Son (393 Pages)

This is the 4th and final book in Lois Lowry's   The Giver series. Ass most of you know, the first three books include The Giver, Gathering Blue, The Messenger, and now, Son. I just finished this last book and all I can say is, "WOW!" Lois Lowry's son was killed last year in Afghanistan, and she has dedicated this book to him. It makes it even more moving that this is so. The book's theme involves a mother's determination to find her son. The book goes back to the first book and pulls events from that to create the plot line in this book. Claire is the birth mother whose child was taken from her at birth and nurtured by Jonas's father, who brought the baby home each night for he was a fussy baby. If you remember correctly, Jonas discovers that the plan is to destroy the baby (he had witnessed his father destroying another infant), and as a result he decides to take the infant and escape from the community. At the end of The Giver, the reader is unsure as to whether or not both survived. So in the final book, Claire identifies her baby, and knows that she must find him. She escapes on a boat that frequently brings supplies to the community. The boat is lost at sea in a horrible storm, but Claire washes up on a shore, barely alive. She is welcomed into this new community, but has almost lost all of her memory. This is eventually returned, and at that point she vows to leave the village in search of her son. It takes several years for her to build up her body to be able to successfully handle the difficult trip. She accomplished this only to meet, at the end of her harrowing experience,  a man known as Tradesman. He makes trade to give people what they want. He tells Claire he will take Claire to her son if she will trade her youth. She arrives at her son's village a haggard, bent over, old lady. There she meets Joan, his wife and 2 children, and is able to see Gabe from a distance. But what should she do? Let Gabe see his mother as a bent, old hag? Or  should she just be satisfied that she has found him?