Son - a book review, crossposted from Goodreads

[mary_j_59]

Son by Lois Lowry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Well. I have a great deal to say about this book, and I'm afraid it won't all be spoiler free. So please stop reading after the summary if you don't want to be spoiled.

"Son" is, of course, beautifully written, and the early sections were absolutely gripping. The main character, the infant Gabe's birthmother, is a girl of fourteen when she gives birth to him. Claire, having stopped taking her pills, feels a great sense of loss when her baby is taken from her. She tries to reconnect with him, and, like Jonas before her, starts sensing the flaws in her society. Then Gabe vanishes. Claire tries to follow her son.

Some time later, a young woman comes ashore in a small coastal community. The life here is harsh, but not without goodness and beauty. The young woman is raised by the village healer, and two young men fall in love with her. One, Einar, is a shepherd who has been crippled, apparently by a fall from the cliffs that surround the village. As the young woman's memory comes back to her, Einar trains her so that she can climb the cliffs and continue the search for her son. If she makes it to the top, she will face a terrible danger that will change her life.

The final part of the book takes us to the peaceful village where Gabe, now a teenager, is living with Jonas and Kira and many others. This village was once threatened by an evil man called the trademaster, and it becomes clear that he has returned, and that Gabe will have to fight him. But who is the old woman who is always watching him?

That's a very brief summary of the plot. There was much to admire in this book. As I said, I found the early sections, in Jonas's old community, absolutely gripping. The girl, Claire, is a believable and, on the whole, admirable character. I also liked the way Lowry set up contrasting societies. The healer in the fishing village was an especially intriguing character, as was Einar. But-

This brings me to a plot point I disliked intensely, and that struck both me and my sister as a flaw in logic. Einar, as a teen, had actually succeeded in climbing the cliffs. He's also described as a man who knows and loves birds, and he loves Claire. So why would he insist that she climb to a nest just at the time of year the gulls would be nesting? Of course, the mother bird defends the nest, and there is a fierce battle. Claire ends up destroying the nest, and throwing the chicks to their deaths, in order to save her own life. It's the battle of the mothers, and I guess it's all meant to show us how fierce and determined Claire is in her desire to find her son. But it's completely unnecessary. The whole fight could have been avoided had Claire waited to climb out at the same time of year Einar did. So why did Lowry include this scene? Is it meant to justify violence, even against the innocent? It's okay to kill babies if *your* baby is threatened? Or is it just an illogical attempt to ramp up the tension?

Then there's Claire's bargain with the trademaster. He is scary enough, but somehow he doesn't strike me as the epitome of evil. For one thing, he does as he promises. Claire gives up her youth to find her son, and he keeps his side of the bargain. So we have a mother giving up her health, strength and vitality for her child. I guess maybe children do rob you of those things - but what do you suppose the children feel about that? I'm not being very articulate here, but this seems almost a critique of mother-love (as, in a different way, the battle of the nest is also), in a book in which mother-love is the motivating power. That's - well, rather interesting.

This brings me to young Gabe, the son of the title. He's a lively, determined young boy, now in his teens, and he has vague memories of a mother who loved him. The stories Jonas has told him of his early childhood don't satisfy him, and he plans to seek out his mother and the community where he was born. It's at this juncture that he learns the truth: his mother has found him, but at the cost of a terrible bargain. He must defeat the trademaster if he's to save his mother's life. One thing I really liked is Gabe's resolution to avoid violence. He defeats the trademaster through empathy. But-

Here is the second thing I really didn't like. Some of the characters have "superpowers", as it were. Jonas's ability to "see beyond" is explained as such. So is Gabe's ability to "veer", or enter into another's experience. Before this, I'd assumed that Jonas had an atavistic ability to see colors, one that had been bred out of most people in his community. Thus the blue eyes. Blue eyes are recessive, and would indicate suppressed genes coming to the fore. I liked the abilities much more when I thought they were normal abilities these SF communities had lost. I don't like superpowers.

And that brings me to the final thing I didn't care for. As a blonde, blue-eyed Irishwoman, I've got to say there area lot of fair-haired, blue-eyed people in these books. Where are the people of color? There's nothing wrong with having white people around, even as main characters, but there ought, in a future setting, to be some non-European MCs as well. My two cents!

So - the analysis of mother love is interesting, if disconcerting. The book raises a lot of questions about the nature of love and the nature of evil. These are worthwhile questions, even if a reader isn't quite satisfied with the answers the story gives. The book merits reading and discussion. But I didn't, personally, like it as much as "The Giver", and don't think I'd be likely to read it again.





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