The Giver
Hello!
Welcome to The Young Reader's Review! Today I am going to review an amazing book
called: The Giver written by one of my favorite authors, Lois Lowry.
You probably have heard of this book one way or another. Either you saw or
heard of the film that came out quite recently, or you’ve read the book, or
maybe someone talked to you about it. Anyway, this book is so popular it’s hard
to miss. That said, let’s get this review started!
So
in this book, the main character is an eleven year old boy called Jonas who
lives in a world where everything is perfect. There are no wars, no crimes, no
pain and no fear. The perfect utopia in other words. This is sadly too good
to be true! But, beneath all of this is a world where there is literally no
happiness. Everything is arranged and nothing is left to chance. For example,
when you turn twelve, you are assigned a job based on what you are good at and
capable of. Marriages are also arranged and babies are born from
“birthmothers”.
Coming
back to Jonas, Jonas is different from the others. He has pale eyes when the others
have dark colored eyes and when he looks at certain things, he can change his
perception of them. When Jonas turns twelve, he becomes a “Receiver” and he
receives training from “The Giver”. This man, the Giver, is somewhat special.
He even is very special. Forget it,
he is extremely special. The Giver,
is a receiver who keeps all memories, good and bad, from the past so the
community can avoid making mistakes like they did before. The Giver transfers
memories to Jonas by pressing his hands on his back and these memories hold
feelings that Jonas never knew.
This
book, if you haven’t noticed, is very deep. The community that Jonas lives in
doesn’t feel anything because they don’t know pain nor happiness. But Jonas,
thanks to these memories, can experience passion, exhilaration, but also pain.
We realize that we need that good/bad contrast in things to actually be happy.
The world Jonas lives in is actually a horrible, emotionless, bland place.
There aren’t even any colors. Everything is in black and white. Jonas can only
see colors through memories.
I
also find Jonas’s relationship with his parents interesting. At the beginning
of the story, Jonas is completely honest about everything, he wouldn’t dare to
lie to his parents. But towards the end (I won’t say why because I know how
annoying spoilers are), we can see that when he starts seeing the cruelty of
the world he lives in, he starts trusting them less and less.
Throughout
the Giver’s memories, Jonas learns the shocking truth about his community. So
Jonas’s world is too perfect and is a utopia, but this book is dystopian. If
you’ve read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Go check out my book
review on this book) then you can definitely understand how these two books,
two universes are alike. I can especially relate to Brave New World when Jonas discovers the truth of his society just like Bernard Marx does. But
the ending is quite different. You’ll just have to read it to know what
happens.
The Giver is amazing,
and I remember as a child that this book left me completely in awe. Lois Lowry
is a stupendous author, and I’ve almost read all of her books because they’re
just that good. Her writing style is
unique but easy to understand. It’s simple but sophisticated. This book has
strong ideas that will make adults and older teens think about, but for younger
children and teens, this book is appropriate, and like I said before, the
writing style is straightforward and understandable and the ideas will definitely
make them think too. So I think that there is no age to read this book, it’s
for everybody. Just go for it. 
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