Dystopian Review: The Giver (The Giver #1) by Lois Lowry

The Giver (The Giver #1)
by Lois Lowry


Description:
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.

1994 Newbery Medal winner. Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.


My Review:
The Giver is set in a future where humanity is conditioned for harmony and perfection and condensed into tiny pockets of civilization where life and knowledge are closely regulated. Behind it all, though is the Keeper, a person assigned the onerous task of remembering the full and true history of mankind in all its glory and horror. When Jonas is selected as the new Keeper, the former one becomes the Giver, imparting all of his knowledge in a one-way transfer.

What I love most about this book is how Jonas slowly begins to understand the nature of his society. The emotional underpinnings, which only he and the Keeper can experience, are heart wrenching. I think the author did a fantastic job portraying both the best and worst of humanity. And I also loved that once given, everything about the transferred idea, its emotion, memory and importance, are lost to the Giver.

I saw the movie before I listened to the audiobook, but the two are pretty close. Surprisingly, the ambiguous ending of the film was spot on. The ending in the book left me with that same sense of unease and ambiguity. Did he make it or not? I still have no idea, but it did leave me thinking.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. I’d recommend it to folks who enjoy dystopian stories with embedded lessons. It’s a chilling, yet hopeful read.

I picked this audiobook up from the library.


About the Author:

Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer. She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. After several years at Brown University, she turned to her family and to writing.

She is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader.s Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded the International Reading Association.s Children.s Book Award.

Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com.

The Giver Quartet:
Hmm, now that I'm prepping this post, I see that this is actually a quartet, and the ambiguous ending doesn't seem that bad anymore now that I know there is more.