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The Giver (The Giver Trilogy #1)

by Lois Lowry

4.11 · rating details · 263,181 ratings · 17,544 reviews

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 is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There ...more

Paperback, 179 pages

Published January 24th 2006 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers (first published 1993)

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Community Reviews

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Aug 21, 2009

Keely rated it

Shelves: science-fiction, contemporary-fiction, childhood, novel, reviewed, american

Lowry's book is a piece of nationalist propaganda, using oversimplification, emotional appeals, and dualistic morality to shut down her readers' minds. More troubling is that it is aimed at children, who don't yet have the critical faculties to defend themselves from such underhanded methods.

Unsurprisingly, Lowry adopts the structure of the monomyth, equating a spiritual journey with a moral one. Her Christ-figure uses literal magic powers to rebel against his society. This rebellion...more

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Dec 18, 2011

James Carroll rated it

Recommends it for: anyone

Shelves: fiction

This book is perhaps the best refutation of one common Buddhist philosophy on pain that I have seen in a long while. According to some Buddhist philosophers, pain is the ultimate evil, and so, to eliminate pain and suffering we must give up desire, and individuality. Self is an illusion, and leads to pain; desire and agency are dangerous, so we should give them up and join the cosmic oneness "enlightenment" to find a utopia without pain. As Yoda unfortunately says to Anakin, "you ...more

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Jul 14, 2007

Kristine rated it

I've taught this book to my 6th graders nine years in a row. Once I realized that the book is actually a mystery, and not the bland sci-fi adventure it seemed at first skim, I loved it more and more each time. Nine years, two classes most years... 17 TIMES. I've come to see that the book isn't the story of a depressing utopia. It's the story of the relationship between the main characters the Giver, Jonas, and... I won't say her name. And of course, the baby Gabe.

Every year, as w...moreI've taught this book to my 6th graders nine years in a row. Once I realized that the book is actually a mystery, and not the bland sci-fi adventure it seemed at first skim, I loved it more and more each time. Nine years, two classes most years... 17 TIMES. I've come to see that the book isn't the story of a depressing utopia. It's the story of the relationship between the main characters the Giver, Jonas, and... I won't say her name. And of course, the baby Gabe.

Every year, as we read the book out loud together, I am amazed at details the students notice (things I've missed the previous 15 times), or questions they raise that lead to further insights for not just the class but ME. My God, the things they come up with, that I as an English major, or even me if I'd read this with a book club, could never have gone that far in depth.

As I began to more fully understand the book over the years, I was better able to guide their discussions, which helped them think more deeply about the book, and made me appreciate the book even more. And by "guide," I don't mean calm, controlled, teachery, "I already know the answer" talk.

My discussion techniques, simple:
--I'd stop the tape (books on tape are AWESOME- the narrator is always so much better than I could ever be) and say something like, "So, what do you think? Doesn't this seem a little WEIRD?" and off they'd go, bouncing ideas off each other until finally someone said something incredible, something no kid had thought of in the past nine years. Once I myself knew how to be interested in this book, I knew what might keep them hooked.
--Or, I myself would suddenly realize something new, and I'd stop reading and say, "OH MY GOD DID YOU GUYS GET WHAT THAT MEANT??? WHAT IT MIGHT MEAN????"
I feel free to participate myself, since I myself still have so many questions about the book. I'm not spoiling the ending when I bring up my own questions, because I know this book is a mystery in which things don't much get answered- they're left to linger, and that's part of the beauty and hopefulness in this book.

There are still lines, moments, in the book that give me chills. I wait for them greedily, just to hear the words spoken.

I feel lucky to have been forced to read this book a dozen times. There are other books I've read a lot with my students, and this is the one that most stands up over time, the only one that keeps my interest. I truly am on the edge of my seat to see what we will realize next. Because I've seen that, even if I think I have it all figured out, some kid is going to say something to rock my world.

I can't believe Lowry was able to make a book this clever; part of me thinks a work this good is impossible, and that we are just reading too much into it. But no, it's all there, all the pieces, and she put them there. I just don't see how could she have written such a tightly woven mystery- how could she have know all of the questions the book would raise? And you know what, she probably didn't. A book isn't like drawing a map. You make the world, and things happen. And in this case, she did make a perfect world. (I SO did not mean that as a UTOPIA PUN!!!!!!! I hate puns so much!!!!!! I mean, she so fully created that world where everything that happens is plausible.)

Just read the damn book, then call me.

Or, call me after like, Chapter 13, then after 18 and 19.

he book. Lines that almost make me cry-
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Sep 13, 2007

Jeane rated it

Shelves: yaliteraturejournal

Lowry, Lois (1993). The Giver. NY: Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc. 180 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: In this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, the reader is introduced to Jonas, who lives in a utopian community without pain or fear; where all his needs are provided for – and all his decisions are made for him. During his twelfth year he is selected as the community’s Receiver to absorb and hold all the memories of humankind, both good and bad. His training will expose truths about...moreLowry, Lois (1993). The Giver. NY: Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc. 180 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: In this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, the reader is introduced to Jonas, who lives in a utopian community without pain or fear; where all his needs are provided for – and all his decisions are made for him. During his twelfth year he is selected as the community’s Receiver to absorb and hold all the memories of humankind, both good and bad. His training will expose truths about the world and his community causing him to embark on a journey where he must make the biggest choice of his life.

My interest in this book was piqued last year when I read an excerpt of it in my Children’s Literature class. I know when I really enjoy a book because I find myself thinking about it for days after I’ve finished reading it. That's how I was with The Giver. This novel has elements of both mystery and science fiction (vaguely reminiscent of my fav, Frank Herbert’s Dune) that kept me engrossed to the end. Lowry keeps the narrative suspenseful by slowly uncovering details of community life allowing the reader to piece together the alien (not literally) yet fascinating community of these characters. I found this novel really refreshing after reading the relationship dramas of Forever and Seventeenth Summer. On the surface The Giver does not seem as based in ‘reality’ as Forever and Seventeenth Summer, but on deeper consideration it does deal with topics that many young adults are beginning to ponder at their age. This story delves into important societal questions such as: ‘Would the world be a better place if there were rules and punishments to guide every person’s actions?’, ‘Could a person be truly happy if they faced no challenges or did not have to make decisions in life?’, ‘Would you be willing to forgo the wonders of life if it meant you would never have to experience anything bad?’ Although somewhat exaggerated in a Twilight-Zone sort of way, this story includes the typical coming-of-age themes in young adult literature including the inevitability of growing up and learning hard truths about life, of seeking independence from family and community units, and developing ideas and beliefs separate from those you grew up with. The only thing that frustrated me with The Giver was the open-ended conclusion. While some readers might enjoy imagining what happens after the story ends, I personally wanted more of my questions answered! Without giving the ending away, I was left wondering whether the decision Jonas made turned out to be the best choice of action and the effect it had on those around him.

Booktalk Hook: This novel probably does not need much of a push due to its renown, but in any case I would begin by introducing the novel with a short summary similar to the one written above. I would then set up the passage I was going to read (pg. 47 beginning with "Break for midday meal." through end of chapter) by explaining that the scene involves Jonas, the main character, having a conversation with his best friend, Asher, about the Assignments they were to receive shortly at the ceremony celebrating their twelfth year.
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Jan 16, 2009

Chandra rated it

Shelves: kids-young-adult, newbery, sci-fi-fantasy, 2009-reads

This book opens, as many dystopian books do, with a seemingly utopian society. And unless you've been living under a rock you won't believe for a second that this community that reveres 'sameness' is anything kind of utopia. Jonas is a 12 year old boy living in this community and it is through his eyes that we get to experience and learn about the community.

I found Jonas's story to be slightly predictable, but I also have to remember that this is probably most young readers' first ...more

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Oct 12, 2009

Julie rated it

Shelves: teaching

I think I'm missing something. Everyone loves this book and I liked it too, but it wasn't amazing or anything.

The Giver felt like a very sparse story to me. First, there isn't much characterization, so I didn't form an emotional connection with any of the characters -- not even with Jonas or the Giver (two central characters). Asher and Fiona (particularly Fiona) are introduced such that you assume they will play greater roles in the book than they do. I don't feel like I knew Mo...moreI think I'm missing something. Everyone loves this book and I liked it too, but it wasn't amazing or anything.

The Giver felt like a very sparse story to me. First, there isn't much characterization, so I didn't form an emotional connection with any of the characters -- not even with Jonas or the Giver (two central characters). Asher and Fiona (particularly Fiona) are introduced such that you assume they will play greater roles in the book than they do. I don't feel like I knew Mom or Dad or Lily at all. While the lack of an emotional bond with these lesser characters may be due to the nature of their community, Jonas and the Giver should really be more sympathetic, in my opinion.

Second, the description of the community itself is sparse. There is so much more that could've been described about this "utopian" community. I feel like Jonas' selection, his revelation about Release, and his eventual choice could've been built up and framed better. I feel like I got the quick campfire version.

Finally, while I appreciate it's overall message about the importance of individual differences, human emotion, etc., I felt like the book was a bit heavy-handed with its moral. Jonas' initial support of his community and gradual change of heart seems intended to present both viewpoints, but doesn't succeed in my opinion. The book's agenda was clear to me from the beginning. It also doesn't present alternative possibilities (such as a world without Sameness but also without war, a world without Release but also without starvation, etc.) -- the choice is either here (with Sameness and no color) or Elsewhere (with pain and suffering).

When teaching the book, I also felt it was very important for students to understand how this heavy-handed moral (that most of us would agree with somewhat) demonstrates Lowry's (and our own) privilege. That is, the reason it's easy for us to say that Jonas' community is horrible is because of our own relatively privileged lives. If we lived in Darfur, were extremely impoverished, lived in a country where women were treated as property, etc., we may make a very different choice about Jonas' life.

Despite all of this, believe it or not, I did like The Giver. It's an enjoyable read. It had a great plot, the community was interesting, and the ending was fantastic and JUST a little ambiguous -- cool! (less)

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Jan 11, 2010

K.D. rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Jillian (how were you able to submit that book report?)

Recommended to K.D. by: some of my Goodread friends rated this with 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian, childrens

This book is almost indescribably beautiful. It is comparable to the beauty of George Orwell's classic 1984. It is about the world in "sameness" when there are no more differences among its people, there are no more colors, no more music and people do not know what love is. Above all, it is a story of relationships between the Giver (who keeps the memories of those days pre-sameness) and the Receiver (who receives those memories). During the first part of the book, the main child prot...more

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Jun 29, 2007

Aerin rated it

Shelves: childrens, dystopia, read-for-class

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 25, 2010

Jeanette rated it

Shelves: all-fiction, four-star-fiction, science-fiction, young-adult-books

I was a little creeped out when I first started reading this story. In fact, I almost didn't continue. It seemed like some kind of freaky propaganda for a fundamentalist society where everyone obeys without question and acts all fake nicey-nice and pretends everything is fine when it's not. I kept reading just to find out why the book is so popular. I really liked it once I found out what was going on. It's the opposite of what I thought at first. Conformity and uniformity are traps that ro...more

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Nov 09, 2010

Joyzi rated it

Recommends it for: YA

Recommended to Joyzi by: Goodreads

Shelves: ya-books, own, classics, fiction, sci-fi, reviewed, disappointing-books, dystopia, political-intrigue, banned, author-was-possessed, don-t-judge-me, book-series, author-american, 100-books-tfg

My Reaction After Reading This:

2 stars

Whoa?

Why?

Really?

SO FIRST OFF I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANTED TO LIKE THIS BOOK SINCE MANY HUMAN BEINGS READ AND LOVE THIS BOOK AND MANY HAVE CONSIDERED THIS AS ONE OF THEIR FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME AND BEFORE I POSTED MY RATING I BROWSE THE RATINGS OF OTHER GR MEMBERS SO THAT I KNOW THAT I'M NOT THE ONLY ABNORMAL HUMAN BEING WHO DOESN'T THINK THAT THIS BOOK IS GOOD OR GREAT OR WH...more

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Sep 03, 2008

Matt rated it

Recommends it for: People who want to analyze how not to write sci-fi

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, young-adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. If there are no wrong answers, can we really say that something has any meaning?

It is very easy to start an interesting science fiction story. Simply begin with a mystery. Don't explain things to the reader and leave them in a state of wonder. In this way, everything will seem interesting, intriguing, and worth exploring. Tap into the reader’s powers of imagination and allow them to make your story interesting in ways you need not imagine, and perhaps cannot create. This is a good ...moreIf there are no wrong answers, can we really say that something has any meaning?

It is very easy to start an interesting science fiction story. Simply begin with a mystery. Don't explain things to the reader and leave them in a state of wonder. In this way, everything will seem interesting, intriguing, and worth exploring. Tap into the reader’s powers of imagination and allow them to make your story interesting in ways you need not imagine, and perhaps cannot create. This is a good plan for starting a science fiction story. Lots of science fiction stories begin in this way. On television, almost all of them do – ‘X-Files’, ‘Lost’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’, ‘The 4400’, ‘The truth is out there.’ ‘They have a plan.’

‘The Giver’ starts in this way. In the first few pages as the setting unfolded, I was struck by the parallels to China after the cultural revolution – the bicycles, the uniform-like clothing, the regulated life, the shame based culture, and ‘the sameness’. I also thought of China, because I immediately grasped that this had to be a culture which was designed to gently crash its population. There were many clues that the world was heavily overpopulated and the primary goal of the culture so described was to crash the population without descending into society destroying anarchy - the highly regulated birthrate, which was insufficient to sustain the population. To sustain the population, more than 17 out of each 25 females would have to be assigned to be birth mothers, and this clearly wasn’t the case. The replacement rate for a society is about 2.3 live births per female (maybe 2.1 in a society that is safe and careful) – clearly they were implied to be below this ratio so clearly this was a society that was trying to shed population.

Equally clearly, this was a society that engaged in widespread euthanasia for the most trivial of causes, which hints at a culture which doesn’t value life because people are in such abundance that they can be readily disposed of. I suspected that ‘Release’ was euthanasia almost immediately from the context in which it was introduced, and this was almost immediately confirmed when it was revealed that infants were subject to ‘release’. Clearly, infants can't be meaningfully banished, so clearly release was euthanasia. So I was intrigued by the story. I wanted to see what happened to Jonas and his naive family who had so poised themselves on the edge of a great family wrecking tragedy in just the first few dozen pages of the story. I wanted to receive from the storyteller answers to the questions that the story was poising, if not some great profound message then at least some story that followed from what she began.

But it was not to be. The first clue that the whole construct was to eventually come crashing down was that Jonas clearly didn’t understand ‘release’ to mean ‘euthanasia’. Nor in fact did anyone seem to know what ‘release’ meant. This shocked me, because in the context of the setting it was virtually impossible that he and everyone else did not know. I could very easily imagine a stable society where human life was not prized – after all, societies that believe that human life is intrinsically valuable are historically far less common than ones that don’t. We know that the society is life affirming, both because we are told how pained and shocked they are by loss and by the fact that Jonas responds to scenes of death with pity and anger. What I could not believe in was a society which held the concept of ‘precision of language’ so tightly and so centrally that the protagonist could not imagine lying could in fact be founded on lies. That’s impossible. No society like that can long endure. Some technological explanation would be required to explain how the society managed to hide the truth from itself. If release took place in some conscious state of mind, then surely the dispensers of Justice, the Nurturers, the Caregivers, and the sanitation workers would all know the lie, and all suspect – as Jonas did – that they were being lied to as well. Surely all of these would suspect what their own future release would actually entail, and surely at least some of them would reject it. Surely some not inconsequential number of new children, reared to value precision of language and to affirm the value of life, would rebel at the audacity of the lie if nothing else. Even in a society that knew nothing of love, even if only the society had as much feeling as the members of the family displayed, and even if people only valued others as much as the Community was shown to value others, surely some level of attachment would exist between people. Soma or not, the seeds of pain, tragedy, conflict and rebellion are present if ever the truth is known to anyone.

Nothing about the story makes any sense. None of it bears any amount of scrutiny at all. The more seriously you consider it, the more stupid and illogical the whole thing becomes. We are given to believe that the society has no conception of warfare, to the point that it cannot recognize a child’s war game for what it is, and yet we are also given to believe that they train pilots in flying what is implied to be a fighter craft and that the community maintains anti-aircraft weapons on a state of high alert such that they could shoot down such a fighter craft on a moments notice. We are given to believe that all wild animals are unknown to the community, yet we are also given to believe that potential pest species like squirrels and birds are not in fact extinct. How do you possibly keep them out of the community if they exist in any numbers elsewhere? We are given to believe that technology exists sufficient to fill in the oceans and control the weather and replace the natural biosphere with something capable of sustaining humanity, but that technological innovation continues in primitive culture. We are given to believe that they are worried about overpopulation and starvation, and yet also that most of the world is empty and uninhabited or that this inherently xenophobic community lives in isolation if in fact it doesn’t span the whole of the Earth. We are given to believe that this is a fully industrial society, yet the community at most has a few thousands of people. Surely thousands of such communities must exist to maintain an aerospace industry, to say nothing of weather controllers. Why is no thought given to the hundreds of other Receivers of Memory which must exist in their own small circles of communities in the larger Community? Surely any plan which ignores the small communities place in the larger is foredoomed to failure? Surely the Receiver of Memory knows what a purge or a pogrom is?

How are we to believe that Jonas’s father, whose compassion for little Gabriel is so great that he risks breaking the rules for his sake, whose compassion for little Gabriel is so great that he risks face by going to the committee to please for Gabriel’s life, whose compassion for little Gabriel is so great that he discomforts himself and his whole family for a year for the sake of the child, is the same man who so easily abandons that same child at a single setback when he has witnessed the child grow and prosper? Doesn’t it seem far easier to believe that this same man, who is openly scornful of the skills and nurturing ability of the night crew, would more readily blame the night crew for Gabriel’s discomfort? I can only conclude, just as I can only conclude about the illogical fact that no one knows what release is, that everything is plastic within the dictates of the plot. Jonas’s father feels and acts one way when the needs of the plot require it and feels and acts in different ways when the needs of the plot require something else. What I can’t believe is that this is any sort of whole and internally consistent character or setting. Every single thing when held up to the light falls apart. There is not one page which is even as substantial as tissue paper.

It is almost impossible to draw meaning from nonsense, so it is no wonder that people have wondered at the ending. What happens? The great virtue of the story as far as modern educators are probably concerned is that there are no wrong answers. What ever you wish to imagine is true is every bit as good of answer as any other. Perhaps he lives. Perhaps he finds a community which lives in the old ways, knowing choice – and war and conflict (which probably explains why the community needs anti-aircraft defenses). But more likely from the context he dies. Perhaps he is delusional. Perhaps he gets to the bottom and lies down in the deepening snow which the runners can no longer be pushed through and he dies. Perhaps he dies and goes to heaven, maybe even the heaven of the one whose birthday is celebrated by the implied Holiday. Perhaps it is even the case that he was sent to his death by the cynical Giver, who knew his death was necessary to release the memories he contained by to the community. Perhaps he didn’t just die, but was slaughtered as the sacrificial lamb – killed by a murderous lie from the one he trusted too well. For my entry in the meaningless answers contest, I propose that the whole thing was just a dream. This seems the easiest way to explain the contradictions. A dream doesn’t have to make sense. And the biggest clue that it is a dream is of course that Jonas sees the world in black and white, with only the occasional flashes of recognized color around important colorful things as is typical of that sort of black and white dream. Perhaps Jonas will wake up and engage in dream sharing with his family, and they will laugh at the silliness and then go to the ceremony of twelve’s. Or perhaps the whole community is only a dream, and Jonas will wake up and go downstairs and open his Christmas presents with his family.(less)

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Aug 29, 2007

Lena rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

This was an excellent book, but also very hard to read and very disturbing. The first half is like a science fiction novel about a utopian society. But the second half really gets into the emotional consequences of that society. In that way it is similar to Logan's Run, which was turned into a movie.

The point of the book, I think, was about the consequences of taking away pain, suffering and war by taking away individual choice. And the snowfall effect of taking away choice is t...more

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Apr 20, 2011

kari rated it

Shelves: ya, 2010, 5-star

Imagine a world where you have no decisions to make. From the moment you’re born until your last breath, someone else decides for you. What you wear, what you eat, what your profession will be, who your life partner will be or whether or not you’re allowed to have one, or children, which aren’t biologically yours as all children are produced by the women whose job it is to create them. All emotions must be examined and discussed so they can be smoothed out of existence. The people’s lives have b...more

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Oct 16, 2010

Tatiana rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: newbery, 2010, children-s-middle-school, dystopias-post-apocalyptic, rc-toy-stories

As every Newbery Medal winner, The Giver is a very well written children's book. Its deceptively simplistic language reveals a rather horrifying dystopian world. This is a world where people are not given freedom to decide anything for themselves - their spouses, children, careers, future, even clothes or haircuts are all pre-planned and pre-selected for them. They are not allowed to even own their feelings and dreams. Their sexuality is suppressed. Of course, it is done for common good - to pre...more

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Aug 23, 2008

Jj873 rated it

Shelves: must-possess

Upon finishing this book, not 20 minutes ago, I'm left with several thoughts:
1. This book should be required reading for everyone with the emotional maturity to handle it! (I believe that blindly labeling The Giver as a children's book is neither realistic nor necessarily wise, in some instances. Parents would be well advised to thoroughly screen it before offering it to an emotionally sensitive child to read.)

2. Very few things leave me mentally stuttering as I struggle to put...more

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Jan 20, 2008

Madeline rated it

Shelves: science-fiction, assigned-reading, kids-and-young-adult, ugh

This is the part where I'm supposed to go, "Ooh, this book is such a terrifying wake-up call to the dark side of our views of Paradise, and even though we wish death and pain weren't a part of our lives, they're necessary because without them we would be ignorant and lost, and blah blah blah..."

So: Ooh, this book is such a terrifying wake-up call to the dark side of our views of Paradise, and even though we wish death and pain weren't a part of our lives, they're necessary ...more

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Sep 03, 2007

Dave rated it

Being a student at the time, The Giver didn't seem to 'hit the spot' so to speak. As a 16 year old teen, it's funny to say "I live to read, read to live" but it's true. Let's just say I wouldn't live to read The Giver.

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May 01, 2008

Anyea12 rated it

Recommends it for: any one with taste

Recommended to Anyea12 by: my 8th grade english teacher ms. merideth mcglinchey

imagine a a society where you are seperated from all technology. ( most of you are probably scared to death right now aren't you? LOL) but seriously... no t.v, no phone, no computers nada! and every one is grouped according to age and you have certain things or enjoy certain luxuries until you reach a certain age. A society where child birth is shameful, if you have twins they kill the one who weighs the lesser amount. A society where they inject you with stuff to kee...more

imagine a a society where you are seperated from all technology. ( most of you are probably scared to death right now aren't you? LOL) but seriously... no t.v, no phone, no computers nada! and every one is grouped according to age and you have certain things or enjoy certain luxuries until you reach a certain age. A society where child birth is shameful, if you have twins they kill the one who weighs the lesser amount. A society where they inject you with stuff to keep your hormones from bouncing off the wall. everyone wheres the same thing (O.M.G!) or even a society where the world is all black and white! no the town isn't all monochromatic, but every one is colorblind. you scared yet..........?

this book is sad, weird, crazy, and twisted all wrapped into one. jonas the main character is in this society where every child is grouped with other children of the same age and every year they have to leave their friends and go with new children the age they are now. every child is adopted. the girls have to stop wearing hair-ribbons at a certain age. they have to be a certain age to ride a bike. and child birth is kind of a thing to be ashamed of.

for instance they have jobs and one of the jobs is to be a child bearer and your job is to have children basically. you are pampered for your stay there and given everything you want but after you have about 3 kids you're cut off and basically left on your own. any who... jonas isn't like the other people there. you see every one there is colorblind and jonas is slowly given the gift of seeing in color. so he goes to the giver and he transfers memories to jonas so that he can become the new giver. and slowly he sees a new color and to him he is fascinated. but just as every eleven year old boy nearing teen hood you start to have eyes for the opposite sex and as soon as he tells his parents about this dream he has where he's bathing his lady friend they freak out and give jonas pills to prevent the boy from lusting.

and like every little town they have a outcast. a guy who tried to elude the craziness and they exiled him. and ever since then everyone in the town is banned from even speaking his name. yes the giver is one of those novels that will kinda grab you, get you wrapped in it's words, tangled in it's story hold you for a minute and just when you get into it slowly let you go and leave your mind boggling and begging for more. (less)

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Jun 23, 2007

Megan rated it

I liked this book. I read it as an adult, and I found it surprising and interesting. It covers ground that has certainly been covered before--Soylent Green and Logan's Run are the two things that pop into my head--but it is well-written and I find that the sixth graders that I teach really like it. They say that it makes them think, that it is sad, it is interesting.

I read a review on here where a guy slammed this book and called it didactic and thought it was shameful that we t...more

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Apr 23, 2008

Stacey rated it

Recommended to Stacey by: Lisa

How have I missed out on this book for so many years? The premise of living a life without agency is something to think about. I can't tell you how often I have wished (prayed) for a world filled with only peace and happiness, where no one feels pain, hunger or sadness. This book made me seriously re-think that wish and realize-once and for all-that without feeling the depths of sadness, we can't truly know what happiness is. What an amazing story!

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Dec 10, 2010

Tina rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, dystopia-post-apocalyptic, ya

Original post at One More Page

A few days ago, I was lamenting over Twitter about how I seem to be deprived of good literature back when I was in school. The only times I was required to read a novel for school was during senior year in high school and then in college. I didn't get my love of reading from school, that is for sure. Because of this, I wasn't able to read the books that my friends had read for school, and now I am making up for it.

But in a way, it's also good...more

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Feb 01, 2010

Hope rated it

Shelves: reviewed, made-me-cry, thought-provoking, recommended-to-me, dystopian-utopian

This book is simple.
It's not going to take you long to read but you're not going to be eating it up, either. It will hold your interest. It's not suspenseful, it's steady.
And yet, it’s so complicated.
Maybe that’s why I liked it.

This book answers the question of "what would it be like if...?" And you know what? You get a world that's "perfect".. without love, without hate, without sadness...without tears. A world with no feeling at all.
...more

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Nov 11, 2008

Chalice rated it

Shelves: fantasy-science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 25, 2008

Mark rated it

A "Blade Runner" for early teenagers. Pretty heady for a 13 year old though. The idea of truth and memory -- and how they work together to support themselves. Without one or the other, or both, there's "sameness" as noted in "The Giver." However, it's all pretty short sighted. I mean, how did Earth get like it is? How is memory erased from an entire population -- was it systematic or some kind of voodoo? And are memories clouds that float from one person to another?...more

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Oct 20, 2007

Grace rated it

Shelves: coming-of-age, science-fiction

In this book, a boy from a "perfect" but isolated community is given a very important job. He must hold all the memories and all the history that it kept from the rest of the town. This book tells us that when we try too hard to reach the plane of perfectionism, it becomes unethical.

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Apr 16, 2011

Emily May rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian, sci-fi, fantasy, read-in-2011

Hmm... I liked the idea. Dystopian fiction is always a favourite of mine and, for a children's book especially, it was very well-written.

But I'd of liked it to be older, or at least for the protagonist to be older. The story was good and I can now see why so many people saw Matched as a rip-off of this book - the dystopia/utopia worlds followed similar standards of control and regulation... choosing spouses, children, where you work and when you die, etc. This, however, was a bett...more

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Sep 22, 2008

Ashley rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Grade Level-5th-7th
Genre-Science Fiction

This book received the Newberry Medal.

This book is about eleven-year-old Jonas who lives in a community where everything is controlled. He lives with his mother, father, younger sister Lily, and Gabriel, a child who is temporarily staying with the family until he is developmentally ready for his own family. From the time that children are born, everything is decided including when they get their first hair cut, what they a...moreGrade Level-5th-7th
Genre-Science Fiction

This book received the Newberry Medal.

This book is about eleven-year-old Jonas who lives in a community where everything is controlled. He lives with his mother, father, younger sister Lily, and Gabriel, a child who is temporarily staying with the family until he is developmentally ready for his own family. From the time that children are born, everything is decided including when they get their first hair cut, what they are allowed to wear, and when they are allowed to ride a bicycle. The community believes that allowing its citizens to make choices is not safe. Jonas does not have to worry about making any life choices because they have all been decided for him, even his role within the community which starts when he turns twelve years old. At the Ceremony for Twelves, Jonas is very anxious as he receives the role of Receiver of Memory, which he is told is a role of honor but will require physical pain. The Receiver of Memory holds all of the memories of pain so that others do not have to bear them as well as happy memories that the community does not want others to experience. From the Giver, Jonas enjoys receiving happy memories of snow, colors, emotions, grandparents, and love, but he soon feels pain from memories of war and death. Jonas soon questions the community and believes that memories should be shared not hidden. With the help of the Giver, they devise a plan for Jonas to leave the community to look for “Elsewhere.” By leaving the community, the memories that he had received would then return to the people. Jonas is forced to act quickly when Gabriel is supposed to be released. To save Gabriel, Jonas decides to take him along. Although Jonas questions his judgment on leaving, he ultimately decides that he wants to feel emotions and so continues on the journey to Elsewhere.

There are many reasons that this book has been banned or challenged in schools. One topic that is likely challenged is the idea of people being released when they are no longer productive members of the community. In the book, released is another way of saying that the people are killed. People are released if they break the rules three times and when they become too old. Infants are released if they are not developing at the rate that they should be. If twins are born within the community, the one that weighs the least will be released. Another reason that this book has probably been challenged is the fact that no one is allowed to make any decision. For example, each family must apply for children and when allowed they only get to have two, one boy and one girl. There are rules for everything including times when citizens cannot go outside and how students must apologize for being late to school. Another topic that is likely to be challenged is that children are given a pill daily when they start to mature. I can see why this book has been challenged but I do not feel that it should be banned. From this book, students can still learn a great deal even if there are questionable topics discussed.
(less)

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Jan 03, 2009

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2008

Growing up, I read a lot of books for various English classes, some I enjoyed, some I didn't care for that much. Unfortunately, "The Giver" came along a few years after I graduated because, looking back, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more than a good chunk of the novels I read back in middle school.

In the near future, Jonas is a 12-year-old boy who is a member of a society that seems to be a virtual utopia. People are unfailing nice, everyone gets along, there is ...moreGrowing up, I read a lot of books for various English classes, some I enjoyed, some I didn't care for that much. Unfortunately, "The Giver" came along a few years after I graduated because, looking back, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more than a good chunk of the novels I read back in middle school.

In the near future, Jonas is a 12-year-old boy who is a member of a society that seems to be a virtual utopia. People are unfailing nice, everyone gets along, there is little or no suffering or strife. There are a set of rigid rules to be followed and observed for the members of the society. If the rules are violated, the person is made to apologize. If there is a persistent violation of the rules, the person is "removed" from society.

But how is all this possible?

While we get some hints at the price of this seemingly perfect society early in the story (no one recognizes colors, children only get to ride bicycles after their eighth birthday, sexual urges are controlled by means of medication), it's only once Jonas is chosen from his future profession that we find out the exact price paid for perfection. Jonas is chosen to be the the community's Receiver of Memories and to be under the tutoring of an old man known as the Giver.

Borrowing a page from "1984" and "Brave New World," "The Giver" asks the essential question of what makes us all human. In many ways, the themes of this story echo some of those in episodes of classic "Star Trek" where a seemingly ideal society has grown up, but at the expense of giving us the things that make us most human. Without strike, the humans can't really experience true joy. Without pain, there can be no true happiness. And one person is the keeper of memories of times before when there was great joy, great pain and every emotion and feeling in between. At certain points, I could hear Captain Kirk echoing in my head, arguing that such a society is stagnating, not growing, not changing and not fully living.

The storytelling style is extremely accessible and easily readable. I can see why this book is being taught in schools. And while it does have science-fiction elements to it, it's also a mystery.

In fact, I found myself making comparisons to another novel targeted at young adults I read last year--City of Ember. Both novels have strong similarities. (less)

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Feb 13, 2008

Danielle rated it

Shelves: fiction, my-favorites

The beauty of this book is that it's written for older children/teens, yet is engaging and instructive for adults as well. That's not easy to do.
To be brief, here's a list of what I loved about this book:
1. The whole concept. It's fascinating to think about living in a world like the one Jonas lives in, and the pros and cons are so skillfully weighed in the story.
2. The well-written pre-teens. When I read this book for the first time in 6th grade, I totally related to Jonas an...moreThe beauty of this book is that it's written for older children/teens, yet is engaging and instructive for adults as well. That's not easy to do.
To be brief, here's a list of what I loved about this book:
1. The whole concept. It's fascinating to think about living in a world like the one Jonas lives in, and the pros and cons are so skillfully weighed in the story.
2. The well-written pre-teens. When I read this book for the first time in 6th grade, I totally related to Jonas and his friends. Reading it as an adult, I again felt how accurately the thoughts and concerns of that age group were rendered.
3. The tightly-woven hypothetical. One of my biggest pet peeves about fantasy or other novels that hinge on a big "If" is the plot holes they so often bring up without resolving. I thought Lowry did an excellent job of making her alternate world believable, without really bringing up and making us wonder about the things that didn't so much make sense.
4. The unbiased storytelling. Okay, she did have a sort-of agenda, but I thought on the whole, the book wasn't saying, "This way of life is clearly wrong, while ours is clearly right." there were a lot of good things about that society, and I liked that even though in a way it was "the system" that was the antagonist of the story, she didn't demonize it. The people were perhaps misguided (killing babies? Is that not okay?) but they were good people. And even Jonas's decision to leave could be read as just one possible solution.
5. The memory sharing was fun to read about.
6. The ending. I just thought it was so well done. The first time I read it I was a little paranoid at the end that maybe he did die and it was just me wishing that he had actually found a home that made me read it that way. But then I read an author interview with Lowry where she said she wrote it that way precisely so people could form their own conclusions. There was no right or wrong interpertation. That made me feel better.

All that said, this isn't a perfect book, but it's a really good book, and I love the way it makes you think. I think it shows in a compelling way the maybe not-so-pleasant side of various social programs that would fix all of society's ills. Sure, our current system isn't perfect, but it might be preferable.
Everyone should read this because it's quick, entertaining, and philosophical on an easy to deal with level.
Incidentally, I read "Gathering Blue" by Lowry and expressly disliked it. I can't say definitively, but based on just those two books, she struck gold with "the Giver." I just wasn't impressed with her writing or storytelling in "Gathering Blue."(less)

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Jul 15, 2008

Sera rated it

Shelves: science-fiction, series, own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. *THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS CONTAINED IN THIS REVIEW, NOT ONLY ABOUT The Giver, BUT ALSO The Road and Veronika Decides to Die*

When I started this book, and through most of it, I had viewed it as a 5-star read. However, I couldn't give it 5 stars after I finished it, because of the open-ended ending. Since I read the book, I've learned that there are two are more books in this trilogy so I am hoping for some closure once I get around to reading the other two. At ...more*THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS CONTAINED IN THIS REVIEW, NOT ONLY ABOUT The Giver, BUT ALSO The Road and Veronika Decides to Die*

When I started this book, and through most of it, I had viewed it as a 5-star read. However, I couldn't give it 5 stars after I finished it, because of the open-ended ending. Since I read the book, I've learned that there are two are more books in this trilogy so I am hoping for some closure once I get around to reading the other two. At least The Road gave a sign of hope at the end, which I appreciated, but The Giver "gives" nothing - not a clue, not a possibility of might happen after Jonas escapes, nothing.

The Road takes the reader through what life is like for the survivors of a horrible world war, which is a grim and horrific experience; whereas, The Giver is set in the future, but this future represents the evolution of a society that seeks sameness in its inhabitants. On its surface, the concept seems to be working well. No one is hungry, everyone has his or her place and work to do in society, and pretty much everyone is on an even playing field when it comes to day-to-day living. But the reader soon discovers that although the lives of these people are peaceful and productive, the lives of those who aren't or who no longer fit in, are killed. Jonas' daddy is a baby killer who fails to share this information with his family, even though every night at dinner, the family shares their "feelings". This contradiction in behavior clearly indicates the superficiality of the lives of the people in this society and the fact that there is no sharing of real experiences. Sameness must be preserved at all costs.

The giver's role in the novel supports this point. His job is transfer memories that no one else in the community has to Jonas. Although many of the memories are joyous, some of course are filled with great pain. Pain that the receiver must deal with alone, because if released, the community will crumble. No one else can handle these memories, except for the chosen ones, like Jonas. Thus, the society is governed by a lack of reality as to what life is about to preserve the structure and ideals of what it believes life should be instead of what it is, which ends up ensuring that each individual has the same perspective.

I thought of When Veronika Decides to Die often when reading this book. In Veronika, normalcy is equated to sameness, and those who can't fit in are labeled as crazy and subsequently institutionalized. Interestingly, many of these "crazy" people thrive in the institution, because they can be themselves. They're crazy, right? Some of those people don't want to return to society, because the roteness of everyday life is depressing and they have to act the same as everyone else to be considered "normal". One of Coelho's points is that human individuality is stifled in such a environment when such people are removed from society and set aside. In my opinion, this concept parallels that in The Giver, where these type of people are killed instead of isolated from the others.

Overall, all three books are excellent reads, and I would recommend that anyone who reads one, read the other two, and see what type of parallels or other connections he or she can find among the three to compare and contrast the worlds in which the characters have found themselves.(less)

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About Lois Lowry

Taken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, ...moreTaken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow.
My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where
we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine
I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read..
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."(less)

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Quotes from The Giver

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” — 485 people liked it

“If you were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you. Memories are forever.” — 93 people liked it

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