The Giver

Jonas was the same as everyone else. He looked the same, thought the same, spoke the same. Until his twelfth birthday. On that day he was chosen. Chosen to be different, set apart for a specific task that eventually causes him to see his world in a different light. In world where choices don't exist, and the people are governed by a strict code of conduct and rules, Jonas will see the truth. The truth will force him to do something no one else in his world has done before - to choose.

This book is a gem. As a huge fan of dystopian fiction, The Giver delivers a world so possible, it's scary. Despite being a short book, every page, every word is purposeful, packing a creepy punch that leaves me wondering if we aren't just one bomb away show more from living in a world not unlike the Community. My only critique would be I wished there was more. More history behind the Community. More on what happens to Jonas. More. Regardless, it was a great read, worth every award and accolade it has received. show less

The Giver tells a very good story about a world where there is no pain, no hunger, no crime, and - no choice. Very apt for our time. The powers that be definitely want us to live in a perfectly sane, perfectly safe world. It's distressing to me and I felt this book was able to tell a dystopian story about the world as it could be if "perfectly sane, perfectly safe" was carried out to its logical conclusion. It's not a world I'd want to live in, even if it meant I'd be pain free. There is no growth without pain and without love and that's what the main character, Jonas, begins to learn in this story.

In this world without choices, Jonas is given the job of Receiver of Memories. All the knowledge of the previous generations will be passed show more onto him. I definitely have some questions about the book - how this world came to be, what happens next. Maybe the following volumes will address that, I'm not sure. The ending is open and subject to personal interpretation - unless, of course, subsequent books reveal more of the story.

Recommended! show less

The Giver asks a question: Would we trade love, emotions, art, beauty and the like for a life without pain, insecurity, anxiety, and fear. The Giver asks us to consider what really makes us human and if living the life described above, a life without true emotion or individuality, is really living at all. The main character Jonas is forced to make this choice and decides that, in spite of the suffering that will most likely befall him, he would rather live a life with pain and pleasure than continue to take part in the numb community that he has been raised in. The Giver also questions how much power we should surrender to governments and what we really trade for security and safety. Jonas is horrified by what his society has traded for show more security when he discovers the cold and calculating truth of the emotionless existence of everyone around him. show less

There are countless books and films about Utopian/Dystopian societies in which everything is regulated by the "powers that be." However, many of these works--in my opinion--tend to over-focus on the powers in control rather than the main character. Lois Lowry's The Giver starts and ends with an intense focus on the feelings of main character, Jonas.

I have no doubt that I would use this book--without hesitation--in an high school classroom. The theme of the awakening of feelings and rebellious nature of Jonas parallels the inevitable experiences of adolescents. However, this book may be even more suitable for middle school students these days--especially due to its brevity, but I would caution teachers to make that judgment based on show more students' level of maturity.

Furthermore, I can easily see this book being used as a supplementary text to a larger text that deals with concepts such as freedom, identity, or power, and even with a similar "coming of age" text. Due to its current popularity, Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games may be an ideal choice for an anchor text that includes all of these concepts as well as a dystopian society.

Somehow, throughout all 17+ years of schooling, I have never been asked to read The Giver; and now, at the age of 25, I cannot express just how mind-opening this book has been for me. Despite being written in 1993, Lowry's book still stands the test of time and--I believe--will continue to do so for years to come. Profound, to say the least. show less

It’s wild how a book this short can feel this big. The Giver reads simple on the surface, but it’s the kind of simplicity that hides a whole philosophy underneath. Lowry builds a world so quiet it’s almost sterile, and then she cracks it open just enough for the light to hurt your eyes.

What struck me most wasn’t the dystopia itself but the tenderness hiding inside it. Jonas’s curiosity feels less like rebellion and more like waking up from a dream you didn’t realize you were in. The way he learns to name color, pain, and love hits in a way that’s hard to shake. It’s a story about memory, but also about art—the need to feel things even when it hurts.

Lowry’s writing has that stripped-back lyricism I really admire. show more Every word does its job. There’s no noise, no filler, just meaning layered on restraint. For a book written decades ago, it still reads like a mirror held up to how easy it is to trade truth for comfort.

It’s one of those stories that lingers after you close it—not because of how it ends, but because of what it makes you notice when you look at the world again. show less

The Giver plays heavily on the concept that one person's utopia is another person's dystopia.

The main character is Jonas, a twelve-year-old boy who was born in Sameness; a place both physical (the town where he lives) and spacial (the time in history). In Sameness individuality was completely destroyed for the sake of equality and uniformity. When kids are born they don't belong to their birthing mothers, they are part of the community and are re-assigned to their new, permanent "family". Emotions have been so distilled down that no one in town can truly claim to know what love is for real.

Education and development is carefully controlled by the town's elders with a highly strict yearly system. For example, when kids turn 7 years of age show more they are given a front-buttoned jacket. Until that time they were never allowed to wear clothing with buttons at the front. When they turn twelve they are assigned their future career. That's when we meet Jonas, when he is about to go through his (and every other "12-year-old's) Ceremony of Twelve.

As Jonas moves forward on his new assigned job he learns the full truth behind his town, humanity's history, and the high price that was paid in order to achieve Sameness. To a point, the book can be compares to the movie Pleasantville. In fact, the early parts of the story are pretty much in greyscale, and as Jonas moves forward and re-discovers emotions his world begins to turn to Technicolor.

I loved the juxtaposition of what is right versus what is perceived as being right. Definitively a story I would recommend to any book lover. The Giver is a pure science fiction book set on a dystopian world that forces you to evaluate your definition of freedom, how much of it you have and what are you willing to sacrifice in order to either obtain it or keep it. show less

Jonas lives in an ideal community, where everything is planned out perfectly for children to learn and grow at the right (same) ages, have a career picked out for them, have a spouse picked out for them, and even have their designated maximum of two children picked out for them. No one is ever unhappy for long, and families discuss their feelings nightly to make sure all is sorted out. Medication exists for minor ailments, but there is no hunger or war to warrant much suffering. But when Jonas is selected not for a career so much as an unusual assignment -- that of Receiver to the Giver -- he learns there is more to life than their community of sameness allows. And that the community's perfect veneer hides a dark underbelly. But what show more can he do with this knowledge if only he and the Giver have the memories of things that happened long ago?

This book is ubiquitous in middle and high school circles and I guess for that reason I was convinced I had already read. But whenever I tried to recall what happens in the book, all I came up with was the plot to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," which is a rather different story. So, I decided to finally read this book and see what all the fuss was about.

I did appreciate how this book makes you question so many things. It starts off seeming almost utopian (and arguably, some could say it is utopian for some members of this society) and then we slowly see how there are things that are far from ideal. But it opens up questions of what would you trade off if you could? Are colors worth having if people are starving? Is music worth listening to if people are killing each other? The book doesn't provide easy answers, but instead allows the ideas of individual choice versus collective good to sit and linger with the reader.

One thing that I didn't necessarily like about the book --- which is not a criticism per se --- is that I wanted to know more than what Lowry showed us. I was curious as to how humanity got from our present day to this society; they certainly had some technology we don't but they also did things like control the weather that sure does seem outside of the capabilities of humankind. It also seemed like this community might be the exception rather than the norm, although that wasn't entirely clear. The ending really left me wondering and hoping to know more. I plan to continue on with the series to see if I find answers to my questions.

The audiobook narrator did an excellent job but there was a weird choice to randomly play music during certainly selections of the book. I found this jarring, even though the music itself was not unpleasant -- it just seemed to come out of nowhere and then also leave as suddenly. show less