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The Giver (The Giver Quartet #1)

4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 · rating details · 533,064 ratings · 24,775 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, 192 pages

Published January 24th 2006 by Ember (first published April 26th 1993)

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Aug 21, 2009 Keely rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 and the mor...more

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May 14, 2012 James Carroll rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Shelves: fiction

This book is perhaps the best refutation that I have seen in some time of a common philosophy of pain that is sometimes found in the popular media and in some versions of Buddhism. According to this philosophy, 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 Ge...more

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Mar 23, 2012 mark monday rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kidworld, after-the-fall

ATTENTION CITIZENS! OUR BROTHER COMMUNITY OF SAMENESS HAS FALLEN! DOUBLEPLUS UNGOOD! BUT DO NOT FEAR! OUR REVOLUTIONARY RHETORIC AND UTOPIC IDEALS REMAIN SACROSANCT! IN OUR BROTHER COMMUNITIES OF OCEANIA, ANIMAL FARM, PANEM, THX 1138-VILLE, AND FAHRENHEIT 451 TOWNSHIP! AND SPREADING FURTHER! DOUBLEPLUS GOOD!

brief synopsis: at some point far in the future, an 11-year old boy named Jonas comes of age in an unnamed utopic community. coming of age means he is given his life's work; in Jonas' case, h...more

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Jul 14, 2007 Kristine rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 we read the book...more 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 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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Apr 20, 2013 Nataliya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia-postapocalyptic, first-in-a-series, for-my-future-hypothetical-daughter, 2013-reads

After a re-read, I can no longer think of The Giver as simply a childish sci-fi tale with heavy moralistic leanings.

What I see now is a story about growing up and confronting the world outside of the safe haven of childhood.

Well, yes, of course, it *IS* a dystopian tale about a young boy growing up in the commune of sameness that is devoid of colors or intense feelings or individuality - and the said boy has an unusual ability to experience what the others are missing out on, and he selflessly

...more
After a re-read, I can no longer think of The Giver as simply a childish sci-fi tale with heavy moralistic leanings.

What I see now is a story about growing up and confronting the world outside of the safe haven of childhood.

Well, yes, of course, it *IS* a dystopian tale about a young boy growing up in the commune of sameness that is devoid of colors or intense feelings or individuality - and the said boy has an unusual ability to experience what the others are missing out on, and he selflessly sets out to bring that experience to others at the cost of his own life, likely, and you can see it as an ode to individuality over sameness, written shortly after the end of the Cold War.

But let's focus on the other aspects first, and worry about this later. Because that's not how I choose to see this book now.

The way I do choose to see it after this reread is a story of a child learning to see past the happy and safe confines of childhood into the bigger world and realizing that the wonderful security of childhood, the rules and foundations of that world no longer apply in the adult universe.

Remember how small and secure the world was for most of us when we were children? There were rules designed to keep the world simple and predictable, and to keep us safe. There were adults who had fascinating jobs and were in charge of keeping our world safe and protected. There was a valid concept of 'that's not fair!' It was simple and secure, and everything happened for a good reason.

At least it's how I remember it through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia.

In this book, I see the realization that people's lives are very different from what you perceive as a child, and that it's going to happen to you, too. That those who were the core of your world not so long ago - family and childhood friends - may drift away and become distant as you make your way through adulthood and form new unexpected and vitally important relationships that overturn the world you are used to.

And you will learn that the world may not be the stable place you know - that there is unexpected beauty just as there is unexpected cruelty and pain. That your feelings will change, will intensify until they reach the peak only possible in the early youth.
----
All the above is what happens to Jonas - and I think it's an experience that everyone goes through; here it's only underscored by Jonas being a special snowflake (no pun intended). The onslaught of powerful emotions, the feeling of loneliness and not fitting in with the world you grew up in, the sudden knowledge that the world is not what you thought it to be - it's what we all go through when growing up, and that's where the strength of this book lies.

The wave of nostalgia combined with the red sled on the snow - of course it's red.

(I guess we all need some allusions to Citizen Kane's Rosebud hidden in children's literature? So that children can grow up, realize the allusion and say, "oh, hey there...")

-----
Now the things that still make me sigh and shrug. Like the taking-it-for-granted Western culture emphasis on the importance of individualism over collectivism (and, written just a few years after the Cold War, this book of course would have these sentiments of the culture that prevailed). We are conditioned to perceive individuality as a bright alternative to the grey and drab Sameness - but, when you read into it, this book decries this world of Sameness only superficially.

"The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past."

Yes, it's drab as our special Jonas sees it - but the world that eradicated poverty and war cannot be something to just snicker at.

One of the motifs here is that pain is important, that pain helps shape us into full human beings with full emotional range - but isn't it often a fairy tale we, adults, tell ourselves, thus making us feel better about our imperfect world full of pain and suffering and senseless wars and hunger? These are what makes our human experience full, we say; this is the price of being able to let our individualities shine.

"But why can't everyone have the memories? I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everybody took a part."

The Giver sighed. "You're right," he said. "But then everyone would be burdened and pained. They don't want that. And that's the real reason The Receiver is so vital to them, and so honored. They selected me - and you - to lift that burden from themselves."

But is returning to the world we all know - the world that has teeth and can bite you with them anytime it wants (yes, that's a nod to Stephen King, why'd you ask?) - the only way to happiness? Superficially, this book seems to suggest that it may be - but the fact that it made me think past what's on the surface suggests otherwise. Written for children, it does have something for adults to ponder about.
------
And even more of the beautiful ambiguity for me lies in the ending - Jonas' fate.

For ten-year-olds reading this book, it's probably Jonas and Gabriel finally reaching the idyllic place of love and warmth and the happy exhilaration of that first memory of red sled on a hill becoming reality.

For adults, it's the happiness of the final dream of red sled - Rosebud? - in the moments before your consciousness fades into death. However you choose to see the ending is up to you. To me, it's the final sacrifice of Jonas for the sake of the others - individuality that makes the sacrifice for the good of community. It's touching and powerful, and is the perfect way to end the story.

3.5 red sleds - rounding up to 4.(less)

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Sep 03, 2008 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars 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 plan for start...more 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 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 plead 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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Apr 23, 2008 Stacey rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 rethink that wish and realize - once and for all - that without feeling the depths of sadness, we can never know happiness. What an amazing story!

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Sep 13, 2007 Jeane rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 the world and...more 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 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 4 of 5 stars

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 foray into dys...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 Mom or Dad or Lily...more 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 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. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · 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 protagonist, 12...more

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Jun 29, 2007 Aerin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, dystopia, read-for-class, well-that-was-terrible

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

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view all 14 comments

Caryn Aerin wrote: "Reading The Giver is like being beaten over the head repeatedly with the 2x4 of Lowry's Ayn-Rand-lite message, but just when she's about...more
May 12, 2013 01:02am

Aerin Thank you!

Man, what is it about eighth grade teachers and assigning this book? I don't think I've met anyone under a certain age who didn't have to re...more
May 13, 2013 12:19am

Sep 15, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, books-read-in-2011, teen-reads

I generally have trouble with dystopian fiction and put this one off for some time.

Yet, when I started it, it was strangely compelling. In many ways it turns the genre inside out. In the the overbearing society viewed in 1984 Big Brother was everywhere and wanted to know everything. Here we have a society that wants to know nothing. In many ways this willful ignorance is even more chilling. It's certainly presented in such a way that you can't really condemn the people who keep it going. They d...more I generally have trouble with dystopian fiction and put this one off for some time.

Yet, when I started it, it was strangely compelling. In many ways it turns the genre inside out. In the the overbearing society viewed in 1984 Big Brother was everywhere and wanted to know everything. Here we have a society that wants to know nothing. In many ways this willful ignorance is even more chilling. It's certainly presented in such a way that you can't really condemn the people who keep it going. They don't know any better. Somehow that makes it even more problematic.

While I was reminded of 1984 at first, other passage had me recalling Logan's Run and even the movie Soylent Green.

I was actually surprised when the term love (the whole family at christmas scene)came up as the thing that the Giver disclosed but which the new reciever couldn't share with his family.

The concept of sameness is something that I'm now going to be considering for months and then to some degree my perceptions will never be the same.

I've sometimes considered what would make for the perfect book. Among the criteria that I've come up with are characters that I care about and an epiphany generating idea. This book has both of those criteria nailed.

It's been discussed that it's unclear whether Jonas lives or dies at the end of the book. The author says that she left this purposefully vague and yet, we do care. While either ending could still be construed as a happy ending, we really care about the characters by this time.

And yet either way the people of the community get memories back, no? And the results of that would certainly make for an interesting sequal but never as interesting as this initial book was.

In addition to the complex questions I'll now be debating about the joys of diversity and the sorrows associated with freedom I'll be wondering...What does the giver mean when he says that Rosemary is his daughter? Since all births are are sort of anonymous He might have been referring to raising her or maybe she's just his spiritual daughter. After all among the most precious things that we teach our children are our values, no?

If you haven't yet, you really should read this book. Simply reading it may not make you a better person, but honestly contemplating the questions it raises sure will.(less)

9 likes · like · see review

Apr 25, 2010 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 rob us...more

28 likes · like · see review

Nov 09, 2010 Joyzi rated it 2 of 5 stars 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 WHATEVER!!!

(*coughs* sorry I forgot to turn off the CAPS...more

49 likes · like · see review

Aug 29, 2007 Lena rated it 5 of 5 stars 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 that you have to...more

26 likes · like · see review

Oct 05, 2012 Crystal Starr Light rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, dystopia, science-fiction, banned-books, so-good-it-s-awesome, simply-the-best

“It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?”

Jonas lives in a world of "Sameness" with his Mother, his Father, and his younger sister, Lily. It's a world governed by rules, by rigid structure, by conformity. Jonas enjoys his life--until he is selected to be The Receiver. His job? To receive the memories from The Giver of the past. And what the past unveils shows a drastically different world than Jonas lives in.

This week is Banned Books Week, and in honor, I selected this from the ALA Banned B ...more

10 likes · like · see review

Apr 20, 2011 kari rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

16 likes · like · see review

Oct 16, 2010 Tatiana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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

30 likes · like · see review

Apr 23, 2009 Nanosynergy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: newberry-award, youngadult-children, 2009read, science-fiction, dystopia-utopia-apocalyptic, reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I found this 1993 book derivative. Sort of a child spin on 1984, etc. It's basically a simplified dystopian, scifi book for kids that explores euthanasia, the definition of family, making choices and the ramifications of your choices, all wrapped in a coming of age story about a 12 year old boy named Jonas.

The last half of the book is better than the first. Probably could have been better as a shorter story. The book is didactic and appears to be written as a classroom teaching tool to get kids...more

10 likes · like · see review

Aug 23, 2008 Jj873 rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 my thoughts into...more

42 likes · like · see review

Jan 20, 2008 Madeline rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 because without them w...more

21 likes · like · see review

Sep 03, 2007 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars

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.

12 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2013 Victor rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Matched and Delirium and if you don't like either of those books you should still read!

Recommended to Victor by: My teacher

This book is amazing! I went into it thinking I wouldn't like it because we were reading it for school, but then I got a copy from the library on Saturday because my class just reads really slow and finished it! I just don't know what to do with myself right now. It's 11 PM right now and I have school tomorrow and I don't know if I'll get to sleep within the next two hours. That ending totally left me hanging! I'm going to buy the next three and then buy this book. hgjwehgejk!!

Enough silliness....more

5 likes · like · see review

Oct 07, 2011 Gloria Mundi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, children-s-books, ya-fiction, series-abandoned

I've been on a dystopia roll recently, it seems. So here goes. This is supposed to be 1984 for children.

Jonas, the protagonist, is a 12 year old boy who lives in a world without war, pain, hunger, death, misery or, even, bad weather, where everyone is happy and has their place in society. Yet gradually a much more disquieting picture emerges of a world where all personal choice has been taken away, where every decision is made for the individual by the "state" (I have put state in quotation mar...more I've been on a dystopia roll recently, it seems. So here goes. This is supposed to be 1984 for children.

Jonas, the protagonist, is a 12 year old boy who lives in a world without war, pain, hunger, death, misery or, even, bad weather, where everyone is happy and has their place in society. Yet gradually a much more disquieting picture emerges of a world where all personal choice has been taken away, where every decision is made for the individual by the "state" (I have put state in quotation marks here because really we never find out exactly who makes these decisions and choices) and where nothing is private, not even your own dreams.

I am a firm believer that children's books have to be written the same as adult books, but better. I also think it is much harder to write good children's books, than it is to write for adults. And, ultimately, with children's literatiure, you have to satisfy both.

I'm afraid, for me, Lowry's book failed as both a children's book and as an adult book because her world just didn't make sense. And I do not accept, as a few goodreaders have stated in their reviews, that that's ok because it's a kid's book. I would have thought the opposite should be true. That it is especially important for the world that the author is creating to make sense, because it is a children's book.

This books does raise important questions about the price of happiness, freedom, responsibility and the importance of adversity but how can we expect kids to learn any of its lessons when there is no explanation of how such a society has arisen, barely any description of how it functions and lack of any sort of logic to the way it does.

The inability of the population to see in colour. How did that come about? Why is Jonas able to see it? There is a climate control system which ensures the sameness of the weather, yet there does not appear to be any physical barrier separating this world from the mysterious Elsewhere. The whole society seemed to be a series of loosely connected communes with a very strong cult flavour (brainwashing - tick, isolation - tick, control - tick) governed by a counsel but it is not clear how a counsel of so few is able to control and effectively govern all these people, particularly given the apparent extent of their involvement in the day-to day oversight and running of things like allocation of careers to 12 year olds.

I don't know what on earth was going on with the collective purge of all memory and its transfer to a single individual (through touch!!!). I found that whole aspect of the book ridiculous and unnecessary as the same could have been achieved by suppression of history and having Jonas and the Giver actually read some of those many books that are repeatedly mentioned but never even opened. I understand that sexual urges are suppressed by the pills but how do they manage to suppress love? It is in people's nature to become attached to and feel affection for other people and that would be inevitable in family units, even if unrelated by birth. The build up around "release" was another ridiculous aspect as it was patently obvious what it involved from pretty much the first time it is mentioned. It is unclear how this society with its severely restricted birth rate and commonplace release of anyone from petty rulebreakers to infants who don't sleep through the night is able to sustain itself or why such severe population control is necessary given there appear to be vast stretches of unoccupied land surrounding the community. I could go on and on.

I wish I could end this by saying, yes there were problems in the world building but the story and writing were fantastic. Yet I am not able to do that either. There was barely any story there at all. Most of the book concentrated on world-building with the plot only really taking off in the last few pages. The book felt far too short and rushed. The characters were flat and indistinguishable (the fact that Jonas' little sister Lily seemed to talk in exactly the same way as his parents particularly grated) and the writing was simplistic and uninspired. (less)

11 likes · like · see review

May 01, 2008 Anyea12 rated it 5 of 5 stars 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 keep your hormones from bounci...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)

10 likes · like · see review

Jun 23, 2007 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 tell children to...more

12 likes · like · see review

Apr 16, 2013 Uncommon Sellsword rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

1.5 Stars

The Hunger Games wasn't the sole dynamo in young adult literature's surge of condensed, humdrum dystopic fiction. The Giver, although it had less of an impact, was for some strange reason considered important enough to be taught to students. This novel was a parable, lazy and just as shallow as the setting, a world that's supposed to be a utopia?

Its portrayal of a society, which attempts to stray away from emotions or anything internally painful or uncontrollable is simplistic to say t...more

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 24, 2012 Jonathan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I'd been trying to figure out what this book was actually called for ages. Ironically I'd placed it on my to read list again but I just recalled that this was that book I'd read.

As far as I recall this novel featured a vision of the future where all jobs are given out at a kind of graduation from school. The main protagonist ends up getting a job where he becomes the one person capable of remembering pain, war and negative emotions. Because basically in this utopia everyone lives calm peaceful l...more I'd been trying to figure out what this book was actually called for ages. Ironically I'd placed it on my to read list again but I just recalled that this was that book I'd read.

As far as I recall this novel featured a vision of the future where all jobs are given out at a kind of graduation from school. The main protagonist ends up getting a job where he becomes the one person capable of remembering pain, war and negative emotions. Because basically in this utopia everyone lives calm peaceful lives. Sexuality is repressed with special pills when the kids have 'funny dreams' I think it was sort of phrased. No one properly experiences pain either as far as I recall. (view spoiler)

Lowry's work as I remember mainly intended to prompt subtle questioning. Yet I felt when I read it and I recall it as such now that it was too passive in its voice. She came up with a powerful idea and yet rarely never used those ideas to promote any message, any theme. She played it too safe. Which made me wonder why there was so much criticism for the book years ago. I think perhaps the fact that she was questioning ideas such as euthanasia and the whole topic of pain is the main reason and that many people saw this as aimed at children. But from my perspective she merely puts those things in her work and doesn't do anything with them. Hence it lacks power compared to other dystopian novels with similar questioning themes. And when it comes to this as a work for children I read it when I was about twelve or fourteen and there was nothing which really shocked me. In fact I've read novels aimed at younger kids which were more gruesome. I think perhaps that sometimes critics just like to have a reason to bring popular works into contention.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 22, 2013 Victor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the copy I read for school. When I realized how slow we were going to be reading it I went to the library and got my own copy and finished it the same night LOL

4 likes · like · see review

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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, they always...more 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, 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.” — 1,662 people liked it

“If you were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you. Memories are forever.” — 163 people liked it

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