver. Finding Blue I greatly enjoyed. As for Messenger, I find myself even now reevaluating. It seemed like there were so many things going on, and there must have been a page limit. Still, I was hooked. And even though things were "resolved" abruptly and I still have SO many questions, I found myself weeping as I put the book down.
If you have read and really enjoyed the first two books in this series, and anticipated the third, you've probably allowed your mind to create ahead of reading this book. It's definitely a series where many other books could have been written in between the lines, and this last book is no different. And maybe that's why I did enjoy it so much. It's not over. I do still have questions. And when my mind has time to wander, I know it will wander to all the "possibilities" that may have happened, or that could now happen.
Yes, I enjoyed Messenger, and cannot wait until my children are ready to read the series.
Remember, The Little Mermaid originally didn't get the Prince. She turned into sea foam. Not all the stories that stay with us forever have "happy" endings. The sad ones touch us forever, too, and have just as much purpose.
What is the society? I dont see it as a utopian society...
wht power does matty posses
I thought Messenger was a confusing book--and I didn't like it. I have to do a book report on it, and the theme is the hardest part for Messenger. I only got: Sacrifice, greed, and perseverance. I really hate the theme, because my mom totally changed what theme means. Ugh. '-'
Matty has the power to heal. His wanted his name to be Messenger, since he delivered messages, but in the end, he died healing Forest and people alike, and so Leader gave him the name "Healer".
Question: What are the themes of this book?
one of the 2 books that i cried at the end....
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