The Giver
by Lois Lowry
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Book Reviews of The Giver
Book Review: The Giver by Kaite Wileman
Summary: 5 Stars
Katie Wileman
Fantasy Genre
Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. New York: Random House.
Synopsis: The Giver is a story about Jonas; a young boy who lives in what he considers a normal life until he turns twelve. Once all students in his community turn twelve they are assigned a job by the elders. Jonah is selected to be the Receiver of Memories, the most honorable of all jobs. Jonas quickly learns that the life he once considered normal was in fact choice less and everything and everyone was the same. The Receiver of Memories job is to hold all the memories of many centuries. Eventually Jonas discovers what feelings like love, pain, joy and anger really are while the rest of the community are spared of this and live in ignorance. Jonas also discovers colors, seasons, and having the ability to make choices. But when Jonah discovers that when someone is released it is not a reason to celebrate because instead of being sent "Elsewhere," the person is killed. At the end of the book Jonahs is so miserable he wants to be released, but instead plans an escape and sends his memories to the community for everyone to experience the memories he holds.
Evaluation: I thought this book was outstanding and beautifully written with an original plot. Lowry writes in a manner that the reader is convinced that the other members of the community are really clueless to what true feelings like pain and love are, and that they truly live in a choice less, carefully planned world. In this fantasy book, Lowry writes the community where everything is opposite of real life, as we know. People don't marry for love, rather the elders match them, and instead of giving birth to their own children there are birthing mothers, and couples must apply for children. The characters have rigid and proper lives with a strict set of rules everyone must abide by. Additionally, children are grouped specifically by age and receive certain rules and responsibilities as each year passes. The community members will never know hunger, or war, or inclement weather because the Elders and Receiver have planned and controlled all of that. Last, members of the community do not know what choice, colors, or death is. Lowry writes the story so well that the story and the characters lives sound believable, and the story is logical and consistent throughout. The story ends openly for the readers to decide if Jonas and Gabe will survive. Between the open ending and the universal truth that this story brings to life give readers many issues to discuss. For example one universal truth is that every society is plagued with troubles and dangers that the government can't always control because of our rights and freedom. If the novel was used in a classroom it might provoke students to examine if the rules in our own society should be changed and choice restricted to make the world safer? Another question an instructor might pose why or why not does the reader believe if Jonas will survive?
Another book that connects to The Giver, but contain different characters is Gathering Blue which is about a world similar to Jonah's a world of the future but this time the main character is a handicapped orphan named Kira who is spared because of her gifts as a weaver, making her useful to the guardians.
Book Review: Very Powerful Book About How We Cope With New Ideas
Summary: 5 Stars
I 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.
Book Review: Quite Good...3.5 stars
Summary: 3 Stars
I think there's been enough written as far as plot description of this tale...but if not, then here goes:
Jonas lives in what appears to be a perfect, Utopian society and upon the completion of his 12th year of life (just like all other 12 year-olds in his community) he's given his job for life. His title is to be 'Receiver', to become a recepticle for all memories and knowlege within his community.He goes into training with the former Receiver, who then becomes 'The Giver', and learns the truth of his environment...and how it is far from perfect, and how impossible the concept of perfection truly is.
There's more to it, but that's the bare bones of plot.
It's a wonderfully enticing tale, and the author chose a powerful subject as well as doing a wonderful job at constructing a society with very intricate rules and social graces. I was thoroughly drawn to this book...and I felt it was simply yet powerfully written. The simplicity was actually quite effective since the subject and story was rather complex.
I felt the author kind of wimped out though, somewhere toward about 3/4 of the way...perhaps it wasn't the author...perhaps it was the publisher, which is really possible too. Lowry was starting to dip into darker waters which were extremely powerful, but it seems like the moment she did, there was suddenly this miraculous solution to the story...it felt like the narrative was about to spill the goods and then was silenced somehow. And I found this a pity because I was really getting into what i was reading, was really getting into the character of Jonas and his development and growth and maturity. He was stunted as soon as he began to grow up and gain some understanding, and this is the main reason I gave this book 3 (actually 3.5) stars.
Perhaps the reason it was all cut so short was because it was a book that was also meant for children...but that doesn't seem like a good enough reason. I just felt like, Don't take me somewhere unless you're going to take me all the way. Don't abandon your reader...I felt I was abandoned as the story was tied up at the end with a very messy and strangly metorphorical ending. The book was not metophorical to begin with. It's too bad, because I really was starting to sink my teeth into it!
[..] I read the book myself about 3 times...and I just flat-out disagree. The author painted extremely innocent characters who didn't know what was considered taboo by OUR standards...and in truth, there also wasn't any kind of overt leaning toward any kind of sexual orientation. There was no weird nudity. Children volunteering at a nursing home and tending to bathing the elderly is not what I would consider sensual. A male child taking his shirt off to be more in touch with his surroundings is not a sensual thing, but rather unself-consious...why would it be otherwise???
Whoever criticizes that is kind of missing the point anyway: There was NOTHING sensual in this book...if anything, the author made a point of creating a society that was sensually stunted and out of touch in that way, and actually took pills to remedy those cravings in order to never look at them again. So...what's all the fuss, people?
Book Review: The Giver - An interesting and thought-provoking read
Summary: 4 Stars
Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Number of pages: 192
Level: 6th-8th grade reading level
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis of Plot: Jonas is a young boy, turning twelve at the beginning of the story. He has grown up in a fictional community where there is no crime, violence, poverty, or "memories" of the past. He has only know this eutopia, where there is only happiness, feelings are constantly shared, and everything is very well organized and planned out. There are very strict rules that guide daily life in the community. Every member of the community follows the same life plan, where no one chooses a husband or wife. Rather, couples are matched up, children are chosen to go to certain homes after being born by "birth mothers," and each home is only allowed two children for population control. There are no choices to be made, but Jonas soon finds out that he will be faced with one as he turns twelve, a very important age in the community. At age twelve, every child is given a job that they will hold for the rest of their lives. Jonas receives the most important job in the community: Receiver of Memories. He is given memories and knowledge of the world as we know it now, by an Elder in the community called "The Giver." Jonas learns of pain, of war, of weather, freedom, animals, color, family, and all of the things he has grown up not knowing. He realizes that choices can be made, and that life doesn't have to follow this dull, empty-of-joy pattern.
Negative Aspects: The only negative aspects I have seen after reading this book many times, is that there are some dark sides to the book that some children may not be able to understand. For example, euthanizing and infant may be difficult for some children to understand, and also the scene where war-fare is described. The only other negative aspect that I could see, is that though the book is fictional, there are many aspects of the book that go unexplained. The community lives in this "ideal," world, but no one ever explains how they got to where they are, with no memories, or color, or what happened to the rest of the world before "sameness."
My Rating: I give The Giver 4 stars personally. I have read the book numerous times, as well as having read it to my class. The book is a quick read, and never felt boring. It really gave students insight to what the world would be like without family, choices, pain, or joy. It was interesting, and brought up a lot of great discussions in class. It presented many ideas that I had never thought of before. The only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars, is the same reason I stated before. The book is fictional, but still needs to provide some type of explanation of how the community that Jonas grew up in, came to be. This would help readers to fully understand the history behind the book, and understand the choices that the people in the community had made.
Overall, I would recommend this book for most middle-school students who are able to read at this level. It's an interesting book that really challenges the thought of what a community is, individual thinking, and how rules can affect everyday life
Book Review: the giver review
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine having your life whole life planned out and never having to make any decisions. Things like who you were going to marry, who your children were, and what job you had were decided by people in your community. This is the main plot in The Giver by Louis Lowery. Every year when children turn a year older they have ceremonies and are given certain items/ privileges such as when a person turns a nine he or she is given a bicycle. When the Ceremony of Twelve comes a twelve year old is assigned a job in the community. The main character Jonas is assigned the new receiver with special training from the giver. No one in his town has feelings or can't see any color. When Jonas is given both exciting and painful memories by the giver, he finds out what true love is and begins to have feelings. When twins are born one is "released" or killed, or unsuccessful babies and older people, however no one knows this is bad because they have no feelings for other people. In the end Jonas goes on a journey and searches for an "elsewhere" and the community he has dreamed of where people had feelings. The Giver was an interesting novel I would recommend.
One of the reasons I liked this book was because of the interesting plot. It made the reader wonder how it must feel to live in Jonas's town where nobody makes their own decisions or has any feelings. They are not allowed to tell any lies and every night at dinner they share their feelings or dreams. The book was really unlike the communities people live in now, such as when a person turns twelve they are given a job they have to stick with for the rest of their lives until they get very old.
Another reasons I really liked this book was because the author used very descriptive words to tell what was going on. Such as when the giver transferred his memories to Jonas he used descriptions that made you feel as if you were actually there. For example when they were remembering riding on sled in the snow and when Jonas had cut his leg, the author didn't just say "he cut his leg" but described how he felt, what was happening around him, and the scenery. Also this book was full of feelings, such as when they remembered Christmas and the fireplace Jonas started to know what love is.
The plot was very suspenseful and kept the reader wanting to know more. An example was when Jonas was running away with the newchild, Gabriel to search for a new community. As he rides on his fathers bicycle with the infant, search planes fly over head. Also when they were at the ceremony of twelve for Jonas the name caller accidentally skipped Jonas, he began to get worried and it left the reader wondering what job he was going to get.
The Giver is an excellent novel because of its great traits such as suspense, vivid details, and unique well built plot. It is about a boy who lives in a dull and boring world where no decisions have to be made until he meets the Giver. From him he learns the true meaning of friendship, love, and pain. This is a exciting, action packed book I would recommend to anyone.
~ C. Cirillo