Gossamer is Lois Lowry’s 32nd published work. It is a very fast read which follows the stories of three dream-givers, Littlest One, Thin Elderly, and Strapping, and three humans, an unnamed old woman, John an angry foster child in her care, and his mother. When the story begins, Littlest One is under the care and training of Fastidious who is, well, a total bitch.
Littlest One is curious about everything, and Fastidious hates it, so she asks to have littlest one transferred to another dream giver. When John moves in with the old woman, he resist at first, often threatening her and her dog, and saying that he is going to run away. When the sinisteeds, horse-like creatures who give nightmares, come Littlest One and Thin Elderly must work to counteract the nightmares given to John and eventually the old woman. Strapping bestows dreams upon John’s mother, who is a victim of an abusive relationship and learning how to get over her ex and get her son back.
It is a story of transformation, where John and his mother transform through love and hope given to them by the dream givers and the old woman, and Littlest One transforms through her training and caring for John.
At some points I did feel taken out of the book for an explanation that could have been explained in another way or left out altogether. She begins to use parenthesis about halfway through to explain some things, which makes it difficult to stay in the scene. I wish the dream descriptions had been throughout the book instead of just the two at the end, which would have made it more piecey but we could also have seen more dreams, which is important to the story.
I would recommend it to anyone who has two hours to spare, especially older elementary school children, though I would have loved to read more about the mother and her transformation or the relationship between the old woman and the man in the photo. For the length of the book, though, it’s perfect.
7 out of 10
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