The Giver (illustrated; gift edition)

Whoa.

I was assigned this book for school reading. It was supposed to be a couple of chapters a day. I read through it in one sitting. I had to! Some books, it feels like I will ruin my life if I put them down. It was so with The Giver.

I'm not going to go into the utopian/dystopian setting or the political messages. What struck me about the book was memories. The people of Jonas's community had no memories other than here and now, the Sameness. It was safe, and they were all content because they did not know any other way. It sort of blew me away when I realized that no one in the book had any concept of hills or color, because those were outside the realm of their experience. Things I take for granted. And none of them had experienced show more love, which I have also lived with my entire life.

The Giver and the Receiver were the only people who knew suffering, hunger, poverty, agony, war, or terror. They were alone in their pain. But they were also the only ones who knew true joy, love, and courage. They needed the good memories of many generations, "back and back and back", to face the pain that brought wisdom. Someone needed to bear all those memories. They alone had the strength.

Basically, anyone who has traumatic memories, this book will be an engrossing and hard read. It brought to mind a lot of stuff for me. Some pages it was mostly memories of the joy of love. Other pages it was the pain of loneliness. But after reading this book, it's like I'm armed with the confidence, that even when the bad memories threaten to overtake me, when it hurts just to breath, I have the strength and wisdom to use all my memories to keep others safe. show less

I am glad that I read Lowry's Number the Stars first, because I was very impressed with it, and I don't think I would have been if I had read The Giver first. Number the Stars is still a very good book, but The Giver is extraordinary!

Jonas is about to become a Twelve, the age when all children are given their future career Assignments. One of his friends, Fiona, is sure to become a Caregiver of the Old; talented Benjamin will probably work in the Rehabilitation Centre. For Jonas, the future is uncertain. He has no idea what his Assignment will be. As it turns out, Jonas is given an Assignment that is honoured above all others - an assignment that changes the way he views his very orderly world.

The Giver draws on all sorts of famous show more dystopian qualities - married couples are "matched," children are assigned to family units, and each family may only receive one boy child and one girl child. Population is controlled, climate is controlled, even colour is controlled. Sameness is the desired quality, and Rules are of the utmost importance. This is 1984, Brave New World or The Handmaid's Tale for children, and it is a book that portrays a world just as horrible. As Jonas gains knowledge about how the world used to be, the reader questions right along with him, and learns the value of love, beauty, and even of pain.

Lowry's world is disturbing on many levels, but particularly because it could be seen as logical. Her characters do not see colours, but live in a world that is only shades of grey. Every person has the same shade of flesh. In our world, where racial tensions and conflicts still exist, the idea of everyone being the same "colour" could be seen as positive. Climate control may also be beneficial - imagine if we could grow crops year-round. However, as Lowry points out, these regulations eliminate one of our defining human qualities - choice. In her created world, human choose nothing - not their spouses, not their careers, not even one colour of clothing over another. Yes, we may choose incorrectly some times, but in the end, isn't the idea of choice the most important thing? show less

This book is sacred to me. Really. There is so much beauty and horror in this story, despite it being a children's book. This is a book I have probably read dozens of times and listened to the audiobook dozens of times as well. I know passages by heart, and I feel like its message has been present in my life ever since I read it. I remember reading it for the first time with my mom, and after we read it together we insisted that my dad had to read it too so we could discuss it. It has since become one of my absolute favorite books.

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

When 12-year-old Jonas is given his life assignment as Receiver of Memory for his entire community, he doesn't know what to expect, or even what that means. But the more the Giver reveals to him, the more Jonas knows that he can't continue to live in the emotionless, colorless world of conformity and blandness.

This book had me hooked from the start. The way Lowry builds the world slowly, while showing everyday life in the lead-up to Jonas's assignment ceremony, is well done. Though I could guess at some of the revelations, others were definitely a surprise to me. And while, from our perspective in real life, it seems impossible for someone to go through what Jonas does and not want to make changes, it's clear that these people are just show more that brainwashed, as they go along with the way life has been presented to them.

Unlike so many who read this book for a school assignment, this is my first time reading it. I've heard of it over the years, but it really wasn't on my radar until my sister gave it to me for Christmas (along with the blu-ray of the movie, so I can compare them, which I'll do soon). Not for the first time, I am so thankful for her recommendation, and while I can see that the next book isn't exactly a continuation of this one, I'm very curious to see what else Lowry wrote about this world. It's a great young-audience dystopian novel written before that became a trend. show less

Having made her name with wacky family stories (the Anastasia Krupnik books) and won her first Newbery Medal with [b:Number the Stars|47281|Number the Stars (Laurel Leaf Books)|Lois Lowry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170346710s/47281.jpg|2677305], a historical novel about the Danish rescue of Jews during World War II, Lois Lowry stepped into speculative fiction with [b:The Giver|3636|The Giver|Lois Lowry|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R8AA8QEVL._SL75_.jpg|2543234] and won her second Newbery. I'm not sure why I've missed reading it until now.

It's a bit difficult to tell the plot of this book without "spoilers;" suffice it to say that Jonas, the protagonist, lives in a community which, although highly regimented, has no show more poverty, virtually no crime, and full employment. The slightest twinge brings a "relief-of-pain" pill, and the very old and very young are well cared for. Only gradually, as Jonas turns 12 and receives his unusual work assignment, do we learn what has been given up to achieve this "utopia," and it is nothing less than free will -- not to mention love, colors, weather, and, of course, memory -- the collective memory that is human civilization.

Both my daughters are experienced childcare givers and as such, they have strong opinions on childrearing, which surprisingly coincide with mine more often than not. After reading [b:The Giver|3636|The Giver|Lois Lowry|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R8AA8QEVL._SL75_.jpg|2543234], I can't help but think that this book may have influenced their ideas. The current preoccupation of many parents that their children be spared pain, loneliness or boredom at all costs does not seem good to us. Lowry's book takes such ideas to their logical conclusion and posits that where there is no pain or sadness, there can also be no joy; when there is no risk, there is no achievement. In fact, [b:The Giver|3636|The Giver|Lois Lowry|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R8AA8QEVL._SL75_.jpg|2543234] seems to me to be an extended meditation on free will. Nevertheless, it's also a good story, and there are two sequels which I'm planning to read soon. Highly recommended. show less