The Giver
by Lois Lowry
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.50 You Save: $4.49 (64%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Giver
Book Review: The Giver, Louis Lowry
Summary: 5 Stars
The Giver
Louis Lowry
The Giver is an exciting book. It is a very fun and interesting book but it also has good lessons in it. It is a good book for teens and up. I think that it is a very good book and everyone should read it at any age but if a young inexperienced child read it I don't think that they would learn very much from it. They also probably wouldn't get the whole point of the book.
The story takes place in what Louis thought would be the Future. So it is somewhat a real place. Personally though I don't think that the "Future" would be like this. The world is to into its ways of living, such as Christmas. Christmas is a big part of our society. And so is pain as well.
The story is mostly about a boy named Jonas and the Giver. Jonas is a boy who at the beginning of the story is 11 and later on turns 12 years old. He lives in a community of plain and orderly living. When he turns 12 he and all the rest of the "12's" get their permanent occupations. He was chosen to be the communities Receiver. His job was confidential and quite different from the other jobs in the community. The Receiver before him would give all the memories of both joy and pain from what would have been experienced today and before hand. All of these memories have been taken away from the community and should not be distributed out into the community ever again. Jonas struggled with it immensely. At the end of the book he finally leaves the community and goes "Elsewhere". The Giver is a very interesting character. He had kept many secrets from Jonas until near the end of the story. Secrets like who the Giver was before he became a Giver. Did he ever get married? Have children? Did he ever really have a true life in the community instead of being locked up with his memories in one room by himself? He is the one who helped Jonas escape to "Elsewhere".
I think that Louis Lowry did a very good job with this book. She had many good points and goals with this book. Many people have written books about perfect worlds and utopias but to some people that may not be their perfect world. After Jonas had been given memories about how wonderful Christmas or even just color is, his community was no longer his perfect little world. One lesson I learned is how we take so many things for granted. Like color, love from and for our loved ones and many other wonderful things. Even as simple as a boat ride or running across a field of daisies.
I like the way the author writes and I plan on reading more of her books sometime. During the time I was reading it I was so engrossed in the story that sometimes when I would get up from the book and I would be doing normal everyday things that Jonas's Community usually didn't do I would almost get afraid that someone would catch me doing it. It was like I was living in the book. It sounds weird but really it is wonderful. That is how I usually know that it is a good book. It is a very fascinating book and I feel bad for anyone who doesn't have a chance to read or who doesn't want to read it at all. I definitely recommend it to teens. It is a great book to read.
Book Review: A utopia comes at a depersonalizing cost.
Summary: 4 Stars
Life-long care. A highly structured, advanced society where everyone has a role and no one has a need to rebel. That is the environs into which Jonas is born. Every year of his life, in the life of any inhabitant of this unnamed city, there is an assigned role with accompanying tasks, an obligatory training to prepare for the twelfth year in which a person receives her or his life's profession.In such an idyllic location it is interesting to note that those who are assigned to give birth are looked down upon; after two years of giving life to babes who will be subsequently assigned to parents who are allowed only one boy and one girl, the woman is assigned to various other chores. She is a lifegiving machine who maintains the population of the community but her ensuing role is that of some type of common laborer. No rewards for this profession!
There are those who do the cooking and deliver meals to all of the inhabitants, those who clean up after the food has been ingested and trays left outside the home, those who are teachers, those who are nurturers, those who are caregivers to the elderly and those who are assigned legal tasks. The penalty for non-compliance, or non-conformity, is "release". By itself the word is innocuous enough. What it actually means, is hazy. Finally, at some point in time the elderly must be released and the decision is made for them.
Big Brother is always watching and reminders are issued via an intercom. Faults and mis-steps seem to be gently dealt with but "release" is the ultimate verdict once a certain amount of opportunities for correction have elapsed. Dreams are processed each day as are feelings of anger, hostility, frustration. Reasons for behaviour are evaluated and the reason appears to be that if feelings can be processed a homeostasis will always return. Lying is strictly forbidden...until....
When the twelfth year finally arrives, a bizarre occurrence takes place. Jonas and all his contemporaries who are about to turn 12, are called to an auditorium at which time they revert to the numbers they were originally assigned, prior to the "name giving" that occurred when they were officially presented to their selected parents. Jonas is not called to the stage when his number is called. He is shocked as are all the members of the town who are present for this important occasion.
The reason for the slight becomes apparent when Jonas receives the highest honor possible, he will become "The Receiver". His studies with the present Receiver reveal a far-from-perfect society and it is each subsequent Receiver who must be the recipient of the painful memories of the past. This takes its toll on each honoree as s/he literally bears the weight of the world in order to alleviate the town's folk from having to do so.
Jonas gradually rebels and takes dramatic steps to escape what is not at all idyllic. Let the reader discover this moral tale. The novel is well done and can easily appeal to adults and adolescents alike. The fortunate adolescents will have adults with whom to review this book as it has many painful, ethical, moral issues to be discussed!
Book Review: A silent keeper...
Summary: 5 Stars
How many years have I known about The Giver? Why haven't I read it before this? Students who have read it always say what a good book it is. It's just one of those things, I think, kind of what my sister calls such things: "It is what it is."
I take my lunch most days and eat in the library where I work. Twenty minutes of quiet time. I always take whatever book I am currently reading. One day I forgot. No way am I going to just sit there, so, aha, what book catches my eye? It's time I say.
The Giver by Lois Lowry won the Newbery Award in 1994. That means it was voted Best Book in older children's literature for that year. Devil's Advocate that I am, I always want to know what books were in contention, the Honor Books. They are Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman, and Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep, all worthy choices.
So, The Giver. Set in a nameless community in an unidentified future, the story is about a utopian society or seemingly, depending on whose opinion is being solicited. No hunger, no domestic violence, no deformities or disabilities, no painful and lonely old age, really, basically no worries. To accompany those realities, no color, no variations, no differences, no choices. Ah, this utopia begins to look dystopian. Yes?
No, of course not, why would you question? Choices, colors, differences have been removed. How can one question if one has no frame of reference? That's where the character of The Giver comes in. In this society children go through a naming ceremony when they reach the age of twelve. The main character, Jonas, has no idea what his future will hold. He has no particular interest in any particular field.
During the ceremony Jonas is skipped over, only to be given his future at the very last. Receiver. Keeper of the community's Memory. Jonas will be the next Receiver, an assignment held with such reverence and awe that Jonas can hardly fathom that he is the one to be trained by the old Receiver, who will now become The Giver. Therein lies the rub.
The Receiver is privy to all that has been erased from community memory: color, smells, bird twitter, tastes, things now controlled and wiped out of existence, such as snow, and sunshine, and forests. Things that make life interesting, but certainly unknowable. Things unpredictable. Love. Family. Yes, certainly, Jonas has a family of two parental units well-chosen for compatibility, one annoying sister (some things don't change), and a temporary baby.
Jonas's dad is a Caregiver, meaning he takes care of babies. This particular baby shows signs of not adjusting--he cries when it's time to sleep, so Dad brings him home to socialize him. If this doesn't work, Dad will be required to "release" this baby. During Jonas's training, during the transfer of memory from the old Receiver, now called The Giver, to the young Receiver, Jonas begins to learn differences. Jonas in the belly of the whale.
And a plan is formulated. There is a sequel.
Newbery, yep, definitely.
Book Review: It's "a powerful and provocative novel".
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read the novel, The Giver, writing by Lois Lowry. The Giver is a fiction, talking about the theme, "love" and "emotion". Also, The Giver is the winner of "John Newbery Medal". Therefore, it's a very good novel for reading.
The Giver talks about a boy was called Jonas who lived in a unreal society. The society was called Community. Our real society is like "dystopia". Against, the Community is just like "utopia". "The relationships are not biological but are developed through observation and a careful handling of personality." In the Community, there're lots of rules the citizen need to follow. For anyone who did some thing against the rules would be released from the Community, also you can call it "euthanasia".
"Jonas's world was perfect. Everything was under control." Jonas was going to be 12. The Ceremony of 12 was extremely important. After the Ceremony of 12, children would be with their Assignment group (end with play group), with those in training.All children would be given the Assignment according to their interest, preparing for future.
Jonas had nothing interest. He is worried about future. Eventually, Jonas received the Assignment, the "Receiver" of memory. It's a particular job, because the "Receiver" could get memories and hold memories. These memoris were lots of kinds of feeling, some are direct and some are indirect. During the Assignment time, Jonas's teacher were called the Giver was training Jonas to be a "Receiver".
Once, Jonas asked the Giver "What's your favorite?". Then, the Giver gave Jonas some memories of the Giver's family played together on holiday. Jonas didn't understand. He could not describe it by using a word.
"love" the Giver said.
Eventually, Jonas thought that the Community was immoral. Therefore, Jonas decided to escape. At the end of the novel, Jonas brought a kid who's going to be released when jonas began to escape. Jonas succeeded. However, where Jonas's going. The writer didn't tell.
I think The Giver is a instructive novel. The writer want to tell us that "love" and "emotion" are important and necessary. The world won't be lively if there're not any "love" and "emotion". That's why I agree with the writer.
On the other hand, the world without "love" and "emotion" also has some advantage. Just like the Community in the novel, "The relationships are not biological but are developed through observation and a careful handling of personality." In the Community, there's no war. There's no crime. There's no violence. There's no hungriness. Also, There's no poor and rich. In the Community, the world is completely peaceable.
The world in the Community is perfect, but everybody just looks like a machine. There must be no one in our real word want to be a machine, although the world is not perfect. Therefore, "love" and "emotion" are necessary.
The Giver is "a powerful and provocative novel". I believe you'll enjoy it.
1/1/2006
Killua Fu
Book Review: Very Thought-provoking!
Summary: 5 Stars
STORY: As one of the editorial reviews so nicely put: "In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price."MY FEEDBACK
1) SETTING - The story takes place in a made-up utopian community that seems to exist in Earth's future at some point. The setting really is a huge part in understanding how this community has isolated itself through choices, in order to have the "utopian" society they have. It was very interesting and could be imagined thanks the the author's descriptions.
2) CHARACTERS - The character's play the parts they are assigned like the people in the community take the job they are assigned by the community leaders. There are no questions or variance from these roles because that is all the character knows. The character of Jonas is the one that breaks this mold and is the focus of the story. As he learns what his society is missing he grows as a character to be liked even though he isn't following the standards of practice that his peers are. His character becomes increasingly gripping especially in the last twenty or so pages of the book when he starts to act on his newfound knowledge in response to the contradictions he has been brought up with all tweleve years of his life.
3) STORY - At first I was reading this as the authors viewpoint of what a utopian society "should" be: Euthenasia, abortion, clothing is an nuscience, be intouch with your personal self, pills to control sexual desires, controlled and numbered births and marriages each year, etc. Then I came to realize that the society the author creates is not necessary her viewpoint but simply the concept created by the architects of that particlar community. Each community is a bit different depending on who configured them. But all in all, in order to live in a place without poverty, starvation and crime there are some major things each and every community gives up. This is the crux of the story and what really drives the climax and conclusion.
OVERALL - I picked this book up because I heard that a famous scriptwriter was contracted to do the screenplay for this book. It is an easy read and less than 200 pages. The story leaves you thinking about it hours later. I could not read the last ten pages fast enough!! The story just built up to this phenominal climax and conclusion that had me ripping through the book to the next page because I had to find out what happens. I got this book at the library and now I have to own it so I can read it at least five more times.