"Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love."
Summary
Melanie 'Mel' Stryder is one of the only rebel humans left after the invasion of the 'souls', parasitic aliens which take over human bodies, erasing the original occupants. Wanderer is a soul who has lived on eight other planets previously, Mel being her ninth body host. She was inserted under emergency conditions, with the intent of using her to access any information Melanie might have about other free humans. This investigation is headed by an individual identified only by title, as "The Seeker", who pressures Wanderer to produce information, and views her with implied contempt for her failure to do so.
Melanie remains partially conscious despite her infestation, an aberration for which Wanderer feels some shame, and no small amount of concern. She bombards Wanderer with her memories and emotions, and Wanderer develops an emotional connection of her own to Melanie's former lover, and brother. When enough information arises for her to find them, rather than report it to the Seeker Wanderer sets out on her own to find them, nearly dying in the desert before Melanie's uncle, Jeb, finds her and bring her into the hideout, a complex of caves containing several free humans. They survive by scavenging from nearby cities. Jeb is unwilling to kill her because her host body is a relative, so she remains in the caves, and eventually develops feelings for several of the other humans, notably Ian O'Shea, with whom she has a romantic relationship. Her help and support with a dying member of the group helps to make the others view her more sympathetically. Only a few humans maintain their dislike of her, notably Ian's brother Kyle, who makes at least one attempt of her life, as a result of which he is threatened with expulsion from the group.
Wanderer's peaceful life with the group is disturbed by the realization that the humans have not given up on reclaiming those the souls have enslaved, and have been experimenting with ways of removing souls from their hosts, always killing both host and soul in the process. Severely traumatized upon discovering the discarded remains of the extracted souls, she enters a period of mourning, withdrawing from the group, and is only roused by news that Melanie's brother Jamie, for whom she has come to care, is injured. While not previously trusted with information about paths in and out of the caves, a infection developes in Jamie's wound which leads to her and Jared sneaking out of the complex together to seek medicine at a Soul-run hospital, using Wanderer's credibility as a Soul to get access. After this she becomes a regular participant in scavenging missions. When the Seeker is captured on one such mission, Wanderer finally reveals the method of detaching a soul without killing the host. This will allow them to rescue several friends and family members taken by the souls, including Kyle's girlfriend. She reveals the technique to the group's medic, on the condition that he not harm the souls after they are removed, and that she also be removed from Melanie's head and buried. This latter condition proves controversial, especially with Ian, who forcibly takes her to his cave where they confess their love for each other. However Wanderer, undeterred, sneaks away after he falls asleep to complete her plan. She is removed, but awakens in a the body of a girl who had not had a chance to develop a personality, having had a soul inserted in infancy. Kyle's girlfriend turns out to have been utterly destroyed in the insertion, and he develops a relationship with the soul inserted into her body instead. Wanderer's association with the humans continues, and in the final scene is revealed not to be a unique situation, as they meet another group with a human-sympathising soul.
Genre
Science fiction for those who do not like science fiction.
Major themes
In an interview with Vogue Magazine, Meyer stated that body image was a major aspect of her novel. She noted that she is "very critical" of her body, but not others'. In The Host, she tried to convey "what a gift it is to just have a body, and really love it." This is something most humans would take for granted before being captured, and something that Melanie is all-too aware of once she loses control of her body. Other themes Meyer explored were the mother/child bond, the need to change our lives for the ones we love or because our community expects something different of us than what we want, and not fitting in. In other interviews, various themes were noted including the value of the soul and faith in a world that has been destroyed, tolerance, forgiveness, and understanding.
Background
The idea for The Host originated on a trip from Phoenix to Salt Lake City. Bored, Meyer made up stories to entertain herself, and was halfway through outlining the story of The Host in her head before realizing what she had created. She notes that the story grabbed her attention, and that she "could tell there was something compelling in the idea of such a complicated triangle." As soon as she got to her computer, she typed the outline that she had written in her notebook. Originally meant to be a side project, The Host eventually became a priority, as she favored it above the ideas of other stories she had saved on her computer.
It took Meyer a year to write The Host as she was still editing Eclipse and, as Meyer considers herself a storyteller, she needed something to remind her that she was still a writer, not just an editor. Therefore, after editing Eclipse, she took two days to read through 'what she had already written for The Host to get back into what she calls The Host mode. The character of Ian was originally meant to play a small role' Meyer had no plans for a romance between Ian and Wanderer until Jared "got on [her] last nerve", and Ian "refused to be ignored", and as a result, the ending was changed to allow for Ian.
The title "The Host" comes from the perspective of the main character, Wanderer, because her "host" Melanie forever changes the way she sees the world.
Review
"I recommend the book because aside from having some "fantastic" speaks volumes about the planet earth and the problems that we live in today, about how people are violent, with others and with his own family. As we are wasting our planet, polluting, and we do not realize, and if anyone knows, he hides. It is a very serious issue that touches the book, as beings from another world see what we do to the planet Earth and think it's a waste to throw away. They clearly take it and make it a "better place".
It is more in a section of the book, Wanderer says: "This was definitely the best and worst of all worlds: The most wonderful way, most exquisite emotions, desires more malevolent and more sinister facts."
As for taste but I would say that among all the terrible story could stay afloat love and friendship between people of different species. And people start to realize that this world must be looked after because it is the only one we have! "
Moreover Stephenie Meyer describes the book as "a science fiction novel for those who do not like science fiction" and that in fiction, if we take the fact of "souls" would cease to be. 100% advisable "
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