The Giver (The Giver, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Apr 07, 2014 Chandler rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-for-boys, books-i-own, sci-fi, classics, newbery-medal, banned-books, ya-fiction, 300-or-less-pgs, 4-star

This is a novel that I have been wanting to reread for some time. When I first read this back in 8th grade, I thought it was good, but not much else. Now with more YA dystopias under my belt, I have realized just how special this book is to the dystopian world of YA.

The most interesting fact about The Giver is that it is a dystopia, but not in the modern sense. With many dystopias in YA fiction today, the main character inherently realizes that something is wrong with their society that they li This is a novel that I have been wanting to reread for some time. When I first read this back in 8th grade, I thought it was good, but not much else. Now with more YA dystopias under my belt, I have realized just how special this book is to the dystopian world of YA.

The most interesting fact about The Giver is that it is a dystopia, but not in the modern sense. With many dystopias in YA fiction today, the main character inherently realizes that something is wrong with their society that they live in. The main character is the only one who has the ability to set up a revolution, or, at the very least, become the face of it. I have always had some problem with this, because I ask the question ‘What causes the main character to feel this way? Why does he or she feel the need to go against their lives that seem perfectly fine?’ In cases like the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, Tris just seems to become the main character who feels different just because...she is the one this story focused on. If it were her brother, or her neighbor, or even a random classmate who felt this way, then HE would be the main character who started the whole rebellion against the government. This is a motivational aspect that I have always had a problem with in the Divergent series, and, I must say, was a weakness that cheapened the experience for me.

Here, however, we have no such problems. Jonas lives in a world that is just fine. There are no wars, no famine, no issues of any kind. It almost seems like a utopia, until he is shown through becoming the Receiver of Memory the dark sides of the society he lives in. Lowery crafts an excellent portrayal of what it is like to find disillusionment with your home or community, and to find something wrong with it that you don’t agree on. She also challenges the idea that ignorance is bliss. in this novel.

What is wrong with this book is it’s ending. While I won't give any spoilers, I’d say that towards the end of the novel, the magic system that exists starts to fall apart in terms of the rules set and just operates for the sake of convenience. Also, the characters are rather simplified. This isn’t a major complaint, as, by the very nature of sameness, they all should be interchangeable, but it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to great storytelling. I think that, in general, I will remember the ideas displayed in the story, as opposed to the characters contained in that story, which may not sit well with some readers.

Still, I can understand why this novel is well loved by schools and people around the world. I still think that this is a novel that people should read as a classic dystopian novel, along with 1984 and others. I am excited to read the next in the series. But the magic problems towards the end of the novel still give me pause, despite how much I loved this novel, and make me rate this book a four out of five. ...more

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