The Giver Quartet By Lois Lowry - Restarting May 1st 2018

[Sarah Elizabeth]

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 is no turning back.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

The Giver (The Giver Quartet #1) by Lois Lowry will be our second GBR for November 2014.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody!

[rachel ☾]

Yay! I have the first book in this series to read!

[rachel ☾]

chapter four - (view spoiler)[What was so different about this apple? Oh, and why does no one have light coloured eyes? (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

chapter five - (view spoiler)[Awkward having to wash old people! This sounds is much like Matched, I can see where people thought that it copied this. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

chapter six - (view spoiler)[Aha! The "Stirrings"! (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

chapter seven - (view spoiler)[Those ceremonies are intense! Certain jackets, certain haircuts, certain age to get a bra - poor early developers! - and certain age to get a bike. Its crazy! (hide spoiler)]

[Abbie]

Starting now. :)

[Abbie]

Chapter 2 - This is a little slow but it's alright so far.

[rachel ☾]

Abbie wrote: "Chapter 2 - This is a little slow but it's alright so far."

I like it. Its pretty slow though, I agree.

Stopping at chapter ten for the night. Its 11:30 here.

[Abbie]

Rachel wrote: "chapter five - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ It reminds me a bit of matched too. (hide spoiler)]

[Abbie]

Chapter 7 - Starting to feel bored now. It's dragging.

[Abbie]

Going to switch to for a bit. Need a little break from this!

[Abbie]

Chapter 19 - (view spoiler)[ Would be awful to have twins when you know they're going to "release" one of them. :( (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Apologies guys, I've not been doing very well over the past few days. Going to try and start this now ☺

[Sara]

It's been a long day, I may not be able to start this one until tomorrow

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Oh dear me, this is freaking dull.

[Abbie]

Sarah wrote: "Oh dear me, this is freaking dull."

Yep. It doesn't get much better unfortunately.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

chapter 2 (view spoiler)[ they recycle 'comfort objects'? I hope they wash them first! (hide spoiler)]

chapter 3 (view spoiler)[ i don't like this taking kids from their brithmother and raising them with other people and freaking permits and crap. impersonal, awful, and so darn boring for the reader too!

and being a birthmother is crap. it always is in these sort of books (hide spoiler)]


chapter 4 (view spoiler)[ releasing sounds like knocking them off quietly to me. (hide spoiler)]

chapter 12 (view spoiler)[ all this 'i accept your apology' is so darn stilted ugh. and how exactly are we to believe that they can't see the colour red, and now with a memory he can? yuck. rubbish. (hide spoiler)]

chapter 16 (view spoiler)[ not having love sucks. (hide spoiler)]

chapter 19 (view spoiler)[ and finally. release is just euthanasia. why am i not surprised. (hide spoiler)]

chapter 21 (view spoiler)[ what an ass-hole! he wants to kill the baby because he cries a bit???!!!!! Disgusting. I hate that man. (hide spoiler)]

the end (view spoiler)[ darn glad he didn't let that baby be killed. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Abbie wrote: "Chapter 19 - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ awfull! (hide spoiler)]

[Abbie]

Sarah wrote: "chapter 2 [spoilers removed]

chapter 3 - end


(view spoiler)[

Yep, I though that the whole releasing thing was dodgy all the way through.


(hide spoiler)]

[Sara]

So I finally got it in and started..

I have a problem with the audio book. They play music way too often. And I agree with most of you... it's a very slow start.

[Sara]

(view spoiler)[Wait... they have to wait until they're 7 just to get a button down jacket?? (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

chapter seventeen - (view spoiler)[woah, I love the idea of having no colour, no grandparents, no Christmas and Jonas getting to experience them. I cannot believe the word love doesn't have meaning though! And by "having no colour" do they mean their world is black and white or do they just not understand the names and significance of colour? (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

the end - (view spoiler)[Pretty silly ending? I don't really understand why he is running away... but poor little Gabe! I cannot believe they were going to "release" him for practically no reason - doesn't every baby cry!?!? (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "chapter seventeen - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ it sounded like they literally didn't see colours, which is crazy! (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "the end - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I'd definitely have been released. I was an awful baby. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

Sarah wrote: "Rachel wrote: "chapter seventeen - [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[How do you stop seeing colours!? :/ (hide spoiler)]

[rachel ☾]

Sarah wrote: "Rachel wrote: "chapter seventeen - [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Me too probably! I had the same probable as Gabe - I never slept as a kid. Drove my mum insane! :) (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Rachel wrote: "chapter seventeen - [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Don't know!

[Paula]

Rachel wrote: "chapter five - [spoilers removed]"
?
Agree that it was awkward. What is Matched? Was that written first?

[Sarah Elizabeth]

No, was definitely written after the Giver ☺

[Paula]

I figured since The Giver is kinda a classic. Thanks

[Paula]

Did anybody who read see similiarities to The Giver?

Chapter 20 &

(view spoiler)[
The part that struck me as the most similar was when Giver describes Rosemary as asking to give herself the injection to be released. This reminded me of Tris who after a point refuses to let anyone else give her an injection. I would think that Roth was inspired by this part of The Giver.

(hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Paula wrote: "Did anybody who read see similiarities to The Giver?

Chapter 20 &


The part that struck me as the most similar was when Giver descri..."

Interestingly enough, I just googled this connection and found this blog post: http://www.walden.com/blog/veronica-r...

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Oh yes, well spotted!

[Paula]

Sarah wrote: "Oh yes, well spotted!"

Thanks!

[Abbie]

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Reading from the 5th of March 2016

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[Ashley]

Chapter 5: (view spoiler)[ I had been a bit spoiled on some details of this book because so many people have read it, so I'm going to try to keep those out of my updates. I'm curious as to whether or not there is sex in this universe whatsoever. I feel like in a society where they take pills to remove sexual feelings, they must in-vitro the birthmothers. Maybe they say the birthmothers have "no honour" because babies are associated with sex, and thats "bad" or whatever. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

Chapter 12: (view spoiler)[ It is a bit dull at the moment. I had suspected that Jonas was starting to see colour, it's weird how nobody sees it anymore. How could they have just decided to go to Sameness? What even is Sameness? I want to know how that even works and how it happened, and when this book takes place. (hide spoiler)]

[Kirsty]

I started this today and finished it in one sitting.
(view spoiler)[ I really enjoyed this book. I found the world that Lois Lowry has created really interesting. Everything in this world is controlled and I found this interesting. The people didn't have any memories of certain things and Jonas begins to learn about them when he is assigned to be the new Reciever. I didn't have a problem with the pacing and I got stuck into the story right from the start. I don't know whether this is because I have seen the film so I knew the basic story. Speaking of the film, I thought that the adaptation was really good and followed the story quite well. This book is aimed at children and for the most part, I didn't find it that childish. There were some points where the writing seemed a bit basic but this did not bother me. One complaint that I do have is I wished it had been longer as the ending feels very abrupt and I would have liked to have seen a bit more. I would also really like to learn more about the world and how it came to be which we will hopefully see in the other books. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read the other books in the series. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

Chapter 16: (view spoiler)[ I feel like Jonas is able to transmit memories to Gabe because they both have those light coloured eyes. What could those eyes mean? I feel like it's something important. How is this book going to end? I know there are 4 books in the series but I'm pretty sure someone told me this can be read as a standalone. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

Chapter 20: (view spoiler)[ I don't really understand the plan that the Giver and Jonas have. Is the book going to end with Jonas ending up "elsewhere"? Where will that be? Sad that Rosemary was the Giver's daughter. (hide spoiler)]

[Kirsty]

When I was reading this I could see parallels with other dystopian novels which were obviously inspired by this novel. I had no idea how popular this book was before I started reading it. I only came across the book because I watched the film and had no idea that it was based on a book. Has anyone seen the film? I thought the film was pretty good and from what I remember it follows the book quite well.

[Kirsty]

I would really like to study this book in detail as there is so much to discuss. I imagine it will be one of those books that when I re-read it I will pick up on new details. Lois Lowry managed to cram so many details into such a short book and I would have quite liked to have seen more detail. I would love to have discovered more about the world as I found it really interesting. This book made me think a lot even after I finished it I still think about it. Imagining a world without pain is a nice idea but from this book we learn that this does not work and I just found this concept really interesting.

[Ashley]

I thought the same thing, I can understand why some schools use it as a novel study!

[Abbie]

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Reading from the 11th of November 2016

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[Najma]

Done with Chapter five
(view spoiler)[ The theme of this book is so similar to 'matched'by Ally Condie and some part of it are also similar to 'delirium' by Lauren Oliver (only slightly) and also a little bit of 'candor' from divergent (lying is forbidden). (hide spoiler)]

[Agnès]

Johanna wrote: "Done with Chapter five
[spoilers removed]"

Except that it was written first! I love how all those books were inspired by the Giver :)

[Najma]

After chapter 12
(view spoiler)[ How can anyone eradicate color? it's impossible, so I'd call that sci-fi. It took me long to realize that their world was black and white, I honestly didn't see that coming. Not only did they eradicate color, the eradicated weather, differences, variations, as if it were some disease. (hide spoiler)]