The Giver
Laurel Leaf - Laurel Leaf
Release date: 2002-09-10
Mass Market Paperback
Author: Lois Lowry
Children's 12-Up - Fiction - Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Juvenile Fiction / Social Issues / General, Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic, Social Issues - Values, Reading Group Guide, Fiction dealing with social issues, Morals & values, Science fiction (Children's/YA), Juvenile Fiction, Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9), Science fiction
average reviews
0 vote
0 vote
React and review
The Giver
Date undefinedThis is probably one of the books that I read through the fastest. It kept me interested throughout and was difficult to put down. This is one of the first books to ever make me keep reading so I could find out what happens next. I told myself I was only going to read one more chapter and ended up reading three more before going to bed. One of the great things about this book is that it is very short and very easy to read. This isn't one of my favorite books I have ever read but it was very enjoyable and I definitely recommend it.
The Giver
Date undefinedI read this book twice. The first time, I read it in one night, which I rarely do. The second time, I finished it in two nights. It's basically about a 12-year-old boy named Jonas who lives in a perfect world. There is no crime, no poverty, no illness. Everyone is happy and all is well. Then he and his friends are given their careers. Jonas gets the job of retaining memories of how things used to be--before the world became a perfect place to live. He visits an old man called "The Giver" who is the one who gives Jonas the memories. Over time, as Jonas receives these memories, his entire view of the world changes as he learns what is real and what he has been taught. For example, he starts to see color. Apparently, this peaceful, ideal world is in black and white. I thought this was a fantastic idea. Then Jonas stopped taking pills that he, his friends, and adults take. These pills inhibit sexual desire. In fact, no one has sex. There are birth mothers who carry babies and that is how the human race continues. Well, when Jonas stops taking these pills, he starts getting these desires, such as falling in love with his childhood girl friend. He also recalls pain, illness and war. So it's not all pleasant stuff that he's being taught.
This book is actually more gloomy than books I typically read but the author did a terrific job of pulling me into Jonas' world and I had to keep wondering what was going to happen next. Some of it made me cry. *spoiler alert* He discovers that babies who aren't developing normally are euthanized and when the elderly reach a certain age, they are euthanized as well. But you see, the people in this world are told that the babies are going to another family and that the elderly are having a big party before they head off somewhere else. It is Jonas' love that develops for the baby his father brought home to nuture (because the baby wasn't developing normally--he had delays in his development) that leads Jonas to run away with the baby before the baby can be euthanized. Well, Jonas manages to escape with the baby and he's searching for the place where people will be like him (now that he's changed). The final thing Jonas experiences (after who knows how long he's been gone) is sledding down a hill at Christmas time and looking into the window of a house where a Christmas tree is hung and there is a fire in the fireplace and there's love and happiness. Then the author makes it clear that this is a memory that he dies remembering. Very sad. I still get teary when I remember it because I really wanted Jonas and the baby to make it.
Now on the flip side, it wasn't a completely sad ending. When Jonas escaped, the memories he contained "leaked out" and the people began to remember these things as well. The book ends with the people coming to the Giver and wanting to know what to do about these memories, some good, some bad. The problem with the perfect world was that people lost their humanity. Even though pain is part of the human experience, good emotions are part of it too, and to give up the bad, they had to give up the good. Love and compassion seemed to be the thing these people needed the most, and at last, they will get it back.
The Giver
Date undefinedThis book is beautiful. I had to read it in middle school, and then read it again multiple times when I was in high school and college. I suggest it to anyone. It really makes you think and it is so easy to relate to the main character. The world portrayed by this author is so vivid! Read and enjoy!
