The Giver

I've re-read The Giver so many times over the years that, even though it has been a while now, I remembered nearly every word. I noticed a few small changes (omissions and additions), but for the most part it's a faithful adaptation into graphic novel format. Before Jonas begins to see flashes of color - in the apple, people's faces, Fiona's hair - the art is in black, white, and gray, with faint blue shadows (and Jonas' eyes are blue). The Giver himself appears somewhat skeletal and ominous; from the book, I had pictured him as weary but kind, and only occasionally fierce.

Certain scenes were rendered quite beautifully - the one in the House of the Old, the ones of the community chanting Caleb's name and then Jonas'. Jonas' parents had show more an idealized '50s quality to them, and the community as a whole conveyed Sameness in a '50s-ish way rather than an attempted futuristic one. The memories that the Giver transmits to Jonas are, of course, in full color, and some of them are starkly realistic - those of war, for example.

I enjoyed re-reading the story, which is one of the finest and most enduring utopia/dystopia ones, but I can't say I felt that the new format brought it to life in any special way - perhaps it simply can't be improved upon. However, if it makes it accessible to a wider audience, all the better.

Quotes

What if they had all been instructed... YOU MAY LIE [these three words spread the width of the page] (62)

"We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences.
We gained control of many things, but we had to let go of others." (Giver to Jonas, 83)

"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared." (Giver to Jonas, 143) show less

This is a very accurate adaptation of the giver. I liked the black and white style (fits the story) and found the black and white pencil art fit the story very well.

It brought back a few things for me.

I think Kurt Vonnegut had a story about mass voluntary chemical chemical castration. I know its fiction, but its just one of those things that I can't imagine a society getting people to do without coercion on a mass scale. Coercion is occurring here. people get euthanized for failing to follow the rules, but I think it would take more than that. Maybe putting the drugs in the water supply, food supply, and randomly testing people.

It also made me think about the possible benefits of forgetting. I think a lot of victims of abuse, PTSD show more sufferers, and addicts might benefit from giving away all of their memories of a trauma.

What would kind of mayhem society wide color blindness cause? Traffic lights wouldn't work, most warning labels and signs would be less effective, it would be harder to tell what was ripe/spoiled, cherry and lime kool-aid would look the same, telling cats/dogs/possessions apart would be harder requiring labels on lots of things. show less

All of my dystopian/YA reader cred might be taken away upon this confession, but I never really liked The Giver. I'm not quite sure why - I read it once, when I was younger, and it never drew my attention enough to revisit the way it does to so many children and adults. I really do think a big part of that is that it was hard for me to truly imagine a visualize Jonas's world without color.

So it's no surprise that this graphic novel adaptation is so great. Russell has stayed incredibly faithful to the plot, but the true genius is his use of blue ink and pencil lines to portray the world. Jonas's growing discovery of color is made more immediate, more stark, more beautiful when depicted graphically.

This book makes me think. I'm sure [b:The Giver|3636|The Giver (The Giver, #1)|Lois Lowry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1342493368l/3636._SY75_.jpg|2543234] also made me think, but I read it in like 7th grade, so I mostly remembered the basic plot while going into this. No, it is a lot more than the basic plot implies it to be. It is sad and thoughtful and a good way to experience this book again, even if the correlation to the modern world is pretty frightening.

People should read this. It is deserving of attention. The graphic novel stays completely true to the original story, as attested to by an afterword by the author, [a:Lois Lowry|2493|Lois show more Lowry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1348162077p2/2493.jpg], and the illustrator. I kind of wish I could rediscover all of those important books from high school as graphic novels. show less

A great addition to an elementary or middle school library collection that wants to add graphic novels adapted from contemporary classic or dystopian novels. I personally didn't enjoy this as much as I expected from the reviews. This is probably due to the fact that I have read the original so many times that the illustrations in the graphic novel were not what I picture in my mind. The story takes place in a futuristic dystopian community where memories and certain information is deemed too dangerous for society, so a receiver of memory is needed to hold all of the community's memories, along with fear, pain, love, and other emotions. The main character, a boy named Jonas, is called to be the new receiver. As he begins his training, he show more realizes the "perfect" community he's always enjoyed is far from a utopia. show less

Bleak and unrelenting fictional landscape made beautiful & haunted by PCR’s art. Story powerful and harsh but a great read

Really good rendition of this book. I recently listened to the audiobook, and the visuals in the graphic novel are strikingly similar to my own envisioning.