The Giver (The Giver, #1) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 19, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: dystopian-and-post-apocalyptic

The Giver came out when I was already in my mid-20s, so I missed it the first time around. I’ve heard a lot about it, and seen it come highly recommended on many lists. I love dystopians, including YA dystopians, so I was really looking forward to reading this one that is beloved by so many.

I found it to be really disappointing. From hearing about it so much for so long, I had been expecting something amazing and groundbreaking and world-changing.

First of all, it was much more juvenile than I w The Giver came out when I was already in my mid-20s, so I missed it the first time around. I’ve heard a lot about it, and seen it come highly recommended on many lists. I love dystopians, including YA dystopians, so I was really looking forward to reading this one that is beloved by so many.

I found it to be really disappointing. From hearing about it so much for so long, I had been expecting something amazing and groundbreaking and world-changing.

First of all, it was much more juvenile than I was expecting. This is not YA, this is children’s literature – not that there’s anything wrong with that! It’s just not what I expected. Even considering that it is for children, it still felt very basic and plodding – not at all as interesting as some other fantastic sci-fi & dystopian children’s books, such as The White Mountains or A Wrinkle in Time. The writing just kind of plodded along, and everything was explained for the reader.

Second of all, it just wasn’t very original. That’s fine, I understand that stories are told over and over, I’m not one of those people who complained that Harry Potter or the Hunger Games were just rehashes of other works. I get it … Tristan and Isolde became Romeo and Juliet became an angst-filled YA romance, and perhaps 19841984 became The Giver became Matched. But the re-telling has to have some spark, some specialness, in order to be worthy of so much praise. What did this book have?

Thirdly, the dystopian world Did Not Make Sense. It just didn’t work. I had so many unanswered questions! (view spoiler) (I also spent a good bit of time wondering how this book won an award.)

And, finally, the ending was just so full of woo that I could barely keep reading. I was inwardly screaming, “that’s IT? This is how this great and inspiring book ends? With spiritual woo and Christmas lights???”

Alexander Skarsgård plays the dad in the movie version, so I think I’ll try to get it from the library some time and watch it. ...more

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Feb 25, 2014 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, appalachia, fiction, radical-nonfiction, classics, american-fiction

I'm a bit weary of all the American fiction that uses some type of weird fantasy/sci-fi to warn us of the dangers of communism. It is definitely the role of writers to take on tyranny and oppression, but books of the Cold War era were so often written in such a thinly-veiled way and with no subtlety (us=good, them=bad). This book is well-written and a decent read, but even though it was written in 1993, it still feels very much like a polemic in support of individualism that does nothing to exam ...more

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Jun 07, 2018 Kim Marques rated it it was amazing

So this is one of those books that I feel like I should have read a long time ago but it just never came across my path. It was never assigned to me in school and I just never went back to read it later. It's clear why it's a classic and while I've seen many reviews that were critical of the ending, I did not feel that way at all. I thought it was a fantastic allegory/parable that had more emotional depth then I guess I would have expected from a YA novel of the time. I felt this book deeply, an ...more

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Sep 01, 2008 Kerry rated it liked it

I loved Lois Lowry's books when I read them in the past. I guess I just thought this one had a little strange element to it...all futuristic and stuff that I found a bit odd and distancing.

Still....she is a great writer and I think the themes are important. It certainly makes sense why this book has won awards. ...more

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May 08, 2008 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Super fast read. I'm sure I read this in middle school, but I didn't remember it at all. Really great world building, and I couldn't help but think of my own Gabriel... ...more

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