⚡ Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia
View all 23 comments. Potassium Research Paper all reviews. Personal Narrative: Girls In High School accept Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia man might always reach Helicopter Parenting searching for utopia, but Lowry's world is a very poor illustration of that depressing possibility. Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia and popular Anastasia Krupnik series. Essay On Horseshoe Crabs saw only the abandoned bikes Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia and there on their sides; an upturned Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia on one was still revolving slowly. The Indonesians and Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia are perfectly satisfied". But it had been nothing. It is the burden of the author to present us not with an account of something we know is bad, but to Would The Giver Be Considered A Utopia Or Dystopia the source Personal Narrative: I Love Virues the knowledge.
Utopia and Dystopia
And I studied hard in school, as you do, Jonas. But again and again, during free time, I found myself drawn to the newchildren. I spent almost all of my volunteer hours helping in the Nurturing Center. Of course the Elders knew that, from their observation. During the past year he had been aware of the increasing level of observation. In school, at recreation time, and during volunteer hours, he had noticed the Elders watching him and the other Elevens.
He had seen them taking notes. He knew, too, that the Elders were meeting for long hours with all of the instructors that he and the other Elevens had had during their years of school. They were happy for me, that my Assignment was what I wanted most. I felt very fortunate. Unlike his father, he had no idea what his Assignment would be. But he knew that some would disappoint him. His father thought. Of course the Elders are so careful in their observations and selections. He spent all the recreation time he could with his construction set, and his volunteer hours were always on building sites.
The Elders knew that, of course. Andrei was given the Assignment of Engineer and he was delighted. He makes a game out of everything. His father chuckled. He never cried. He giggled and laughed at everything. All of us on the staff enjoyed nurturing Asher. But, Jonas, let me warn you about something that may not have occurred to you. Most of us even lose track of how old we are as time passes, though the information is in the Hall of Open Records, and we could go and look it up if we wanted to. And each of your friends will. No more volunteer hours. No more recreation hours.
So your friends will no longer be as close. Jonas shook his head. There will be changes. But when I entered my training for Law and Justice, I found myself with people who shared my interests. I made friends on a new level, friends of all ages. Every day, at the Nurturing Center, I play bounce-on-the-knee, and peek-a-boo, and hug-the-teddy. Lily appeared, wearing her nightclothes, in the doorway. She gave an impatient sigh.
It will be recycled to the younger children. You should be starting to go off to sleep without it. But her father had already gone to the shelf and taken down the stuffed elephant which was kept there. Jonas and his mother rolled their eyes, yet they watched affectionately as Lily and her father headed to her sleeping room with the stuffed elephant that had been given to her as her comfort object when she was born. His mother moved to her big desk and opened her briefcase; her work never seemed to end, even when she was at home in the evening. But his mind was still on December and the coming Ceremony. Enhance your purchase. Read more Read less. Previous page. Reading age. Print length. Grade level.
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Once a utopian community that prided itself on welcoming strangers, Village will soon be cut off to all outsiders. Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. In this thrilling series finale, Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of The Giver. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggles almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. Anastasia Krupnik Anastasia Again Anastasia at Your Service Anastasia Off Her Rocker Anastasia on Her Own Anastasia's tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother.
Twelve-year-old Anastasia is horrified at her family's decision to move from their city apartment to a house in the suburbs. Twelve-year-old Anastasia has a series of disastrous experiences when, expecting to get a job as a lady's companion, she is hired to be a maid. Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud nobly aid her. Her family's new, organized schedule for easy housekeeping makes Anastasia confident that she can run the household while her mother is out of town, until she hits unexpected complications. The Willoughbys On the Horizon A delightfully tongue-in-cheek story about parents trying to get rid of their four children and the children who are all too happy to lose their beastly parents and be on their own.
Lois Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and popular Anastasia Krupnik series. All rights reserved. Read more. Don't have a Kindle? Customer reviews. How are ratings calculated? Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Reviews with images. See all customer images. Top reviews Most recent Top reviews. Top reviews from the United States.
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Verified Purchase. I read this along with my ten-year-old when it was assigned in school. Jonas lives in a dystopia disguised as a utopia where everyone is cared for and all has a place. Everything is controlled, from the weather, to the number of births in each community. There is no want, no lack or homeless. Crime is all but extinct as are many animals and the elder residents are pampered and taken care of until the day of their Release to Elsewhere. The children undergo a strict form of training where emphasis is on manners, precise language and obedience. When Jonas turns twelve he is selected as the new Receiver of Memory.
Once his training begins, Jonas becomes privy to situations, places, sensations and feelings that has him quickly understanding that nothing is as it seems in his idyllic community. The world he lives in vastly differs from the memories of the Giver, and in some instances, is a flat out lie. I remember when I was in school all the books we had to read were completely boring it truly is a wonder I love reading after the dreck I was exposed to! Jonas world is bleak and boring.
The Giver has provided quite a few topics of discussion for my son and I as I am sure it has provided for his class and I am sure it will continue to provide in the future. The topics that are addressed, either in passing or in greater depth are compelling and thought provoking. Even after I finished this book, I find myself thinking about a person, situation or comment and still being affected. The cliffhanger ending will leave the reader with a mixed feeling of relief and curiosity.
Yesterday, I took a road trip with my two daughters to get pick up my 88 year-old grandmother, who will be staying with us through the holiday season. At 5 and 9 years-old, my usual audiobook choices were clearly not an option. So, I found myself listening to some books that definitely are not my usual type, yet again. By pure coincidence, they both ended up being authored by Lois Lowry. I have never been more engaged in a children's book than I was during this road trip. I was completely lost in these stories, as were my children. The first book that we listened to was 'The Giver'. What a captivating, albeit bleak, fictional world Ms. Lowry has created! I was absolutely spellbound by her storytelling. Set in the future, Jonas lives in a community that has traded their humanity for the illusion of safety.
They block anything that would trigger the emotional highs and lows that define a person's life as we now know it. They don't experience the heartache of loss, but they never give in to the joys of life either. They are shells, robotic in their day to day existence and devoid of emotion. Although this is a children's book, it had a feeling eerily similar to George Orwell's ''. Independent thinking was non-existent. People "confessed" their thoughts, dreams and rule violations. The presence of the omnipresent leaders in their homes, ruling their lives, was pervasive and all-powerful.
Jonas is getting ready to experience the ceremony of This particular ceremony is an important one in the community, a rite of passage into adulthood. It is at this ceremony that each child is assigned their job within the community. They will remain in their assigned role until they are no longer productive and they are "released". Unlike the other children, Jonas is unsure of his calling within the community. He doesn't feel a clear draw to one occupation or another. He is worried of what the future holds for him and he is beginning to notice some unusual things that others do not. Jonas is ultimately assigned a very prestigious role within the community. It is perhaps the most important role in the community, but comes with a tremendous burden.
He cannot share his experiences with anyone other than the man that he will be replacing, the current "receiver". As his training progresses, Jonas comes to question everything that he has ever been taught. From beginning to end, this book held my rapt attention. It was beautifully written and thought provoking. There was plenty of action and suspense along the way. It was also a much more emotional read than I had anticipated. I'll never forget the look on my 9 year-old's face when some of the true meanings of different phrases, like "released", truly sunk in.
Don't even get me going on baby Gabe! Luckily, I think most of that went over the head of my 5 year-old. Overall, I thought that this was a spectacular book! It is one that I would not have normally read, but I'm so glad that I did. I can only hope that the lessons learned will resonate with my daughter and the other children that read it. An all-around great story! I'll probably download the next books in the series for our next road-trip to take "Nana" home after the holidays.
I first read this book when I was about I disliked it at the time. It was too abstract for me. Finding out that Jonas and the other characters could not see color or feel emotions halfway through the book threw me for a loop. The family's discussion of feelings and references to Gabriel's eye color seemed like cheap, misleading tactics. The lack of real resolution also irritated me. Now, 10 years later, I re-read this story for a college assignment and found it to be a refreshing, original tale in the often-maligned genre of Young Adult fiction.
This time, the allegorical elements of the story stood out and the beauty of Lowry's writing captured me. There was no love triangle or even love interest. There was no overtly evil government that a fierce young heroine had to overthrow. There was simply a deeply flawed, sheltered society and the desire to be an individual in a homogeneous world.
The writing was concise, the concept was solid, and the premise was unique. Age and perspective helped me re-evaluate this work. When I was 10, I had never heard of symbolism, satire, allegory, or dystopias. I'm not even sure that Young Adult fiction was designated as a genre back then. After reading endless trashy, stupid, plot-less YA dystopian novels in the years since I first read this book, I can safely say that The Giver is one of the finest offerings in the genre. I would not suggest that elementary school children read this book, despite its frequent inclusion on reading lists. In order to appreciate the beauty of this book, you need to have a deeper understanding of literature.
Although I dreaded having to read this book again, I actually read it in a few hours. Upon reflection, I found it to be much more profound the second time around. See all reviews. Top reviews from other countries. Although this novel was published about 25 years ago, it has an immediacy that makes it timeless. An ordinary boy, Jonas, in an ordinary nuclear family unit, soon finds out what he had taken for normalcy and safety stems from a much more sinister design. Jonas begins to question this reality and sets himself apart when he is assigned a specific role to play that would tear his whole world apart.
As a speculative novel, it is highly disturbing for the way it is entirely believable as a possible future. I bought this book for my son but I was so intrigued by it that I decided to read it myself. It's a cracking little book that kept me glued to the pages and I couldn't put it down until I had read it from cover to cover! To be honest, this didn't take long as it's a fairly short book and the language is reasonably simple. I think it's probably aimed at pre-teens or early teens. The main protagonist, Jonas, is coming to the age where he becomes an adult within the 'community' that he and his family and friends live in. However, things are not as they seem and the direction of the book takes a deep, dark turn and Jonas starts to see things in a different light I won't say much more than that as I don't want to spoil it but let the above intrigue you enough to buy and read this book!
It's an easy read and the story sticks with you. One person found this helpful. I borrowed this book when I was 13, and read it once. The story stuck with me, but i forgot the title, and while I searched the shelves I couldn't find it again. There are other books I've read a lot with my students, and this is the one that most stands up over time, the only one that keeps my interest. I truly am on the edge of my seat to see what we will realize next. Because I've seen that, even if I think I have it all figured out, some kid is going to say something to rock my world.
I can't believe Lowry was able to make a book this clever; part of me thinks a work this good is impossible, and that we are just reading too much into it. But no, it's all there, all the pieces, and she put them there. I just don't see how could she have written such a tightly woven mystery- how could she have know all of the questions the book would raise? And you know what, she probably didn't. A book isn't like drawing a map. You make the world, and things happen. And in this case, she did make a perfect world. I hate puns so much!!!!!! I mean, she so fully created that world where everything that happens is plausible.
Just read the damn book, then call me. Or, call me after like, Chapter 13, then after 18 and Lines that almost make me cry Jul 11, James Carroll rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: anyone. Shelves: fiction. This book is perhaps the best refutation that I have seen in some time of a common philosophy of pain that is sometimes found in the popular media and in some versions of Buddhism. According to this philosophy, pain is the ultimate evil, and so, to eliminate pain and suffering we must give up desire, and individuality. Self is an illusion, and leads to pain; desire and agency are dangerous, so we should give them up and join the cosmic oneness "enlightenment" to find a utopia without pain.
As Ge This book is perhaps the best refutation that I have seen in some time of a common philosophy of pain that is sometimes found in the popular media and in some versions of Buddhism. As George Lucas unfortunately has Yoda say to Anakin, "you must give up all that you fear to lose. Choice, agency, adversity, love, desire, and real pleasure are dangerous, they can lead to pain, but without them life has no purpose. Love could lead to the loss of that which we love, but life without love is empty. Purpose comes from choosing. Purpose comes from overcoming adversity.
Yes, you could choose poorly, and that could lead to pain, choice is dangerous, but without it, life has no meaning, it is colorless. Greatness in life is found by overcoming adversity, not by the absence of adversity. Without opposition, there is nothing to overcome, and thus there may be no bad, but there is also no good, there may be no pain, but there is also no joy. Although some later books answer some of these questions, at the end of this book we are left to wonder: Did he die? Did he live? All we really know is that he was made free, and he made a choice Did it lead to happiness for him?
Did it lead to happiness for the community who will now have his memories? Will they destroy themselves, or will the Giver be able to help them find true purpose and happiness in life? We don't know, because that is the way of all choices. We can't always know the outcomes of our decisions, and therein lies the danger, but the risk is well worth the rewards. View all 80 comments. Apr 12, Miranda Reads rated it really liked it Shelves: audiobook. Stuck at home?
Got some time on your hands? Want to start a long series? But you don't want a dud? Then I have some suggestions for you! Check out this booktube video all about which series are worth your time and which ones aren't! Thanks for watching and happy reading! Check Out the Written Review! Man oh man, for a children's book Lowry certainly didn't pull any punches. Jonas lives in a perfectly perfect world. Every family has one mother, one father, one girl and one boy. Famili Stuck at home? Families always get along, the parents never disagree, no one has any secrets. Everyone contributes to society equally. No one is ever outraged, angry, sad. The life where nothing was ever unexpected.
Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without colour, pain or past. However what appears perfect on the surface hides a far darker truth. There isn't any negativity in their world but also, there isn't any true happiness or love. All emotions are suppressed, children are taken from "birth mothers," and defected individuals are "released. Jonas is ready to undergo the ceremony of twelves during which are children born in the same year 'age' to the next level. He will be assigned his role in society but when he is supposed to accept his new job, he's given the title of Receiver. Something he's never even heard of. No one really knows what the Receiver does other than the Giver.
Soon Jonas learns that the Giver holds the collected memories of the societies long since past and passes it along to the next generation. Jonas is faced with startling realities that he would've never considered - how beautiful color is, how heartbreaking loss is, and how incredibly wonderful love can make a person feel. The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared. And soon, he comes to a decision. One that would irrevocably shift his small world. Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything. I first read this one in fifth grade and whew. It was a doozie.
Reread it this year and I'm starting to wonder if kids would like English class a lot more if any of the books were a bit more cheerful That being said, reading this one as an adult completely changed my perspective. I remember liking it, in a slightly apathetic way, in fifth grade. Now, I'm wholly invested in the plot, the characters and the world. What an incredible dystopia! Audiobook Comments Very well-read by Ron Rifkin. He wasn't a stunning narrator but definitely an enjoyable one.
Though, it was a bit disconcerting to hear a grown man's voice for year-old Jonas. View all 51 comments. Sep 15, NReads rated it really liked it. This is 4. So let's move to the story This book is about a boy called Jonas who lives in a world full of order and rules. Characters: Jonas I liked this characters because I can relate to him somehow. Fiona What I really liked about Fiona is her rebel side.
He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. I don't know how, but there must be some way for things to be different. There could be colors. And grandparents," he added, staring through the dimness toward the ceiling of his sleepingroom.
I highly recommend it to you if you life dystopian books! Also the movie is out now! View all 64 comments. Jan 21, Julie Ruble rated it liked it Shelves: teaching. I think I'm missing something. Everyone loves this book and I liked it too, but it wasn't amazing or anything. The Giver felt like a very sparse story to me. First, there isn't much characterization, so I didn't form an emotional connection with any of the characters -- not even with Jonas or the Giver two central characters.
Asher and Fiona particularly Fiona are introduced such that you assume they will play greater roles in the book than they do. I don't feel like I knew Mom or Dad or Lily at all. While the lack of an emotional bond with these lesser characters may be due to the nature of their community, Jonas and the Giver should really be more sympathetic, in my opinion. Second, the description of the community itself is sparse. There is so much more that could've been described about this "utopian" community. I feel like Jonas' selection, his revelation about Release, and his eventual choice could've been built up and framed better.
I feel like I got the quick campfire version. Finally, while I appreciate it's overall message about the importance of individual differences, human emotion, etc. Jonas' initial support of his community and gradual change of heart seems intended to present both viewpoints, but doesn't succeed in my opinion. The book's agenda was clear to me from the beginning. It also doesn't present alternative possibilities such as a world without Sameness but also without war, a world without Release but also without starvation, etc.
When teaching the book, I also felt it was very important for students to understand how this heavy-handed moral that most of us would agree with somewhat demonstrates Lowry's and our own privilege. That is, the reason it's easy for us to say that Jonas' community is horrible is because of our own relatively privileged lives. If we lived in Darfur, were extremely impoverished, lived in a country where women were treated as property, etc. Despite all of this, believe it or not, I did like The Giver. It's an enjoyable read. It had a great plot, the community was interesting, and the ending was fantastic and JUST a little ambiguous -- cool!
View all 59 comments. Sep 01, Matt rated it it was ok Recommends it for: People who want to analyze how not to write sci-fi. Shelves: fantasy , young-adult , science-fiction. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. If there are no wrong answers, can we really say that something has any meaning? It is very easy to start an interesting science fiction story. Simply begin with a mystery. Don't explain things to the reader and leave them in a state of wonder.
In this way, everything will seem interesting, intriguing, and worth exploring. This is a good plan for start If there are no wrong answers, can we really say that something has any meaning? This is a good plan for starting a science fiction story. Lots of science fiction stories begin in this way. I also thought of China, because I immediately grasped that this had to be a culture which was designed to gently crash its population.
There were many clues that the world was heavily overpopulated and the primary goal of the culture so described was to crash the population without descending into society destroying anarchy - the highly regulated birthrate, which was insufficient to sustain the population. The replacement rate for a society is about 2. Clearly, infants can't be meaningfully banished, so clearly release was euthanasia.
So I was intrigued by the story. I wanted to see what happened to Jonas and his naive family who had so poised themselves on the edge of a great family wrecking tragedy in just the first few dozen pages of the story. I wanted to receive from the storyteller answers to the questions that the story was poising, if not some great profound message then at least some story that followed from what she began.
But it was not to be. This shocked me, because in the context of the setting it was virtually impossible that he and everyone else did not know. We know that the society is life affirming, both because we are told how pained and shocked they are by loss and by the fact that Jonas responds to scenes of death with pity and anger. No society like that can long endure. Some technological explanation would be required to explain how the society managed to hide the truth from itself. If release took place in some conscious state of mind, then surely the dispensers of Justice, the Nurturers, the Caregivers, and the sanitation workers would all know the lie, and all suspect — as Jonas did — that they were being lied to as well.
Surely all of these would suspect what their own future release would actually entail, and surely at least some of them would reject it. Surely some not inconsequential number of new children, reared to value precision of language and to affirm the value of life, would rebel at the audacity of the lie if nothing else. Even in a society that knew nothing of love, even if only the society had as much feeling as the members of the family displayed, and even if people only valued others as much as the Community was shown to value others, surely some level of attachment would exist between people. Soma or not, the seeds of pain, tragedy, conflict and rebellion are present if ever the truth is known to anyone.
Nothing about the story makes any sense. None of it bears any amount of scrutiny at all. The more seriously you consider it, the more stupid and illogical the whole thing becomes. We are given to believe that all wild animals are unknown to the community, yet we are also given to believe that potential pest species like squirrels and birds are not in fact extinct. How do you possibly keep them out of the community if they exist in any numbers elsewhere? We are given to believe that technology exists sufficient to fill in the oceans and control the weather and replace the natural biosphere with something capable of sustaining humanity, but that technological innovation continues in primitive culture.
We are given to believe that this is a fully industrial society, yet the community at most has a few thousands of people. Surely thousands of such communities must exist to maintain an aerospace industry, to say nothing of weather controllers. Why is no thought given to the hundreds of other Receivers of Memory which must exist in their own small circles of communities in the larger Community? Surely any plan which ignores the small communities place in the larger is foredoomed to failure?
Surely the Receiver of Memory knows what a purge or a pogrom is? I can only conclude, just as I can only conclude about the illogical fact that no one knows what release is, that everything is plastic within the dictates of the plot. Every single thing when held up to the light falls apart. There is not one page which is even as substantial as tissue paper. It is almost impossible to draw meaning from nonsense, so it is no wonder that people have wondered at the ending. What happens? The great virtue of the story as far as modern educators are probably concerned is that there are no wrong answers.
What ever you wish to imagine is true is every bit as good of answer as any other. Perhaps he lives. Perhaps he finds a community which lives in the old ways, knowing choice — and war and conflict which probably explains why the community needs anti-aircraft defenses. But more likely from the context he dies. Perhaps he is delusional. Perhaps he gets to the bottom and lies down in the deepening snow which the runners can no longer be pushed through and he dies.
Perhaps he dies and goes to heaven, maybe even the heaven of the one whose birthday is celebrated by the implied Holiday. Perhaps it is even the case that he was sent to his death by the cynical Giver, who knew his death was necessary to release the memories he contained by to the community. For my entry in the meaningless answers contest, I propose that the whole thing was just a dream. This seems the easiest way to explain the contradictions. And the biggest clue that it is a dream is of course that Jonas sees the world in black and white, with only the occasional flashes of recognized color around important colorful things as is typical of that sort of black and white dream.
Perhaps Jonas will wake up and engage in dream sharing with his family, and they will laugh at the silliness and then go to the ceremony of twelves. Or perhaps the whole community is only a dream, and Jonas will wake up and go downstairs and open his Christmas presents with his family. I thought there was only now. It simplifies existence when a person can convince themselves of this. No need to learn about the past, no need to think about tomorrow, they just react to what they have to do today.
I insist on being a more complicated creature. What I learn about the past helps me make decisions about the present. The dreams I have for the future influence my decisions in the NOW. The past, the NOW, and the future all mingle together with very little delineation. Reading this novel, experiencing this future society, my nerves were as jangled as if Freddy was running his metal tipped fingers down a chalkboard over and over again. He is delegated to the ancient, wise, old man called The Receiver. He is the vault, the keeper of memories, the only person in the community that knows there was a past. Jonas is understandably confused, overwhelmed with the concept of anything other than NOW.
Jonas is seeing red. In a monochrome society devoid of color, it is the equivalent of seeing a UFO or a Yeti. Color changes everything. As The Giver lays hands on him, transferring more and more memories to Jonas, he starts to see the world as so much more. Color creates depth, not only visually, but also mentally. He wants everybody to know what he knows, but of course that is impossible, most assuredly dangerous. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them. To eliminate bad things also requires an equal measure of a loss of good things.
In making this society the holes in the strainer were just too small. Your mate is really just a partner, someone to schedule your life with. Children are assigned to you. They are nurtured by others until they are walking, and then like the stork of old they are plopped into a family unit. Two children only per couple. Women are assigned for childbearing, but only for three children, and then they are relegated as laborers for the rest of their lives. Childbearing is looked on as one of the lowest assignments a woman can be given. No decisions necessary He needs to speed up the process of passing some of that distress to Jonas.
For the first time in his life Jonas feels real discomfort. Pills in the past had always taken away any pain he felt, from a skinned knee or even a broken arm. As The Receiver he has to understand the source of the pain, and to do so he must feel it. There was another Receiver. She had asked to be Released. A more than niggling concern to young Jonas.
Even though the rule for The Receiver, You May Lie, bothers Jonas, it becomes readily apparent the more he learns the more imperative that rule becomes. The veil has been lifted from his eyes, and it is impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. The Giver has had to be so courageous, staying, holding memories for everyone, bearing the annoyance of only being consulted in moments of desperation, knowing so much that could be so helpful, and yet, made to feel like a dusty museum piece with the placard stating: Only Break Glass in Case of Fire.
The conclusion really bothers people, but I consider the ambiguous ending as one of my most favorite parts of the book. Pessimists and optimists seem to choose according to their natural preference for a glass half empty or a glass half full. I was struck by an odd parallel between the ending of Ethan Frome and the ending of this book. Only, being an optimist, I of course chose a very different result than the finale of Ethan Frome. If your children have read this book or are currently reading this book, do read it.
The language is by design simplistic. The concepts though are much larger, and you will enjoy your discussions with your children. This is a perfect opportunity to slip in some of your own brainwashing by including some of your own views of our current society into the dialogue. In an attempt to make Eden they produced a Hell. I kept thinking as I read it of the culling and the brutality that had to occur to gain this much control over human beings.
With all our issues, we still have choice. We have color. We have desire. We have ambition. We have a past, a future, and a present. We are not drugged zombies well most of us, well some of us. We can choose our mate, as dicey as that seems for most people. We can have a child, if we choose, who will be The Receiver of our collective memories and in the process we gain another generation of immortality.
Regardless of how everyone feels about this book, I would hope that most people come away from reading it feeling a little better about life as it is now, and also realize the importance of a remembered past and a hopeful future. View all 62 comments. Nov 05, Emma Giordano rated it liked it Shelves: audiobooks. I read this book previously in middle school for English class and was still able to appreciate it almost a decade later. The Giver is a story that sticks with many of us as it is often a part of required reading in school.
I consider it one of the most impactful academic reads from my adolescence as it was one of the first stories to feel targeted towards me. I think the concept is fantastic and appreciate it's method of tackling serious issues through the lens of a teen. Though it 3. Though it was published after many famous dystopian stories of similar nature, I feel The Giver succeeds in resonating with younger readers and challenging them to think critically about society in a way many others cannot.
Reading as an adult though, I do feel I enjoyed it less. I felt it was lacking in characterization as I did not feel much attachment to the characters. View all 8 comments. Aug 20, Jj rated it it was amazing Shelves: must-possess. Upon finishing this book, not 20 minutes ago, I'm left with several thoughts: 1. This book should be required reading for everyone with the emotional maturity to handle it! I believe that blindly labeling The Giver as a children's book is neither realistic nor necessarily wise, in some instances. Parents would be well advised to thoroughly screen it before offering it to an emotionally sensitive child to read.
Very few things leave me mentally stuttering as I struggle to put my thoughts into Upon finishing this book, not 20 minutes ago, I'm left with several thoughts: 1. Very few things leave me mentally stuttering as I struggle to put my thoughts into words, but, somehow, The Giver has done just that. It will take me a while to be able to make sense of, not the story, but my response to it. The Giver is a deftly crafted work, both stunningly beautiful and deeply disturbing Finding myself being imperceptibly lulled by the peace, order, safety and serenity of Jonas's world; being awakened by the sickening thud of reality's steel-toed boot in the gut, leaving both him and me breathless and disoriented in the aftermath.
This story is haunting and powerful. It's a raw portrayal of the presumed moral sacrifices that man would have to make in order to create and maintain a Utopian society, and the acceptable naivety of the horrors that would accompany it. Perhaps what is most frightening to me is the way I so easily assumed, at first, that Jonas saw the world as I do.. The realization that his newly deposited knowledge gives him is almost terrifying, definitely unnerving.
The depth of my emotional response still has me reeling! This is NOT a happy-ending, feel-good read I'm glad I read it, as it's made me think about things in a way I wouldn't have otherwise, and I appreciate that. I don't know that I would have read it had I known how real Jonas's and the Giver's pain would be to me. View all 24 comments. View all 13 comments. It is set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. The novel follows a year-old boy named Jonas. The society has taken away pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives.
Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, as there may be times where one must draw upon the wisdom gained from history to aid the community's decision making. Jonas struggles with concepts of all the new emotions and things introduced to him: whether they are inherently good, evil, or in between, and whether it is even possible to have one without the other.
The Community lacks any color, memory, climate, or terrain, all in an effort to preserve structure, order, and a true sense of equality beyond personal individuality. Yesterday, I took a road trip with my two daughters to get pick up my 88 year-old grandmother, who will be staying with us through the holiday season. At 5 and 9 years-old, my usual audiobook choices were clearly not an option. So, I found myself listening to some books that definitely are not my usual type, yet again. By pure coincidence, they both ended up being authored by Lois Lowry. I have n Yesterday, I took a road trip with my two daughters to get pick up my 88 year-old grandmother, who will be staying with us through the holiday season. I have never been more engaged in a children's book than I was during this road trip.
I was completely lost in these stories, as were my children. The first book that we listened to was 'The Giver'. What a captivating, albeit bleak, fictional world Ms. Lowry has created! I was absolutely spellbound by her storytelling. Set in the future, Jonas lives in a community that has traded their humanity for the illusion of safety. They block anything that would trigger the emotional highs and lows that define a person's life as we now know it.
They don't experience the heartache of loss, but they never give in to the joys of life either. They are shells, robotic in their day to day existence and devoid of emotion. Although this is a children's book, it had a feeling eerily similar to George Orwell's ''. Independent thinking was non-existent. People "confessed" their thoughts, dreams and rule violations. The presence of the omnipresent leaders in their homes, ruling their lives, was pervasive and all-powerful. Jonas is getting ready to experience the ceremony of This particular ceremony is an important one in the community, a rite of passage into adulthood. It is at this ceremony that each child is assigned their job within the community.
They will remain in their assigned role until they are no longer productive and they are "released". Unlike the other children, Jonas is unsure of his calling within the community. He doesn't feel a clear draw to one occupation or another. He is worried of what the future holds for him and he is beginning to notice some unusual things that others do not. Jonas is ultimately assigned a very prestigious role within the community. It is perhaps the most important role in the community, but comes with a tremendous burden.
He cannot share his experiences with anyone other than the man that he will be replacing, the current "receiver". As his training progresses, Jonas comes to question everything that he has ever been taught. From beginning to end, this book held my rapt attention. It was beautifully written and thought provoking. There was plenty of action and suspense along the way. It was also a much more emotional read than I had anticipated. I'll never forget the look on my 9 year-old's face when some of the true meanings of different phrases, like "released", truly sunk in.
Don't even get me going on baby Gabe! Luckily, I think most of that went over the head of my 5 year-old. Overall, I thought that this was a spectacular book! It is one that I would not have normally read, but I'm so glad that I did. I can only hope that the lessons learned will resonate with my daughter and the other children that read it. An all-around great story! I'll probably download the next books in the series for our next road-trip to take "Nana" home after the holidays. See more of my reviews at www. View all 42 comments. Dec 23, Nataliya rated it really liked it Shelves: for-my-future-hypothetical-daughter , reads. After a re-read, I can no longer think of The Giver as simply a childish sci-fi tale with heavy moralistic leanings.
What I see now is a story about growing up and confronting the world outside of the safe haven of childhood. But let's focus on the other aspects first, and worry about this later. Because that's not how I choose to see this book now. The way I do choose to see it after this reread is a story of a child learning to see past the happy and safe confines of childhood into the bigger world and realizing that the wonderful security of childhood, the rules and foundations of that world no longer apply in the adult universe. Remember how small and secure the world was for most of us when we were children?
There were rules designed to keep the world simple and predictable, and to keep us safe. There were adults who had fascinating jobs and were in charge of keeping our world safe and protected. There was a valid concept of 'that's not fair! At least it's how I remember it through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. In this book, I see the realization that people's lives are very different from what you perceive as a child, and that it's going to happen to you, too.
That those who were the core of your world not so long ago - family and childhood friends - may drift away and become distant as you make your way through adulthood and form new unexpected and vitally important relationships that overturn the world you are used to. And you will learn that the world may not be the stable place you know - that there is unexpected beauty just as there is unexpected cruelty and pain. That your feelings will change, will intensify until they reach the peak only possible in the early youth. The onslaught of powerful emotions, the feeling of loneliness and not fitting in with the world you grew up in, the sudden knowledge that the world is not what you thought it to be - it's what we all go through when growing up, and that's where the strength of this book lies.
The wave of nostalgia combined with the red sled on the snow - of course it's red. I guess we all need some allusions to Citizen Kane's Rosebud hidden in children's literature? So that children can grow up, realize the allusion and say, "oh, hey there Like the taking-it-for-granted Western culture emphasis on the importance of individualism over collectivism and, written just a few years after the Cold War, this book of course would have these sentiments of the culture that prevailed. We are conditioned to perceive individuality as a bright alternative to the grey and drab Sameness - but, when you read into it, this book decries this world of Sameness only superficially.
The life without color, pain, or past. One of the motifs here is that pain is important, that pain helps shape us into full human beings with full emotional range - but isn't it often a fairy tale we, adults, tell ourselves, thus making us feel better about our imperfect world full of pain and suffering and senseless wars and hunger? These are what makes our human experience full, we say; this is the price of being able to let our individualities shine. I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everybody took a part.
They don't want that. And that's the real reason The Receiver is so vital to them, and so honored. They selected me - and you - to lift that burden from themselves. Superficially, this book seems to suggest that it may be - but the fact that it made me think past what's on the surface suggests otherwise. Written for children, it does have something for adults to ponder about.
For ten-year-olds reading this book, it's probably Jonas and Gabriel finally reaching the idyllic place of love and warmth and the happy exhilaration of that first memory of red sled on a hill becoming reality. For adults, it's the happiness of the final dream of red sled - Rosebud? However you choose to see the ending is up to you. To me, it's the final sacrifice of Jonas for the sake of the others - individuality that makes the sacrifice for the good of community. It's touching and powerful, and is the perfect way to end the story. View all 14 comments. Oct 20, Joyzi rated it it was ok Recommends it for: YA. Shelves: ya-books , books-tfg , disappointing-books , political-intrigue , banned , classics , own , dystopia , fiction , book-series.
The book is boring. The book is weird. I don't feel any emotions at all towards the character. I don't really understand the book. I don't really understand the ending. I don't really understand why the children at age whatever should be given ribbons, what's the purpose of that? I don't really understand why the characters should tell about their dreams to their parents. I don't understand why Johnas has to take medications because he was having Stirrings. So stirrings for those who haven't read the book is somewhat closer to wet dreams. I don't understand why the memories of war, loss etc. I know that life is imperfect but it seems that the characters have no backbone, like idk I don't buy the logic of that one. In short I don't really understand this at all!
If you're wondering whether I've read this one because it's a school requirement, the answer is NO. I buy this book because I've seen it on the list of best YA book here on Goodreads so many times. At one point I wrote a review for this book. That review was very well written and could have won awards! Sadly, when I went to submit it was one of the times that the Goodreads server crashed and the review was lost for the ages. On to a new review that will be much shorter and definitely inferior to the original.
This is one of the granddaddies of the YA dystopian genre. I enjoyed this book. I believe the fact that I was a new father at the time of reading made the subject matter difficult - I swear you will hug your kids right after finishing this. Twice while reading I threw this book across the room - that is not an exaggeration. I was so shocked by what I read that the book was propelled as far away from me as possible.
As an adult this book was hard to read and I cannot imagine reading it as a young adult. If my kids read this when they are teenagers, it is one I will definitely have to talk to them about before and after. I did finish the series, and overall it is very enjoyable - and the other books are not quite as shocking as this one! View all 43 comments. Reread just in time for the new movie! I've been meaning to come back to The Giver and write a better review for some time now and the soon-to-be-released movie seemed like as good an excuse as any.
My rating remains the same even though it's been several years and many badly-written YA dystopias since I last picked this up. I still think it's a good book, with an interesting concept and sophisticated writing For one thing, the protagonist and narrator has just turn Reread just in time for the new movie! For one thing, the protagonist and narrator has just turned twelve years old. While I'm glad that authors are writing thought-provoking books for younger children, there is a lack of depth in the narrative which was necessary in order for it to be a realistic portrait of a child's mind. The society and themes explored by the novel might have been more effective through the eyes of someone older, in my opinion.
In the story, citizens of this society are united by a "sameness" that fosters peace, cooperation and general well-being. Everyone is equal and everything is chosen for you As the novel opens, it appears to be a utopian world. But things are not all as they first seem. When Jonas is selected to be the Receiver of Memory, his mind is opened to the dark secrets of the society he was born into. He learns that harmony has a price and it might just be more than he's willing to pay. This book gradually explores and perhaps challenges the notion that ignorance is bliss.
How much is it worth to live peaceful - if empty - lives? I like the idea of it far more than I like the novel itself. The strength of the novel is not in the plot, writing or characters I understand why readers of Matched felt compelled to compare the two - the functioning of the societies is almost identical and the MCs experience some similar dilemmas, though Matched is far more romantic. I suppose it is further evidence of how influential this little book has been on the genre. The concepts are, for me, definitely stronger than the characters. And the ambiguous ending pleased me in the way it was crafted, rather than causing me to fret over Jonas' fate. View all 12 comments. Oct 16, mark monday rated it really liked it Shelves: after-the-fall , inbetweenworld.
The Giver accomplishes its goals with ease. View all 68 comments. Jul 02, Luffy rated it it was amazing Shelves: 5-star. The style of the wording pleased me very much. So much that it threatened to engulf my perception of the story. I liked the book's plot, but what made me rate the book 5 stars was the presentation of the characters. I thought the Giver would be someone who is the main character Jonas, as a special and precocious boy, is the classic hero in this book.
I think many people have read The Giver. If you haven't, then there's no hurry. The story will remain actual at any time of The style of the wording pleased me very much.
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