The Giver
by Lois Lowry
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Book Reviews of The Giver
Book Review: Review of Lowry's The Giver
Summary: 5 Stars
Throughout the centuries, Christians have been buoyed up by a utopian vision of the afterlife given in Revelation 21:4, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." However, what about creating heaven on earth? What price would people be willing to pay for a world in which there is no more war, hunger, or social strife? Lois Lowry gives a frightening look at one such answer in her book The Giver.
Through a young boy named Jonas, we are introduced to a community whose citizens live in nearly total conformity to society's rules. At first glance, the order and homogeneity of the community appears to have created a nearly perfect society. However, as we look more carefully at the eerie extrapolation of the trend to sacrifice liberties for law and order at any cost, we see that Jonas' community has lost many of the basic freedoms we take for granted: privacy, choice of occupation, the ability to express disagreement with society's norms, the ability to learn from the past, the choice of whom to marry and where to live, the ability to reproduce and experience sexual pleasure, even the ability to continue to live when not a productive member of society. This future society has even gone so far as to rob people of the memories normally passed down as stories from generation to generation. Incorporated into the storyline of the book is the ultimate symbol of the blandness of their regulated lives, the inability of the people to perceive color: they see the world only in terms of black and white.
Interwoven with flashbacks to illustrate, Lowry skillfully introduces concepts in a terminology that is easily understood, yet different from the way we normally speak: newchildren, birthmothers, nurturers, the Receiver, the Committee of Elders, the House of the Old, release, seeing beyond, and elsewhere. There are also various ceremonies: The Naming, The Ceremony of Twelve, Murmur-of-Replacement Ceremony, Ceremony of Loss, etc. This layered description produces a sense of "otherness," while the detail which it affords lends an air of reality to the story. Each of these words has a connotation special to the environment of the community. In fact, one realizes that the citizens have been trained to think that apart from the rigid structure of the community, there is no real meaning to life. To fulfill one's given purpose in service to the community has become the all in all. We learn later in the book that although any citizen is given the ability to ask for release from the community, to reject service to the community is in reality to ask for a summary execution.
When Jonas, a dutiful child, is chosen to be the next "receiver," the façade of perfection is ripped apart. He is stunned with the realization that release means execution, something foreshadowed as early as the second page of the book when a beginning pilot veers off course and a voice announces in an ironic tone, "Needless to say, he will be released." Jonas experiences true feelings and a depth of emotion which the average citizen is not allowed. With his new found emotions he is overwhelmed and abhorred by the thought of his father casually murdering babies who do not measure up to society's standards. And together, the old receiver and the new receiver determine to give something to their community which has been lacking for countless generations.
The conflict with society which Jonas experiences as the seed of individuality germinates within him is what makes his character development such an integral part of the story. Fascination with his increasing realization of reality and the struggle to fight against the wrong he perceives rivets the attention of the reader. In the beginning, there was no question as to what he would do when the ubiquitous Big Brother-like speakers announced that an unauthorized snack must be returned. But his exchange with the Receiver about color shows that his eyes have been opened in more than one way: "It isn't fair that nothing has color!... If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!" The continued conversation reveals the reason why the community's founders took away choices from people. Jonas muses, "We don't dare to let people make choices of their own." And with uncertainty adds, "Definitely not safe." This juxtaposition of words "uncertainty" and definitely" is merely one example of how beautifully Lowry uses language to dynamically portray the conflicting emotions roiling within Jonas.
The growing conflict as Jonas' character develops is not the only thing that attracts and holds the reader's attention. It is his interaction with those in his life as his feelings develop that we can identify with. Along with the black and white view of the world, the people in the community have no ability to distinguish beyond the superficial. They may know likes and dislikes, but they don't know what it is to abhor or love with depth of meaning. When Jonas asks whether his parents love him, we realize just how meaningless the word is to them as they fail to relate to the question. The reader begins to realize the tremendous price that Jonas' society has paid for a lack of conflict. Their eyes cannot see color because their souls are vapid. On the other hand, as Jonas interacts with the Giver we are fascinated by the deepening understanding in the Giver's heart of what must be done for the good of the society. As the Receiver remembers his daughter's death and discusses his grief with Jonas, it is the stimulus for a new way of thinking. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, we see the Giver's spirit renewed at the thought of giving a new way of life to his community.
Truly this book succeeds in bringing to the fore many social questions. However, it succeeds on a deeper level by challenging our emotional IQ. The courage and strength which Jonas shows as he shoulders a burden for the ultimate benefit of his society is heartwarming and inspiring. The ending is left ambiguous on purpose, but it matters not. Lowry's purpose was not to provide a resolution, but rather to inspire further thought.
Book Review: The Giver
Summary: 5 Stars
I've grown fond of children's books. We take better care of our children than we do ourselves. We encourage our children to eat their vegetables whether we do ourselves or not. We encourage them to play outside whether we exercise or not. We care about what they are allowed to read, while we read trash. We should be concerned about what our children read. Reading is an intimate experience. When we read, we let someone else come inside our brains, walk around, and leave things. Sticks and stones can break your bones, but books can change the way you think. We are right to care about the sorts of things our children invite into their minds, and this concern has led to a children's literature that's better in many respects than what is supposed to be "adult" literature.
I was converted to children's books in stages, as my children started being interested in reading, but the final step-the icing on the cake-was a book entitled The Giver, by Lois Lowry. It can be read in a few hours, but that does not decrease its impact, which is something like that of a sledgehammer. It is the story of a boy named Jonas who lives in what seems to be an ideal world. There is no crime, no hunger, and no dissatisfaction. Everyone is in the profession that best suits his talents. It appears to be ideal. The Greeks had a word for a place like this, and that word was "Utopia". It shows the keen insight of those old Greeks that the word means "nowhere". Nowhere is perfect. Nowhere is without problems.
While the Community in which Jonas lives is without strife, it also lacks a great many other things. On the way to achieving the "perfect" community, certain sacrifices have been made. Jonas discovers this when he turns twelve and is assigned his life profession, The Receiver of Memories. Part of the price paid for utopia is loss of connection to the past. The children of the Community are not raised by their biological parents, but by foster parents who are deemed suitable for the job of parenting. After the children of the community are grown, they lose connection with their foster parents, so even family history is lost. One might think about the impact this would have on the situation in the Middle East. There wouldn't be any fighting for the Promised Land. The Promise would all be a part of the forgotten past. For those of us who would like to see peace, this notion might be quite appealing.
However, Lowry's insight is that a person without a past is a person without a future. While there is virtue to be had by living in the present in the metaphorical sense, living entirely in the present without connection to the Eternal is sterile.
Jonas's role as Receiver of Memory is necessary for the Community because basic survival does require some knowledge of the human past, but this knowledge is a great burden, as human history is full of pain. The Receiver of Memory remembers these unpleasant things so others won't have to. The decision was made to remove this unpleasantness from the Community's conscience. In reading this, I was reminded that some people shudder at the bloody passages in the Old Testament and regret their inclusion in the Bible. Sometimes fiction is not far from the truth.
But in forgetting pain, much that was pleasant has also been forgotten: Snow, sunny days, and the love of a family. Bad weather is inconvenient, and so the weather is controlled. Sexual yearnings cause problems, and so they are eliminated by taking a pill. Even love has been removed.
This brings up another theme of the book, the use of language. Children are continually urged to use language precisely. Once Jonas asks his foster father if he loves him and is told that love is a meaningless word. His foster father says that he is very fond of Jonas, but that he couldn't possibly love him because there is no such thing.
Yet we, the reader, know that there is such a thing, and in the course of gaining the memories of the community, Jonas discovers not on does love exists, but that he is capable of it in its deepest form.
Though there is never an explicit reference to religion, one might almost see The Giver as sequel to the story of the Fall of Man in the book of Genesis. In eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Man is separated from nature and separated from God. Mans knowledge of the universe and how to manipulate it enables him to control. The world shown in The Community in The Giver is one that logically follows from that separation. The Community controls everything, the weather, and the sexual urges of the young. The separation from nature is complete, and perhaps so is the separation from God.
The theologians have a name for the complete separation from God, and that name is "Hell." Hell is not usually presented as being so clean as the Community, nor its people as being so polite, but somehow I do believe that, like the Community, Hell is made-to-order by man.
The most frequent complaint that one sees about the book is about its ending. It would be an understatement of massive proportions to say that my twelve-year-old, the Middle-Child, found the ending to be very frustrating. However, it need not be if one takes it at face value, and that is all I am going to say.
The next time you would like a good, short read, and if you are tired of being force-fed someone else's sexual fantasies, let me recommend The Giver. If nothing else, it will make you think.
Book Review: The Giver
Summary: 5 Stars
Jonas lives in a world that is alternate from our world. He lives in a world where everything
is uniform, in a world where there is no color, no life choices, no wars, and no mental pain.
Everyone is assigned a career that they will live with for the rest of their life beginning at age
twevle. In this alternate universe, a single "family" unit consists of an adoptive mother and
father and two siblings: one boy and one girl. Each family is expected to cooperate as a whole,
and are expected to deal with the cope of maturing and leaving the family, and being
"released" after becoming an elderly person. Jonas is a young boy of about eleven and a half
years old who lives in this type of state and is about to reach the age of adulthood, and he will
be assigned to his role in the communtiy, while is sister, Tilly, will begin to mature in the
community as well, but in another way. His father, who is a caretaker of infants for the town,
brings home an unusual baby named Gabriel that he decides should be nurtured under his
care. If the baby doesn't give normal health readings, within one year, he will be released
Meanwhile, Jonas attends the ceremony in which he finally becomes an adult and is
assigned to his future life-long career. But when he expects to be called up next for his
"Assignment", he is skipped over. Jonas then learns that he is to become the official
Receiver of memories of everything that happened before the world of the same things and
no color, from none other than the previous Receiver, now known as The "Giver". When
he receives his instructions on what to do for his classes, he is told several things, but the
most important thing that he is instructed to do is to lie. When he arrives, The Giver tells
Jonas that he transfers his memories to Jonas, but loses the ones he transfers in the process.
Jonas receives memories of wars, holidays such as Christmas, and begins to see colors,
instead of black-and-white. Then, Jonas actualy sees the release of an infant, which is
basically similar to a lethal injection. When Jonas's father prepares to release Gabriel,
Jonas seeks more memories about snow, water, and sunlight, along with other substances
that are unknown to people who live in this controlled community. Jonas runs away with
Gabriel into the unknown until he comes across a town with colors, music, and other things
that do not exist in Jonas's world. The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an amazing Newberry Medal
winning novel for young adults that should be read due to its suspense, its spectacular fantasy, and for its great depiction of the characters in the novel.
The Giver, by Lois Lowry, contains a great quanity of suspense. Throughout the novel, there
is enough suspense to cause the reader to read into it more and more with enthusiasm and
will not want to stop reading until they are finished with it completely. An example of this is
when Jonas is running away with the infant named Gabriel. As he keeps riding along on the
bycycle he stole from his father (this was the main mode of transportation for the community),
when the search planes flew overhead. This is just one of the many types of suspense found
in The Giver that would certainly encourage anyone to read the novel.
The Giver was also an excellent fantasy novel to read. Lois Lowry, the author who wrote the
novel, created an excellent alternate world in which everything that we on Earth are
accustomed to is alien to the people on Jonas's world. Everything is different, and choices
are made for the people themselves. In some ways, this is a go od thing, for there are no wars
and there is little crime, but there are many consequences for living in this world as well.
The alternate world created in this novel makes it even more appealing to read.
The Giver, by Lois Lowry, does an excellent job of character and area description.
Throughout the pages of the book, the description of the memories given from The Giver
to Jonas is in such great detail that any person will have the ability to create an image of
of what is going on in the plot. Thus, the reader will have a better understanding of what is
going on, causing them read more and more.
The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an excellent novel because of its superb traits, including its
massive quanities of thrills and suspense, its awsome fantasy, and for its unique description
overall. This novel is about a boy who lives in a world of dullness and in a place with no
choices until he meets The Giver. It is at this point that Jonas learns the true meaning of
life, love, pain, war, and happiness. I rate this novel a total of five stars out of five.
A. Chappell
Book Review: The Knowledge to Give
Summary: 5 Stars
Lowry scores my highest mark for THE GIVER: a capital A for AWESOME.
THE GIVER appeals to my deepest being, going into emotional depths where I'm most aware, where I experience anger, sadness, and fear but also enjoyment, surprise, and love. Not only that but it stimulates and informs my intellect. It is such a gut-wrenching but ultimately happy story. It makes me --- at sixty-one --- feel like a boy again, a boy who thinks he can make the impossible possible, who might be able to help a dulled humanity feel more fully again. I believe all of existence waxes and wanes, ebbs and flows, evolves and devolves with a slow but ever-present upward spiral. This story addresses one community's wane, its ebb, its devolution. Jonas, as a member of that community, is selected to spend his time learning about his community's state of affairs. Then, as the story climaxes, he makes his choice and acts.
Overall, Jonas is a "chosen" hero --- not unlike one chosen in natural selection --- who's unafraid to explore every facet of being, to admit not just the sensory input, but to experience emotionally as well as intellectually. He's brave enough, in the end, to try to escape the constraints of knowledge and experience that have crept into his community of origin. Such perversions are no less ugly than those of Nazism or those characterized in the great literature of the past--the stories of Bradbury, Huxley, and Orwell and others. This story informs those. Here we have a boy who wants to progress on to a new and better life, not just for himself but for the sake of his entire community. He wants them to have it too. He is willing to risk his life for it. For me, this is the purpose of literature, of life. It is man's highest virtue. To do good; to help others. As the boy in Carmac McCarthy's THE ROAD asks, "Are we still the good guys?"
The story makes it clear --- as do all great stories --- that morality comes by experiencing choices tending toward either good or evil and in having the courage to choose that which trends toward good or otherwise suffering tragedy. Jonas isn't ever over-inflated with pride. He retains humility in learning, eventually hoping for a culture beyond his limiting one.
Critics suggest the book's climax presents "a symbolic faux-death event", as if that would somehow be a bad thing. But I don't read it that way at all. Its literal language doesn't so read. Two children literally coast into a more abundant realm, still alive, still aware. Ready to receive and to give.
Further, critics complain that Lowery fails with THE GIVER because Jonas's community isn't based upon a real world of its author, as if a symbolic or hyperbolic one of the imagination is flawed, or somehow a weakness. To the contrary, in the progress of mankind, imagination becomes truth. Or, as in the fanciful words of Ursula LeGuin's character, Genley Ai, truth is a matter of the imagination. What is ultimately in the realm of mankind is what was first imagined well and then subjected to free agents who acted upon it for good.
THE GIVER presents a degenerated human power structure. How or why it has degenerated is not important in its overall scheme. It kills people, the ultimate evil. " . . . twins are being born tomorrow, and the test results show that there are identical." "One for here, one for Elsewhere . . ." This is not ambiguous. It's not an issue of unborn or near dead. It is out and out, clear-cut, calculated murder. It's Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, and Auschwitz, but on a more massive scale.
At the same time, the human power structure that has chosen wickedness ironically chooses Jonas as the Receiver. There are two things Jonas has that are vital. The first is his ability to choose freely. Everyone has that. All his contemporizes have it and utilize it. The other is knowledge and experience. It is this later that the others are lacking in great measure.
There is no magic in THE GIVER, no smoke and mirrors as some have suggested, but only the issues of knowledge and choice. Every child is born with the ability to choose. Not every child lives with the ability to get the necessary knowledge and experience required to choose well. It seems that to do so, to some degree, we have to be "chosen," and then, even then, we have to choose to Receive it. But ultimately, what is most important, after all is said and done, is to choose to be a giver.
THE GIVER.
Book Review: A Synthesis: The Giver and Number the Stars
Summary: 5 Stars
This review will be an attempt at a synthesis of sorts of The Giver (Newbery Medal Book) and Number the Stars. Both of these books have been extensively reviewed and their respective stories have been discussed ad nauseam, so I will forgo the usual "this book is about" review. Instead, I will attempt to provide some perspectives about these books that aren't prevalent in other reviews.
As other reviewers have stated, The Giver is a superior book. I read The Giver the first time when I was in sixth grade and have read it two or three times in the 13 or so years since then. Some reviewers have likened this book to an adolescent literary critique of Communism or some such thing. I think this is a superficial understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of The Giver. Though Lowry's critique in this book is broad enough to include Communism, I think it goes beyond that and is really a critique of the modernity. By modernity I mean the human impulse to subject reality and creation to human design in an attempt to create the perfect society. Though Communism is a part of this impulse, this impulse is broad enough to include other modern phenomena, including National Socialism (the topic of Number the Stars, not coincidentally), parts of the Progressive Movement (especially prohibition, see Prohibition in Kansas: A History), and yes, even contemporary liberal and "neo-conservative" ideology (i.e., the Great Welfare Society and Free Trade Is The Answer parties of contemporary politics). For a philosophical description of this impulse, see Modernity Without Restraint: The Political Religions, The New Science of Politics, and Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 5). In The Giver it is clear that Lowry is a critic of such impulses if only because they lead to the degradation of human dignity and the rise of the totalitarian state.
It is this critique in the foreground of The Giver that makes the book such a classic. If you enjoyed The Giver when you were a teenager you will most likely also enjoy Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In addition to this philosophical critique, The Giver also displays the height of Lowry's imaginative potential. I think on these two fronts The Giver is clearly superior to Number the Stars.
Number the Stars is a fine book, to be sure, and there are some obvious similarities between it and The Giver. Many of Lowry's critiques of her imagined totalitarian regime in The Giver are applied with equal force to the Nazis. Nevertheless, I feel that Number the Stars is not as strong as The Giver, and I am surprised that it was also awarded the Newbery Medal. One thing Lowry does well in both books is to take heavy topics, such as euthanasia in The Giver and the Nazis in Number the Stars, and write about them in such a way that allows young adolescents to at the same time understand the gravity of the thing and and yet not be overburdened by the weight. Teaching young people about such topics as the Nazis and the Holocaust is not an easy thing to do, and in Number the Stars Lowry does a wonderful job.
Still, Number the Stars lacks the imagination that Lowry displayed in The Giver. Some reviewers have stated that the book was a "slow" read. I disagree with this critique, and instead feel that such a view is more illustrative of the lack of attention span in this society than it is a valid concern for a short book like this one. I think Lowry struck the appropriate balance between displaying the exciting and frightening circumstances of the times while also giving the narrative character the opportunity to reflect upon what was going on in a way that teaches young people "the ways of the world."
In sum, The Giver is a masterpiece, Number the Stars is a fine book. I would recommend them both, but if you're only going to read one it should be The Giver.