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Summary: Lois Lowry is a genius
Review: The books that Lois Lowry writes and amazing. Especialy in this book, theme and symbolism are brought through in a way that a child can enjoy just as much as an adult. Our whole family read this book and had a discusion on its connections to the Bible as well as to idealism and the significance of difficulties. I recomend this book to any age group, and any perfered reading genra, this book covers them all. --If you like this, also try Lois's other book, Gathering Blue
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Summary: My 10th grade reading assignment
Review: I had to read this book for my summer reading assignment for the 10th grade at first when I heard the title I though what a boring book but then when i bought the book iand actually started to read it I though that it was acutally and awesome bok and I really became interested in it. When i was called down for dinner by my mom I was soo into the book that i forgot she told me that dinner was ready and i just kept on reading it.therefore before I knew it it was 10 o'clock in the night and i was in the middle of the story. I loved all the imagery and characters that they had it was an great adventure and i really enjoyed reading it. So for all those kids who had to read this book and though what a bummer it really is a great book for you to read and you'll love every second of it.
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Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I had to read this book for school, it was the 1st school book i enjoyed reading. It is a bit complicated and kinda leaves you hangin but i recommend it.
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Summary: Touching and Thought Provoking
Review: If you want a book that will make you think, then _The Giver_ is a book for you. It is a thought provoking book in many ways. It reminds us as citizens whose lives have also been changed by technology and the people who run the country, that just because we have the capability to do something, doesn't mean that we should. Although many do not care for the open ending, I loved it because it made me feel hopeful for the future of Jonas and Gabriel. A whole new land of color awaited them and it was full of music!
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Summary: A Fable About The Value of Passion
Review: A fable in which the "perfect society" has eliminated all conflict by eliminating things like color, music, and most things about which one could be passionate. The young boy coming of age discovers these things and tries to break away. It's a good story to get kids talking about what matters in life. What is worth fighting for. That all conflict is not bad. That passions make life worth living. Provocative.
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Summary: GREAT SCIENCE FICTION BOOK!
Review: Story: Jonas lives in a new futuristic "perfect" world. No pain. No wars. But no true feelings. No color. No pleasure. No love. It's a dull dull world, not to mention boring. Jonas is selected to be the Receiver, the person who gets ALL the past memories of life before the "Sameness" (when everyone made the move to become as similar as possible) so that no one else will have them or feel them. But Jonas thinks that the world SHOULD see and have these memories because with the pain, comes great benefits. It isn't really living unless you them. What will Jonas do to satisfy his desire to share it with the world? Comments: I love this book. I love all the science fiction books I've read so far. It makes you feel sad for the people in his world since there is no true feelings and stuff like that but it makes you appreciate your world. It frustrates me because no one praises differences and uniqueness...they all run from it. The ending is very satisfying. READ THIS BOOK! It's a great book. I think everyone should read it.
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Summary: EKU Student
Review: I am not really a science fiction reader, but this book kept my interest all the way to last page. Excellent read! I would recommend this book for grades 7-9 or 12-19 year olds. Imagine living in a unique world where no one has to make choices and life decisions are made for you. Jonas the main character in "The Giver" faces this conflict when he questions where people go after their jobs are over or if they are not qualified for a job. When he turns twelve he gets his assignment which drastically changes his life. It is not really the job he expects. Read the Giver to find out if he can handle the pressure of taking away opportunities to feel.
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Summary: The Giver
Review: I've grown fond of children's books. We take better care of our children than we do ourselves. We encourage our children to eat their vegetables whether we do ourselves or not. We encourage them to play outside whether we exercise or not. We care about what they are allowed to read, while we read trash.
We should be concerned about what our children read. Reading is an intimate experience. When we read, we let someone else come inside our brains, walk around, and leave things. Sticks and stones can break your bones, but books can change the way you think. We are right to care about the sorts of things our children invite into their minds, and this concern has led to a children's literature that's better in many respects than what is supposed to be "adult" literature.
I was converted to children's books in stages, as my children started being interested in reading, but the final step-the icing on the cake-was a book entitled The Giver, by Lois Lowry. It can be read in a few hours, but that does not decrease its impact, which is something like that of a sledgehammer. It is the story of a boy named Jonas who lives in what seems to be an ideal world. There is no crime, no hunger, and no dissatisfaction. Everyone is in the profession that best suits his talents. It appears to be ideal. The Greeks had a word for a place like this, and that word was "Utopia". It shows the keen insight of those old Greeks that the word means "nowhere". Nowhere is perfect. Nowhere is without problems.
While the Community in which Jonas lives is without strife, it also lacks a great many other things. On the way to achieving the "perfect" community, certain sacrifices have been made. Jonas discovers this when he turns twelve and is assigned his life profession, The Receiver of Memories. Part of the price paid for utopia is loss of connection to the past. The children of the Community are not raised by their biological parents, but by foster parents who are deemed suitable for the job of parenting. After the children of the community are grown, they lose connection with their foster parents, so even family history is lost. One might think about the impact this would have on the situation in the Middle East. There wouldn't be any fighting for the Promised Land. The Promise would all be a part of the forgotten past. For those of us who would like to see peace, this notion might be quite appealing.
However, Lowry's insight is that a person without a past is a person without a future. While there is virtue to be had by living in the present in the metaphorical sense, living entirely in the present without connection to the Eternal is sterile.
Jonas's role as Receiver of Memory is necessary for the Community because basic survival does require some knowledge of the human past, but this knowledge is a great burden, as human history is full of pain. The Receiver of Memory remembers these unpleasant things so others won't have to. The decision was made to remove this unpleasantness from the Community's conscience. In reading this, I was reminded that some people shudder at the bloody passages in the Old Testament and regret their inclusion in the Bible. Sometimes fiction is not far from the truth.
But in forgetting pain, much that was pleasant has also been forgotten: Snow, sunny days, and the love of a family. Bad weather is inconvenient, and so the weather is controlled. Sexual yearnings cause problems, and so they are eliminated by taking a pill. Even love has been removed.
This brings up another theme of the book, the use of language. Children are continually urged to use language precisely. Once Jonas asks his foster father if he loves him and is told that love is a meaningless word. His foster father says that he is very fond of Jonas, but that he couldn't possibly love him because there is no such thing.
Yet we, the reader, know that there is such a thing, and in the course of gaining the memories of the community, Jonas discovers not on does love exists, but that he is capable of it in its deepest form.
Though there is never an explicit reference to religion, one might almost see The Giver as sequel to the story of the Fall of Man in the book of Genesis. In eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Man is separated from nature and separated from God. Mans knowledge of the universe and how to manipulate it enables him to control. The world shown in The Community in The Giver is one that logically follows from that separation. The Community controls everything, the weather, and the sexual urges of the young. The separation from nature is complete, and perhaps so is the separation from God.
The theologians have a name for the complete separation from God, and that name is "Hell." Hell is not usually presented as being so clean as the Community, nor its people as being so polite, but somehow I do believe that, like the Community, Hell is made-to-order by man.
The most frequent complaint that one sees about the book is about its ending. It would be an understatement of massive proportions to say that my twelve-year-old, the Middle-Child, found the ending to be very frustrating. However, it need not be if one takes it at face value, and that is all I am going to say.
The next time you would like a good, short read, and if you are tired of being force-fed someone else's sexual fantasies, let me recommend The Giver. If nothing else, it will make you think.
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Summary: BORING
Review: I had to read this book in my english lessons!
My opinion of this book is that it is very boring because many parts are difficult to read (IÂ'm from Germany)!
There is no action in this book! The topic is very interesting but its too short and there are not enough descriptions about the community and there history!
The Open-end is a big mistake. I want to know how does the story ends!
An other penalty point is that the story is written in a long-winded way.
This book could be better.
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Summary: A Not-So-Perfect Utopia
Review: In this world, there is no color, there are no choices. People can't feel pain and teens are watched from birth then assigned a job when they turn 12.
Jonas is just like everyone else. He plays with his friends. He eats three times a day. He goes home and goes to bed, when he is supposed to. He never did anything wrong, and he never did anything incredibly good either. So why should he be singled out to apprentice The Giver when he turned 12?
The Giver holds all the memories of pain and war and beauty and color that Jonas's world doesn't know exists. But the Giver is getting old. He needs to transfer those memories to someone.
The first memory Jonas experiences is snow. He lies on a bed and the Giver transfers his memory of sledding down a hill in the snow to Jonas's mind. So you might think this would be a pleasnt experience, finding out all the things you never knew about. But not really. Because a memory means you have already experienced it, and you can remember and feel every detail. So when Jonas is transfered pain and war and death and blood, he feels it. And it isn't all that pleasnt. Through these memories, Jonas sees and feels the world differently. He knows that he can see color, and he is the only person that can. He feels pain, and he cringes when his friends play war. Because these things are real. And he is about to find out more about his not-so-perfect-world. This book is a huge turning point in understanding feeling and the image of perfect.
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