"The Giver" - Lois Lowry

“It’s just that, without the memories…it’s all meaningless.”

Lois Lowry – The Giver

 

Several readers were demanding that I read this. So, hey…. I read it! I appreciate your suggestions and you all made a very good one! It was especially refreshing after the last book I read!

I understand that the movie released several weeks ago, but I have not seen it just yet. I will probably be going to see it soon, and I will let you know how it compares. Just by watching the trailer, I can tell it's been altered tremendously.

Jonas was a young boy in his community, not unlike all of the other young boys. That was “normal,” though – to be the same as everyone else. It’s how the community functioned. It’s how the community survived.

There was, however, one thing that set Jonas apart from all of the other kids. His eyes were lighter than everyone else’s. He didn’t think about it much because he hardly ever looked in the mirror, but he was aware that everyone else saw that when they looked at him.

December was approaching, meaning he was about to be assigned a career. He would become a Twelve, along with the rest of his classmates, and that is when everyone receives their career assignments. For the first 11 years of their lives, they were observed, and by these observations, their careers would be determined.

It was obvious what some kids would be assigned to because it was clear that they were passionate about one thing. Jonas wasn’t so sure what his assignment would be. He had volunteered in almost every career, and never had a special interest in any of them. To Jonas’s surprise, and the entire communities, Jonas would receive the one assignment that he would have never even guessed.

When I started this book, I was surprised how similar it was to Divergent by Veronica Roth. I never read this book, but I saw the movie. The movie was extraordinary, so I’m sure the book was ten times better. Anyway, the community situations were extremely similar.

I went into this book expecting it to be spectacular, because I’ve only heard incredible things about this book. Several people that have told me about this book read the book several times.

I agree with them! It was a great book; however, I won’t lie – I absolutely HATED the ending! I despised it! I want to shut a book with a sense of closure. I want to be sure of where all of the characters stand, and I want a clear sense of what is going on. When I shut the back cover of The Giver I had no idea what just happened. I didn’t know what to think or what to feel. I just simply... didn’t know.

The book is not a stand-alone. It is the first in a series of four books. That could be the reason that the book does not come to a solid close.

Considering that the book is a young adult novel, it was very insightful and shows that we take a lot of things in our lives for granted. The writing is very simple, but – here again – it IS written for a younger audience.

There really is no age restriction for this book. It really just depends on a child’s reading level.

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