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Summary: A very powerful story
Review: This book is very powerful and teaches you a lot of life lessons. I read it in school and I could hardly put it down! It talks about what some people would call a "perfect world". As the story goes on though, I realized a world with no difference is not perfect at all.
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Summary: "The Giver": Intruiging and thought-provoking.
Review: A wonderful story about aspects of life most people take for granted. I can't bear to give away any of the storyline, because you have to read it for yourself, but this book definitely shows a new perspective on life, and appreciating the freedoms we enjoy. The tone is mysterious yet not confusing; a beckoning call to read on and discover more about the strange world in which Jonas, the main character, lives. Lowry brings the message across smoothly and clearly, yet never dangles it in your face. I can only say that you have to read this book for yourself to appreciate it: no review can put across the feeling "The Giver" manifests in its story.
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Summary: Different-but Amazing!
Review: This book really makes you think. It's about a kid named Jonas who lives in the perfect world-no wars, no poverty, no hunger, etc. But while you may think it's what our world should be like, you're wrong. Jonas is chosen to be the next giver. He is given all types of memories of war, beauty, and colors. He realizes you need freedom of choice to live, and his world is not as good as it seems.
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Summary: A wonderful read-aloud
Review: I've read The Giver a few times to Grade 4 students and they love it. While only a few kids that age could read it independently, it's one of those books that seems to lift students up to its level of sophistication and helps them mature by seeing our culture with a little removedness. Set in the future, it gives a horrifying glimpse into "perfection". With everything safe and controlled, there's no tolerance or allowance for error, for real feelings, for true thought. It's a very colourless place! In fact, people have lost their ability to see colour -- all except for a few. Jonas is one of them, although at first he catches only brief glimpses and doesn't know what it is, just that for a moment something looks "different". This is one of the very powerful, sublte threads of the plot, the discovery that this different look to things is actually colour. The reader doesn't know for a very long time that this perfect world is in fact colourless, and when it finally is revealed, my students are always shocked! (sorry if I'm giving away some plot, but if you're a teacher and haven't read this book, it's good to know to add some intrigue about this, as it is very subtle). One of the most wonderful aspects about this book is that it makes us so very thankful for the world we have, with all its imperfections. A perfectly safe world is not so appealing afterall! It's certainly not without a very dark, secret underbelly. What is "Releasing?" A discovery more shocking than no colour! And this plot thread I won't give away! A good "while reading" technique is to make a Venn diagram to compare "The Future Community" to "Our Community", noting the similarities and differences. It makes a good, thoughtful focuser for the students. The ambiguous ending, I've found, leaves kids quite dissatisfied. Many of them feel cheated. Personally, I think this is wonderful, for it may be their first novel to not have all the loose ends neatly tied. Lowry leaves room for their own interpretation. What I like to do is not read the final chapter until after the kids have written their own endings. This way they can better deal with the amibiguity at the end, because they've thought it through to their own satisfaction already. I'd highly recommend this book if you love good, thought-provoking literature. Lowry shows true genius, and stimulates very high-level thinking.
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Summary: An Exceptional Young Adult Book
Review: The Giver is a very gratifying book. And it's not just for kids. Children will be fasinated by the story of Jonas, the Giver, and the perfect world they live in. Adults will find a sufficiently good read here too. Lowry is a very talented writer, and with The Giver has fabricated an awesome idea, flexing her muscles with a good plot and memorable, likeable characters. My only complaint was this book could have been so much more. As an older reader (still young at heart I assure you :) I found myself grimising at how underdeveloped the Giver character was. He's such a remarkable creation, show us and tell us more about him Lois! I realize this is a Young Adult book, and that explains the shortness of it, but still, even as a kid I think I would want to know more. More about the other communities, a little bit more about Jonas, and mostly, so much more about the Giver! Towards the end, he simply disappears too. Still, despite Lowry's lack of giving us much on the Giver, her novel is a very exceptional read for the youth, and a good, quick and easy read for the adult, that will make you think.
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Summary: Excellent!
Review: This book was excellent. I recommend it to anyone! Iv'e read ita couple times. Its a great story!
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Summary: amazing!
Review: The way Lois Lowry wrote this book is great. It is pretty confusing at first, but it clears up. It is weard how they think of our world and we think of theirs. This book should be a must for readers.
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Summary: The Giver, an Inspirational Book
Review: I am a 8th grader at a small school and did not read at all orat least for my own interest until last summer. Last summer I pickedthe giver from my book list and decided to read it. When I first started reading the book it was confusing but I continued to read. It took me three days to finish the book. When finished I was speechless, I wanted to read it again. It was a kind of book I had never read before. Since reading the giver I have read about ten books ( which is very good for me)with excitement and enthusiasm and plan to do read more. The Giver opened many doors for me, one I have explained already, my new love for reading. The other, gave me a sense of what I want to do when I am older, I want to be a writer. I give this book five stars and even more if I could.
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Summary: A Perfect Student Introduction to Negative Utopia
Review: "The Giver" makes a great addition to the already growing dystopia library. Many of you may be wondering what Negative Utopia and Dystopia are- no, they aren't commonly used terms, are they? Well, let's start early on... Many readers may have heard of books like "1984" (by George Orwell) and "Brave New World" (by Aldous Huxley). These great novels are perfect examples of modern dystopias. Dystopias, or Negative Utopias, as they are also known, are the opposite of a Utopia, or perfect society (making these words describe greatly flawed and problematic societies). The use of Negative Utopias usually revolves around human rights- in "1984", human rights are taken away, and "big brother" is always watching. In "Brave New World", the use of post-modern science is used to illustrate a dark world of the future, where people are genetically engineered and separated into classes. This type of writing is sometimes simply called paranoid, but I thoroughly believe that the warnings expressed in some of these books are important to consider- while I doubt that thought-police are going to take over our country tomorrow, sometimes our society seems to be heading that way. "The Giver" uses many of the same ideas (classes, regulated societies) to illustrate another dark world of the future, where marriages are formed by the government, and all children are adopted. It adds its own flavorful twist, though- a man called "the Giver" is designated to hold all of the dark thoughts that the rest of society has forgotten, memories that are passed on from generation to generation. This addition is very ingenious, and makes the entire plot a little more eerie. The book also succeeds in suspense- I couldn't stop reading until I got to the end. I was debating between 4 and 5 stars on this book, but in the end I decided on 5 stars. While there are some things that could have been developed or added, the book succeeds in doing the job it was meant to do: introducing the entire idea of Dystopias, or futuristic but flawed worlds, to students and young people.
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Summary: Review by 9d of the Pestalozzi - Gymnasium in Herne!
Review: Dear friends, I know that you like reading books. We (9d) read this book (The Giver written by Lois Lowry) which deals with rules in a community seperated from the whole world. At the beginning it is hard to understand and you will expect that it is a boring book. But after this part there is a turning - point in thrilling. After this point the story gets much more interesting, although it is still confusing. While you are reading the story lots of questions come to your mind. Some are answered later on but other answers you can only assume. All in all it is a very nice and interesting book because the author presents the advantages and problems of this perfect world seen through the community's eyes very well. That's why I can recommend the book.
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