The Giver

I have a love hate relationship with stories that don't have the "traditional happy ending". The literary part of my mind/heart loves a good twist or cliffhanger because they have the ability to make the piece that much more memorable/strong. But there is a part of me (maybe it's the mom/wife part) that will finish a book and go "Huh?" when it doesn't go the way I thought it would or doesn't completely resolve things in the end.

I recently picked up a classic at the library, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, based solely on the fact that a friend said it was good. It's another children's book, but I didn't remember reading it as a kid, so I figured I'd read it. You know by now that I really enjoy a good kids/young adult book once in a while. It was short, I read it in a few hours over a period of two days. And I'll agree, it was a well written book. I immediately liked the characters and was drawn into the story. But, as I read and got closer and closer to the end, I started to wonder how it would resolve. It seemed like the main "stuff" was happening awfully closer to the last pages of the book. I read hungrily because I wanted to see what happened to the main character, (and because it was near time to fix dinner.)

And then I ran out of pages.

"Huh?" I probably said and looked to see if there was some missing or if there was mention of a sequel.

Nope. It was just over.

"Huh?" I tossed the book to the table and got up to make dinner, completely and utterly disappointed and unfulfilled.

I felt like the ending just left everything hanging--I got no resolve from it. Yes, the story is great and even the ideas and concerns that it brings up, but that's really all it did for me. I'm not sure if I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to read it, or if I should've taken more time to read the ending, but it just didn't do anything for me.

Oh well, onto the next book. I've got a nonfiction in the works, then a book I'm reading with a small group in Lindsay's 4th grade class for their book clubs (that will be fun! i read the book and do the assignment w/ the kiddos and go in once a week for 6 weeks.) and then a classic that I need to reread before the movie version of it hits the big screens. Hopefully I'll enjoy these ones more!

Have you read "The Giver" by Lois Lowry? Do you have any guesses as to the classic I'm re-reading? Do you read kids books more/less/same as adult books?