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Summary: A novel, that makes us thinking about our life in society!
Review: ...P>The protagonist of the story by Lois Lowry is the eleven-years-old Jonas. He lives, at first glance, in a wonderful community protected from pain, illness, unemployment or unhappiness. Jonas is approaching his twelfth birthday, the day on which he will receive the assignment for his future life. He is chosen to become the new Receiver of Memory. His teacher, The Giver, stores all the memories generations before had given up to live in Sameness. During Jonas' training in becoming the new Receiver he learns a lot about emotions, animals or different weather conditions, things that the other community members had never known before....P>That book is absolutely a great one. While reading the book through the eyes of Jonas more and more questions were raised - some where answered, some not. You get a closer look on your own life, your life as an individual, your life in society.How would life be without happiness? Or without pain? What is life living in sameness? What is a protective society? Where do we have to draw the line between creating protection and taking away the things that make us human? And what is it exactly that make us human? Lowry doesn't offer us any answer, more effective, she makes us think of our own how these questions will be answered. I have really enjoyed reading the "The Giver" and I guess it was the right decision by the teacher "making" us reading it. It was worth the time it took to read and understand ...
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Summary: Amazing!!
Review: The Giver was amazing! It was about a boy named Jonas who lives in a community of Sameness. Where everything is the same and safe. Nobody has to worry about emotional pain. Everything was perfect until the Ceremony of 12. That's when everybody in his age group was assigned an assignment. When the Chief Elder skipped Jonas the crowd became uneasy. They paid attention to the rest of the assignments but were still anxious about Jonas. After the last assignment the Chief Elder announced a selection. Jonas was selected to be the reciever, the most honored job in the community. Jonas starts his training and experiences pain, joy, and even more in depth feelings. Things he's never felt before.
I finished this book in 2 days. That means it was a very good book. (And it earned me an A in reading) Recently our Reading teacher read aloud Gathering Blue which, like The Giver, was set in the future. This book was much easier to tell though because of the memories, having technology, and because of the animals. Also they were alike because Lois Lowery left you hanging at the end. She wanted you to have imagination and figure out the ending on the own. And I still wonder if the boy with light eyes in Gathering Blue is Jonas or not.
Overall this book was excellent!
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Summary: Great Book
Review: Wow! This book is awesome. So many great ideas. If you need a good book to sink your teeth into; pick up this book now and read it! For me it is in my top 10 favorite books. Which is pretty good. You have to read this great book because how can you enjoy the book without reading it?
~Brian~
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Summary: Drop at end
Review: The Giver is a very good book. No, a realy good book. I loved it. It kept me wondering, I would try to guess what would happen next. Things that kept on appering in my head were questions such as: what exacly does this mean? it might be a lie! whas this right or wrong? could it be better? The Giver is a very exiting book that kept me on my toes. The story is about a boy named Jonas who was chosen to hold all the memories of the past for his community. His community is a town were everyone is the same. However that doesn't mean that they just are all equal. They had the same of everything, same school every thing in their lives were the same. People got assigned jobs at 12 and were given every thing they needed. There were strict rules such as 1 boy and 1 girl per family. They didn't even have their own kids they had to apply for them and like "UPS" would deliver them to your house which was exacly like everyone elses. Anyway, I didn't like the ending. It just sudenly ended. Jonas ran away!
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Summary: The Giver
Review: Have you ever wanted to live in a 'perfect' world? In The Giver, Jonas lives in the 'perfect' world that does not have war, sickness, or hunger. Lois Lowry wrote The Giver in 1993. This Newbery award book is a futuristic science fiction about what could possibly happen in post-apocalyptic times. The theme of The Giver is 'life is boring and meaningless if everything is the same.' Although some things are hard and painful, those times make life interesting and worth living.
Jonas is an ordinary boy in his community, except for one fact: he sees 'beyond.' At the age of twelve, all children go to a ceremony and receive their life job. Jonas was given the job of 'Receiver of Memory.' He receives all the memories of the past from the Giver. When Jonas grows old, he will be the Giver and give his memories to the new 'Receiver of Memory.' The memories are from hundreds of generations ago. Some memories are happy, while some are horrifying and very painful. The 'Receiver' keeps the memories so the people do not have to endure them. Therefore, people give up color, individual freedom, and responsibility. While Jonas is receiving memories, he realizes life was better when everything was not the same. Although there was violence, hunger, and sickness, life was more meaningful. Jonas and the Giver want to do something, to somehow bring more meaning to the community, but are not sure what to do.
The Giver is a very interesting, yet different kind of book. It makes you think about what the world and the human race could become. It also makes you think about the importance of freedom and of diversity. I thought it was a good book; though some people might find it disturbing. For example, Jonas finds out what 'releasing' really is. He only knows it is the worst punishment in his community, but does not realize that it is a type of euthanasia or mercy killing. As a writer, Lowry uses very vivid and colorful verbs and adjectives. I would recommend this book to anyone who does not mind disturbing references and likes thinking of the future in a different way.
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Summary: A Look at the Giver
Review: After reading The Giver, I was amazed at how the setting, thoughts, and characters all interacted to spin the story that you can't put down. It appears to be a perfect future with no hunger, no war, no pain, and the awareness that all was well. Based on things in everyday life, The Giver focuses on the life of Jonas, a boy that lives in an environment of peace, rules, structure, equality, and seeming perfection. But when given the title as The Receiver of Memory, Jonas begins to see his family, their life, and their world differently. Jonas leads the reader on a journey of self-discovery that forces you to think of how you, your life, and your beliefs are shaped. It is this journey that leads Jonas to question everything and find that all of life is not as we grow up believing. This book was great; it never stopped raising questions--some answered, some not. By seeing the world through Jonas's eyes, you can not help but see your own life differently and know that some questions have no answers, but we must always keep asking.
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Summary: Message Received
Review: This little book is titled "The Giver," but the message is easily received. It is written for young readers, but the message is timely for most adults as well. Recognizing that this book has a young audience in mind, it is not surprising that the "message" is somewhat in your face. You don't have to take a college course in philosophy to figure out what Lois Lowry is trying to say. But that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to think about...there is! In the perfect little world of sameness that the story takes place, the ideas of knowledge, history, personal choice, diversity, death (and others) are considered bad and not useful for a successful society. The result seems, on the surface, to work just fine, but you discover that their denial is so great that they don't even see the deepest, darkest secrets of their own existence. They can't! Not because they're blind, not because they're brain damaged, but because their paradigms are so carefully shaped for them that they don't even know to ask certain questions. Only one member of the community at a time has any knowledge of the dark side of their collective experience, the Receiver of Memories. As engaging as the story is, it is also timely. Looking at my religious tradition, I can see elements of this story all over it. Looking at other fundamentalist movements, I see the same thing. Everywhere you look you see movements to reduce our personal choices and freedom, denying and re-shaping history to fit our wants rather reflecting reality. It's all packaged by those who claim special or even divine knowledge that they "know what is best for us, even though we, ourselves, cannot see it." Like sheep we follow, and that following results in such tragedies as the Mountain Meadows Massacre in our own western history, the Jonestown massacres, the Branch Dividians, and most recently the spate of Islamic terrorism that spans the globe. Each act is perpetrated by well-meaning followers who have sacrificed their personal freedoms, their personal choice, their personal knowledge, their personal awareness for good of the society, only to find that sacrifice of self equals sacrifice of society. This is a great little book, and one well worth the three hours it takes to read (though the premis is nothing new...it borrows shamelessly from other Utopian themes, such as B.F. Skinner's "Walden Two"). My copy is a "Readers Circle" copy, with discussion questions included. I strongly recomend reading this book with a group of others and discussing it together. The message will be that much more profound!
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Summary: The Giver is an exellent book
Review: The Giver is about a boy named Jonas. He lives in the future with his mom, dad, and his sister lily.He is an eleven and is about to become a twelve and will get his assignment. An assignment is a job.He gets the job as The Receiver of Memories and, something very surprising happens.
I liked the giver. It was a good book, because it made me just want to keep on reading it. I especially liked the ending witch you will have to read to find out what happens.
I learned that you shouldn't play god, because it messes up peoples lives. I also think that the school system was cool, because they had more responsability then we do and they get a job when they're twelve. Thats why I think the Giver is a good book.
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Summary: A wonderful book
Review: When I was in the 7th grade our teacher read us this book. While browsing through Amazon I came across it. It was a wonderful book than, and now I have decided to buy the book. It is very unique and makes you think long, and hard. I would recommend this book to any and everyone.
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Summary: Alek Dzikieleski Period 3 English
Review: The Giver, by Lois Lowry is science fiction. Jonas is the main character of the story. He is wierd, but everyone is wierd in the story. He and everyone else have to do a challenge once a year and get new stuff every challenge. They are cut off from the rest of the world. Airplanes cannot fly over this place when they do everyone is scared. This place is dark, no sun and surrounded by water. This book is okay, it does not have much details and this makes you want to know what happens.
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