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Summary: An extremely good book!
Review: When I finished reading this book at first, my first thought was that it was a little weird. But later I decided that the "weirdness" was what made it interesting and hard to put down. This definitely is one of my favorite books, because it is well-written in its details and very original in its plot.
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Summary: The Giver is the best book I've ever read!
Review: The giver is a capturing story about a boy named jonas and his world is perfect. Then he is chosen to be the next giver. The giver alone holds the knowing of th pain and sorrow and joys of the real world, such as color,and love, or music. Jonas then comes up with a plan to run away and leave some of his memories behind so the other people in his community can experience what he did, too, so they can learn and adjust themselves and have a taste of his world.-Aimee Miles
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Summary: Makes you relize how great your life is.
Review: The Giver is about a boy that lives in a world that has no crime, no color, no sex, no difference. He, Johas, becomes the reciever of Meories. He learns the truth and painful lies about his world.
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Summary: Bad end
Review: The begining of this book was good. It is a good idea for a book but it seems incompleat. I had to read this book in 6th grade 2 years later i bought it so i could see why i hated it. It's because at the end he is just at the top of the hill looking down. It needs to tell what hapens next. Some books that i read are like that except the endings are writen so that you can imagin what happens. The Giver just stops. I think the book should be rewritten with a better end. Maybe I will write a sequal.
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Summary: Generates quality conversation between adult and child
Review: When I read this book after it first came out, I said to myself, "This is the 1994 Newbery winner!" It was the last year of my 35 year teaching career, and I made up my mind that I was going to read it to my fifth graders despite the fact that many thought it was too sophisticated for that age group. The quality conversations about the importance of independence, appreciation of humans, enjoyment of ordinary life experiences, and quality of life abounded between student and teacher - and between students even at Snack Time! I convinced my Book Club to read it, and the conversation was as good as one we've had with many adult books. I recommend it for any parent who would like to have an intelligent conversation with his or her child. It is truly science fiction at its best!
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Summary: Excellent!!! Different from other books.
Review: The Giver sends out such curiosity that makes you want to read on. Seeing how the story is written in the status of no crime, violence, sex, and many other things that this world contains. It is interesting to see how the story goes through and ends up. Twelve yr. old Jonas has been chosen,from the ceremony of Twelves, to be the reciever of memory. Jonas has to slowly adapt to not seeing his friends (Asher and Fiona) as much as before. Lowry takes you on a journey of a boy going into adulthood in a place set with rules and regulations.He slowly discovers things he hadnt before.
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Summary: The Key to The Giver is Jungian Philosophy
Review: According to Lowry, The Giver, like her other books, is about "the vital need for humans to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment." As an adult of 35, my reading of The Giver disclosed a book steeped in Jungian psychology/philosophy. Although most of the over 530 reviews before mine were written by young adults or children, several were also written by adults (including teachers). I find it strange that nobody mentioned the Jungian connection until now. Carl Jung's concepts of synchronicity, the collective unconscious ("Elsewhere" and "Memories of the Whole World"), Archtypes of the Unconscious, our "twin" shadow figures (see Lily's ramblings on pg. 137) which teach us through our dreams, the Self ("this IS my life... the memories" pg. 103)... it's all there hidden in the text. The term "Elsewhere" is ambiguous and equivocal; it has different meanings. Those who are "released" (killed) or "lost" (natural death) go "Elsewhere." But "Elsewhere" also implies somewhere outside of the community where there are hills, snow, animals, and, it is implied (although made improbably - e.g., airplanes), a civilization like the readers of the book, but I don't believe Lowry intended that OUR civilization co-exist on the same planet as Jonas's, and the Elsewhere that he and Gabe found at the end of the novel was the "final destination" that "held their future and their past" (pg. 179) as well as that of every person: DEATH, which, paradoxically, does not necessarily mean non-existence but entrance into an afterlife. But, given Jung's (and Lowry's) philosophy, the afterlife or Elsewhere that Jonas and Gabe experience is the Collective Unconscious or Memory of the entire human race! Remember, "memories are forever" (pg. 104) and we ARE our memories (pgs. 103-104). The end of the last chapter is vague precisely because entrance into the Jungian Elsewhere via "received" memories (of Christmas, the sled, etc.) and imagination (that "special knowledge that was deep inside him," pg. 179, before he died) is vague as a philosophical idea.Aside from the Jungian philosophy, there are obviously many great things about this book that make it a classic for both young and old. Read the other reviews! Personally, I enjoyed the book and consider it essential reading in the dystopian genre. Thanks Tammy for recommending it to me! - Brad Clark
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Summary: For a community that lacks emotions, The Giver sure has many
Review: The Giver is my favorite book. I liked how the author told thestory from Jonas's point of view and you found out things like colorwhen he did. The way it was written with phrases like "precision of language" and how everyone was "a" nine or "a" twelve that helped me understand the precise but dull way that things were done in their community. When we read this book in the sixth grade our teacher asked us what Jonas meant in the end of the book when he was going on that last sled ride and and the book said "I remember this place Gabe." and it was true. But it was not a thin and burdensome reccolection: this was different. This was something he could keep it was a memory of his own. We decided that it was refering to the dream that Jonas had just after he got that first memory of the sled ride and that he was traveling to the place that he could not get to in the dream. Many people said that they didn't like the endind. I did. It leaves room for your imagination that place where he was travellin to and had worked so hard to get to was there and welcoming them. It doesn't matter what that place was, only that he had made it there and that he would be o.k. and that maybe just maybe there was also music comeing from the community. Maybey just maybe the community had come to terms with themselves and were singing and maybe just maybe it was only an echo. We also had to write sequals to the book for English. Many said that Jonas had died and gone to heaven. Others wrote about the place that he had travelled to. Some wrote about what it was like back in the community when they had to come to terms with themselves.In one story which I remember very well, the entere community went completly mad and a few went as far as to blame the Giver and they in their utter madness killed him. After that the community just destroyed itself. The ending brings many posibilities and would not be so bad if you just thought about it. I would not reccomend this book for anyone under 6th grade. Not because they couldn't understand it but because they wouldn't get as much out of it and because for some it could be overwhelming. Anyone who reads it will want to discussit later. The Giver is a book that requires you to think. Requires you to use your imagination. You also have to feel whats going on. I think that it deserves the Newberry medal that it got.
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Summary: Though I'm only 8, this has been the best book ever.
Review: Though I'm only 8, this has been the best book ever. The two possibilities at the end were one of the most interesting things to me. The characters were very well put together and it was very nice to listen to the dialogue. Even though they had no difference, they showed it for inside. For example, Fiona was gentle, Jonas was brave, and Asher was funny. So even if you try to make people exactly the same, you can't.
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Summary: This was a great book
Review: I loved this book, I read it every year. It is a book for adults and teenagers, my mom enjoyed this book as much as I did. It was imaginative and interesting...It made me wonder how anyone could live like that. I hope you read this book...I thought it was wonderful.
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