Summary: Jonas is unusual. His eyes are lighter than most of the people
in his futuristic society. He is about
to find out what job the government has chosen for him, but he doesn’t feel a
particular affinity to any of the jobs he’s tried. In his society, the government is all about
efficiency, so weather has been regulated, animals have been killed, and
emotion has been removed. Jonas gets the
job of receiver, which essentially means storer of memories. The Giver is getting old, and he’s passing
along the wisdom and memories of the past.
Because of his new experiences, Jonas is no longer satisfied in his old
life. When he discovers what the
government is really doing to twins, he and The Giver hatch a plan that means
changes for everyone. Impressions: What made this book great to me was the fact
that I could see bits and pieces of so many other dystopian novels that have
come after this. There were bits of Uglies, Matched, and even Hunger Games. I like a book that makes
me think, and the way this dystopian world was set up was fascinating to
me. Suggestions
for library setting: I have book
talked this book with many classes.
Hunger Games definitely ignited a love of dystopian books for many
students, and this book has regained popularity because of it.
Lowry, Lois. (1993). The
giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
In
a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written
an intriguing story. . . . The Giver,
who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the
holder for the community of all memory
'back and back and back,' teaches him the cost of living in an
environment that is 'without color, pain, or past.' The
tension leading up to the Ceremony, . . . and the
drama and responsibility of the sessions with The
Giver are gripping.The final flight
for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable.The author makes
real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in
which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep
feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay
with readers for a long time.
Kellman, A. (1993). The giver (Book Review). School
Library Journal, 39124.
In
a radical departure from her realistic fiction and comic chronicles of
Anastasia, Lowry creates a chilling, tightly controlled future society where
all controversy, pain, and choice have been expunged, each childhood year has
its privileges and responsibilities, and family members are selected for
compatibility. As Jonas approaches the "Ceremony of Twelve," he
wonders what his adult "Assignment" will be. Father, a "Nurturer,"
cares for "newchildren"; Mother works in the "Department of
Justice"; but Jonas's admitted talents suggest no particular calling. In
the event, he is named "Receiver," to replace an Elder with a unique
function: holding the community's memories--painful, troubling, or prone to
lead (like love) to disorder; the Elder ("The Giver") now begins to
transfer these memories to Jonas. The process is deeply disturbing; for the
first time, Jonas learns about ordinary things like color, the sun, snow, and
mountains, as well as love, war, and death: the ceremony known as
"release" is revealed to be murder. Horrified, Jonas plots escape to
"Elsewhere," a step he believes will return the memories to all the
people, but his timing is upset by a decision to release a newchild he has come
to love. Ill-equipped, Jonas sets out with the baby on a desperate journey
whose enigmatic conclusion resonates with allegory: Jonas may be a Christ
figure, but the contrasts here with Christian symbols are also intriguing.
Wrought with admirable skill--the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia
emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel.
The
giver. (March 1, 1993). Kirkus
Reviews. Retrieved from: http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lois-lowry/the-giver/
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