A Review of The Giver by Lois Lowry

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. 192 pages.

Jonas lives in a world very different from our own. In the Community, everything is controlled and managed, and the people live by explicit rules and guidelines to ensure sameness. Everything is shared from thoughts to food, and the peaceful world is devoid of any sort of pain or desire. Everyone contributes to the Community through his or her assigned duty designated at the Ceremony of the Twelve, which signifies a child’s Coming of Age and start of training for his or her assigned duty. At Jonas’s Ceremony of the Twelve, he receives the great honor of becoming the next Receiver of Memories and begins training with the current Receiver, who asks that Jonas call him The Giver. The Giver informs Jonas that his training will consist of receiving the memories passed down from each of the past Receivers, memories of how the world used to be before the time of sameness. Very quickly Jonas learns of all the feelings and ideas that have been lost in the Community—color, animals, weather, as well as pain and true love. Being exposed to these things causes Jonas to become aware of all that is missing in the Community, as he and The Giver begin questioning whether keeping these memories contained in one person is truly beneficial for everyone.

In this story, Lois Lowry writes in a simple and honest style that allows us to Jonas’s world in the way he sees it despite being from a third-person point of view. As he learns and discovers more about the world outside the Community, we feel his building internal struggle and increasing burden to hide what he has learned from his friends and family. The Giver is a wonderful coming-of-age story that prompts readers of any age, but especially young people, to question the world around them and to appreciate the good and the bad as offering the gift of infinite possibilities.

Reading List aka What I'll Be Doing Instead of Reading for My Other Classes

The Giver by Lois Lowry - I already finished reading it and really enjoyed it. I always wanted to read it when I was younger, but it came to a point when I thought I was too old to go back to it. Thank goodness I had the chance to go back now :)

30 Guys in 30 Days by Micol Olstow - Okay, so I was originally only going to read this "for fun" but isn't integrating fun reading and school reading what this class is about?

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones - I was obsessed with Howl in Howl's Moving Castle during high school, so I want to venture out and see if any of her other books are as amazing and vivid.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - I'm intrigued, plain and simple.

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman - A recommendation from my friends that know that I love historical fiction.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - One of my good friends has the same name as the protagonist of this series, so this one's dedicated to her :)

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - Same as the giver, always wanted to read it but thought that it was too late to go back.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli - One of my friends in our class is reading it for her list and kept insisting that I read it too, so why not?

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen - Sarah Dessen's books somehow always end up coming home with me from the bookstore even though I try my best to skim through it in the bookstore. Her books are the type that I'm still reading today, and part of the reason why I feel like my reading tastes are so elementary...but I can't help it, there's something about her books.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - I found this randomly though book review websites, the story jumped out at me so I had to request it from the library. It's also the newest one out of my list. There are 47 holds on 49 copies, so it might be a while until I actually get this book, so I guess I should put this one as a maybe, but I hope it gets here in time.