By Lois Lowry
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 240
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary (from the back cover): Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community.
When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it's time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no going back.
Review: I had to read this book for English class last year and liked it decently enough. I was thinking something along the lines of, "It has a good plot, good characters, it was entertaining, yep, it was a good book. Welp, onto the next one." But then this last week I saw it in the library and decided to read it again just for fun and it was so much better!
I remembered why I liked this book so much! Jonas is an excellent main character with so much curiosity and kindness that it carries the plot better. The Community's setting gives the book an even better edge because of how the people work. All they know is their lives. They have no idea what is going on in the rest of the world and frankly, they don't even know what lies beyond the Community. The people have no memory of pain, loss, or sadness and so it makes the world seem so much simpler. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and would recommend it to others to try. My only complaint with it was that the ending was a little weird because of how Lois Lowry describes it. The ending also doesn't wrap up the story as much as I would like it to which also made it less appealing.
I loved this book when I read it, but it's been years. I read both of the other follow up books as well, but didn't like them as much.
ReplyDeleteGood to know, Helen - I was wondering if I should read the rest of the series.
DeleteI never read this one in school but read it on my own a few years ago and found it very thought-provoking. Did you know it is the start of a series? 4 books, I think. So, maybe that's why she left the ending somewhat open-ended. I've only read The Giver so far, but I would like to read the rest. And I would like to see the movie that came out a few years ago, even though it got terrible reviews! I like seeing good books come to life on screen!
ReplyDeleteSue
2018 Big Book Summer Challenge