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A review by hhamlet
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
4.0
The thing about Dystopian fiction is that, as much as we want it to end with happiness and a defined sense of security, that's often times not the case. You have to give and take a lot of times--there are loose ends that don't always get tied together nicely, main and loved characters who get sacrificed for a greater cause; characters change and grow and relationships are changed forever. Dystopian fiction that I've read hasn't represented a beacon of hope, but rather a window for opportunity an growth. And what I both liked and resented about the ending to Requiem is that Lauren Oliver left a lot of all of this up to the interpretation of the reader--the trilogy seems to stop the moment the Invalids break down the walls and bring the cured world and the uncured world together. What will Hana do? Did Fred end up dying in the bombing? Will Lena and Alex finally find happiness together? What will happen to Julian, Tack, Coral, and the others? Who will lead a new government and reform life? Will it even be reformed at all?
Unanswered questions that tend to stay unanswered--it's up to us as the readers to make these assessments for ourselves. We can believe the implications that Alex and Lena will be happy together, can believe that Julian will find his own path in Invalid life, and that Hana will be content with whatever life she chooses. But that's just it, though; there ARE no definite answers, and we are simply left to guess.
I choose to believe that Alex and Lena stay together. She herself stated several times that she'll never love Julian the way she loves Alex, and it's clear that he still loves her just as much, as well. Maybe this new world will expand beautifully; maybe it will crumble to bits and they'll have to start anew. But no matter what happens, the courageous story of Magdalena Haloway and her fight for freedom; her fight for heartache and pain and rebirth in a strange new world will stick with me.
Unanswered questions that tend to stay unanswered--it's up to us as the readers to make these assessments for ourselves. We can believe the implications that Alex and Lena will be happy together, can believe that Julian will find his own path in Invalid life, and that Hana will be content with whatever life she chooses. But that's just it, though; there ARE no definite answers, and we are simply left to guess.
I choose to believe that Alex and Lena stay together. She herself stated several times that she'll never love Julian the way she loves Alex, and it's clear that he still loves her just as much, as well. Maybe this new world will expand beautifully; maybe it will crumble to bits and they'll have to start anew. But no matter what happens, the courageous story of Magdalena Haloway and her fight for freedom; her fight for heartache and pain and rebirth in a strange new world will stick with me.