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Summary: Just Imagine. You have the power.
Review: When I was a teenager, I wonder why I can feel the world I'm not sure it's really exist. We have the power of imagination which makes me feel something we can't really see, hear, touch, and somebody-we-care-for's feeling. It's sometimes painful to feel something. It makes us to love somebody and love, whether it's successful or failing one, brings us heartpain. If we want to avoid such heartpain, we must avoid love and feeling. But if we would do so, the world would turn into a colorless one and music would be lost. This story tells us what would happen if we avoid love and feeling and try hard to abolish all these memory connected to love and feeling. Just imagine, there's no memory of love and feeling. You have the power. And look around the world you exist in. It will look beautiful to you.
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Summary: The Giver
Review: "The Giver," by Lois Lowry, is a novel about a perfect world that would never exist. The community in which these characters live in is surreal. Their lifestyle is based on what they are told to be and how they are told to live. This book has many themes and meanings. A particular theme is the study of folklore and cultures of different people. In this novel, Jonas is the main character. He is a twelve year old boy who will be turning thirteen in a short time. He is excited about this fact, because in his community, when you reach a certain age, you are given a job that you have to perform for the rest of your life. When it is time for the ceremony, and the children are all given their job assignments, Jonas believes that he had been forgotten about. Surprisingly, he was told that his job assignment would be that of the Giver. Jonas was to go into training immediately. The Givers' job was to receive the memories of all the people in the community. All the love, pain, hate, anger, happiness, worry, frustration, war, hunger, and every other emotion possible, would be in the hands of Jonas. After some training, and Jonas' witnessing of his father murdering an infant, Jonas decided that it is too much for him and he decides to go "Elsewhere." This decision would be a very dangerous one, because no one was allowed to leave the community. Jonas does it anyway, and wonders what is waiting for him beyond his own community. The Giver is an appropriate book for the study of folklore because it shows how memories are supposed to be passed from one generation to another, for a person to truly understand who they are and where they are coming from. The Giver shows us that for a community to survived and live normally there has to be a balance of emotions and no one person should be able to hold all these emotions and not pass them one. Although our world and communities are not perfect, it is more important that we know who we are, and we be able to love and hate and feel whatever emotion we choose, than to live in a perfect world filled with no emotion.
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Summary: a utopia?
Review: The Giver by Louis Lowry was an exceptional novel about the true nature of a utopian society. The society that the main character, 12-year-old Jonas, lives in is completely devoid of the emotions and pleasures of life in order to shield them from the bad points. However when Jonas is selected to receive all of the memories of the "old" world, his safe life is thrown into turmoil. Through this child's eyes, Lowry poses the question as to whether this utopia is actually superior to society today. Yes, there is no pain, war, hunger, ect., but in order to cause this "sameness" the people are forced to live in a world as if sedated, devoid of strong emotions, and ultimately the freedom of choice. Lowry attempts to answer her own question in the denouement of the novel, which although in a minority, I thought was an appropriate way to end. Since it does not supply a definite answer, she allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. It would have seemed trite to me if there were a simplistic end to the novel, since the ideal of a utopia is such a complex concept.
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Summary: A Good Read
Review: THE GIVER is a good study of folklore and transcendentalism or the philosophy of the perfect world. It shows how it could or couldn't work, depending on the reader's point of view and how it changes the human being. It is most definitely worthy of its awards and is a good and easy read. It's not difficult to understand and yet provides a deeper meaning for anyone willing to look for it. Definitely 4 stars possibly 5.
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Summary: The BEST book ever!
Review: This is an exciting book! It tells what seems that Lois Lowry thinks might be the future! It is like when there is no color, no music, no wars/battles, you never get hurt...it is like a totally different world! You live in a dwelling with a mother who isn't your birthmother, a father that was assigned to you "mother" and a sibling of a different gender. It is so exciting! Jonas (a boy who is curious about OUR world) gets assigned to one of the hraddest and MOST important jobs in the whole community. The book is a huge adventure and has a wonderful ending! This book was probably the best book I have ever read and best I will ever read!!!
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Summary: memories unknown
Review: Reading The Giver was a very interesting to me. At first,the thought of living in such a world of perfectness and simplicity was amazing. No worries, no tears, no broken promises, no hate, no pain. Wow, amazing. But then it seemed to be unbalanced because there was no love, no pleasure, no happiness. This is when the story gets confusing and emotions start to rise. Jonas was the main character in the story. He was to be the next upcoming Giver. This seemed to be an exciting job for Jonas. then the training began. Jonas was to be accepting the responsibility of feelings and emotions. Pain, hate, love, anger, sadness, happiness, war, joy and the ability to see colors and lie. This was all new to Jonas. He couldn't fathom how he would accept and carry the responsibility to bear all of these emotions. An incident occurs in which he sees his father murder a baby. This was apparently too much for Jonas to handle. He decides to run away from his community. This was a very dangerous decision for Jonas to make because it was illegal. There were some night watches looking out. Jonas didn't care and decided to go "Elsewhere". Jonas shows bravery in his choice to leave his community which he realizes is filled with imperfection and ignorance.
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Summary: review - a bit confused
Review: I am a student that was assigned to read The Giver for class. The first night we recived the book I read it in whole. I couldnt seem to put the book down, the details pulled me in, and there was an element of suspense that wouln't let me go. As I was reading, I decided that this book was one of my favorites. As I reached the end of the book, I was unbelivably dissapointed. This book, which was full of detail, had just left an ending out to the open. Had jonas died? Was he dreaming? What happened? It seemes no one quite knows. If you love a book with a great ending, dont read this one.
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Summary: Giver Review
Review: "The Giver" is a very strong novel whose main point is the importance of differences and choice. Also especially important is the theme of safety over freedom. It demonstrates these points by showing a society with very few differences and freedoms. In these respects it is very similar to "1984", and "A Brave New World", although it seems to be geared for a younger audience. The story revolves around a boy named Jonas who is chosen to become the only one in the community who is given the capability to remember the past. The rest of the community can only know things as they are now, not as they were before. No history books or other reference materials exist, so the "Receiver of Memories", as the position is titled, is the only person with knowledge that can be used in new situations. Everything and everyone else runs by a mechanical routine. Eventually Jonas, encouraged by the former Receiver, flees the village in order to restore the memories to all the people. The ends like "Lady and the Tiger" with no one knowing if Jonas makes it to a better place or dies in the attempt. The biggest problem I saw in this book was the predictable plot. Once you understood the job of the Receiver of Memories you could guess the rest. The term "release" in this book is a euphemism for death designed to be mysterious, but given that those inefficient per the needs of the community are "released" and disappear forever. You know that Jonas does not like or fit into the system, the old Receiver is idealistic and the book needs to make a point. It fits that they would try to change things. The only way to do that is to return memories to the people. The details are just that, details.
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Summary: And parents always tell you not to make the wrong choice....
Review: This story takes place in a future in which there are no choices. There are ordered little communities in which there are many rules and all people's lives are planned out by committees. In one such community, a young boy named Jonas is chosen to recieve the memories of all history. These memories of emotions are taken on by one person in the community to protect all the other people. At first, Jonas is a little scared of his new assignment. After a while, though, he can no longer understand why people have chosen to live without choice and emotion. Thus, he and the Giver, being the only two people with these memories, hatch a plan to try and give these memories back to the community in a hope to change it. I found this book to be extremely interesting. I would recommend it to anyone, but especially to people who like deep, science-fiction type books.
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Summary: The Battle for Perfection is Lost on Both Sides
Review: I loved the novel, The Giver. It exposed the advanced world of utopia and its problems. Although a utopian world has its benefits such as no poverty, hunger, and racism, it also restricts people from the simple benefits of life, such as being able to see colour, being able to make decisions on your own, and unexpected weather changes. Although a utopian life may be desirable to many, living life w/out these benefits isn't living life at all. Having a predictable and controlled environment is not at all satisfactory. Lois Lowry has shown this to us through the eyes of a 12-year old child, Jonas. Another reason I like this book was because I had never read a story like it before. It is very different from the normal books that I have read because it expands on society. Each time I read it, it makes me think of how corrupt our society and world is. I want to change our government, not to the point where it's communist or utopian, but enough that we won't have to worry about money, hunger, or devastation. We would all have jobs and work to better ourselves. We would be the land of opportunity that we never were. The book was going along smoothly until the very end. I believe the end was very abrupt and incomplete. It would have my final star if the last chapter had some sort of happy, if any, conclusion.
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