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Summary: The Giver
Review: In a futuristic, perfect world, with no colour, love, or choice, Jonas is waiting for what he will become. Jonas is sent to "The Giver" by the commitee of Elders and assigned to receive memories of the past. But through these different memories there are tales of war, starvation and death, but Jonas can not share these memories with his friends. Little Gabriel, a newchild is to be released (killed), and so Jonas sets out on an adventure with Gabriel to find another place, another life... The winner of the 1994 Newbery medal, "The Giver" is a fantastic read for all ages.
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Summary: A lesson wrapped in an excellent story
Review: I first read this book when I was almost Jonas' age, and I absolutely fell in love with the story. At the time I didn't know why I liked it so much, nor did I understand why the author chose the ending to be so abrupt. I was left wanting to know more about what happened to Jonas and Gabriel, and what effect their leaving had on the community. "That's all?" I yelled when I read the final page. I clamored for a sequel, but even then I knew that in all honesty, a sequel was unnecessary.
Now, almost eight years later, I have gained even more appreciation for this fine book. The subject matter isn't airy and light. Characters who you initially like do some pretty terrible things. The world Jonas lives in, while at first very appealing, turns out to be a whited sepulcher (to steal from J. Conrad/The Bible). These are important themes for a child to learn, especially for one coming of age. Appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes evil is packaged in such a way as to make it appealing. Lies can look like truth, and people in positions of authority are not always right.
Some parents and educators (to use the term loosely), decry the message it sends, saying kids who read The Giver will think adults can't be trusted, and will be disobedient. Excuse me, but if they do, it's because they're healthy adolescents. Far be it for Lowry to encourage kids to think for themselves, but at least she gives them something of substance to mull over. And she doesn't lie to them, either. Pain hurts. War often results when people have choices. Jonas' community does have its upsides. It doesn't have pain or war, or even sadness. But it doesn't have love or choices either. (Of course I'm simplifying, and the most satisfying part of the book is not social commentary, but the wonderful characters.) With her straightforward prose, Lowery shows just what kind of world we live in today...where a future like Jonas' is very possible.
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Summary: An Exciting and Incredible Novel
Review: The Giver is hands down one of the best novels I've read. The 1994 Newbery Medal winning-book by Lois Lowry. The Newbery Medal honors the most outstanding contribution to children's literature published in the prior year. The Giver provides fantasy with enough realism that you find yourself comparing things to the world we live in. The Giver is about Jonas, a child living in a particular community. In his community, individuals do not get to choose their own careers. You are observed throughout your schooling and required volunteer hours, and a job that fits your aptitudes is selected for you. So Jonas is looking forward to the ceremony where he receives his assignment, or job. Jonas soon discovers that he has not received any ordinary job. He has been named as the new "Receiver of Memories." Only one person has this job at any time, and the old one is ready to retire. Before the old one, whom Jonas comes to call "The Giver," can retire, he must pass on all of his knowledge to Jonas. Through the course of his job training, Jonas discovers that his society isn't all it's cracked up to be. The more he finds out about other societies, the more dissatisfied he becomes with his own. However, his society can only be changed in one way, and that way can be deadly. What does Jonas decide to do? You'll have to read and find out! The best thing about this book was the way it kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Wherever I thought the story was going, that's not where it went. New twists, turns, and ideas were found on every page of every chapter. Even things that are familiar to you will be seen from a new perspective.
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Summary: The Giver
Review: How would living in a flawless world of sameness feel like? In Jonas's mind it is a perfect place. No pain. No secrets. No war. It is just as if living a dream. Everyone has a role in the community and is placed in training at the age of twelve. Each year prior to twelve, there are ceremonies. For example, at the age of nine, the child receives their first bicycle. Then at age seven and eight, sweaters are given to teach the child how to put it on and eventually how to button it. Every one of these gifts is meant to teach proper life skills for the future.
Well, it is time for Jonas's twelve ceremony. Everyone is excited to see the jobs chosen for each child. As he stands nervously awaiting the announcement of his name, the announcer mysteriously skips his name and moves on to the next. Come to find out, he is chosen for the most difficult and rarest job in the community, to be the next Giver. So, later he begins his training. Jonas works with the Giver and finds out about what the world was like in the past. The Giver tells him that nobody has feelings or emotions, that the only one who can hold the memories and pain of the entire community is Jonas.
By transmitting the memories to Jonas, he experiences life like no other. At first it is true pleasure feeling the warmth of the sun melting over head. Then the brutal bloody scenes of war approached. Jonas starts to see that sameness is not good. His friends don't understand why he acts out against them when playing a game of war. They're curious about what is happening to him and his odd behavior. When it is just too much for the Giver and him to take, they devise a plan. Will Jonas make it out of the sameness community? Or will they track him down and have him punished?
The Giver is probably a science fiction combination futuristic novel. This book has a very good sense of creativity and suspense. The only weakness is the ending. It does not imply much about what is to happen next. Lois Lowry's writing style is phenomenal because of the excellent detailing work and all around eagerness. I would recommend this novel to ages 12+ only because of the vocabulary and understanding of it.
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Summary: A wonderful story
Review: This is definetely a psicilogical thriller. It toys with the thought of how low humans will go to escaoe what they thought was an even lower future. This is definetly one of the best books I have ever read.
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Summary: The Giver
Review: This is a book that is colorfully written by Lois Lowry. This is a science fiction book that has a lot of ambition of what a perfect community would be like. I think that this one of the best books that I have read in a long time.
This science fiction book is focus around the main character (Jonas). Jonas a t Age 12 gets the privilege of the receiver of Memory. His teacher is an elderly man by the name of The Giver. The Giver is the Receiver of Memory before him. During his training he is given the memories of the past world. He alone knows what is to feel pain, fear, hunger, and many other emotions. When he se's his father do some thing of complete horror to him he decides that he can't stay in the community much longer. So he runs away with the help of The Giver.
This book is one book that you could read over and over again. It is even easy enough for a 10 year old to read. But in the end this is a good book.
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Summary: Very Well Writen
Review: The Giver is a book about a 11 year old boy, who lives in a "perfect world". Soon he finds out that the world wasn't aloways perfect because he is the curent Reciver of Memories who is given all the memories of the people before the "perfect world". I enjoyed this book very much, but I didn't like how it left off in the end. I would definitly recomend it to this reader!
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Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver
By Lois Lowry The Giver is a fantasy novel by Lois Lowry. The setting is a fantasy utopia, where every family unit has a mom, a dad, a son and a daughter. Everyone has a job chosen by the elders set to the recipient's mental, emotional and physical health. Jonas, the main character, is growing up with a group of kids the same age as he is. On the day Jonas' group turns 12, they get their "assignments" which is their lifelong job. Jonas gets a very special job. He is to be the "Receiver of Memory."
In the utopia Jonas lives in, people don't want to have the burden of war, hate, pain and love, but they also give up sunshine, snow, color and music. They do not simply give the memories up. They give them to the "receiver." The "receiver" can aid the elders in decisions they have not faced before. When Jonas becomes the "receiver" he learns of the true nature of life and death and how many bad things his family and friends are trained to do, but not think badly about. When the old receiver, named The Giver by Jonas, transfer memories to Jonas, it is with almost psychic power. Jonas gets to live these old memories with all the senses he has. He actually feels like he is reliving terrible past events. He finds out terrible things. When Jonas learns of the worst things, he decides he can no longer live in this community. He decides he must leave and he takes with him the one person he has grown to love and can't bear to abandon that person to what fate has in store for them if left in the community.
The book is very detailed about the community and its people. You actually begin to enjoy watching them come to life, and when you begin to learn things about them, you feel angry. Lois Lowry does a great job relating Jonas feelings of anguish and betrayal as he makes one of the hardest decisions in his life. The climax is very good and you are left with idea that maybe a couple of things could have happened, and you need to decide what kind of person you are to end the book for yourself. And added benefit is that it is not a very hard read and anyone above the 4th grade should easily be able to read it. I highly recommend the book to anyone who likes to read fantasy novels.
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Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver In the book the Giver by Lois Lowry a science fiction novel. Is a very exciting and adventurous story about a boy in a sameness community. Who sees everything very different from others. Jonas is eleven year old boy who lives in a sameness community. In the community there are a ton of rules for example you can only have two children one boy, and one girl. Once you reach the age of twelve which on Jonas mind is coming up everybody in December has I big ceremony celebrating there age, and when you are twelve you get assigned a job by the Chief Elder the leader in the community. The most important job you could be assigned is receiver of memory which Jonas was chosen for. He thought he was skipped because she did not say his number. Everybody has trainer and Jonas was the Giver he gave him memories of the past and could see color now because of the Giver but he could not tell anybody about his training. Later on in the book Jonas Dad a nurturer in the community had a job when there was two kids (twins) wit same name they have to choose the one that is the heaviest and his Dad had to kill the other baby. Jonas asked the Giver if he could see the tape of the neutering and he does, and after he has seen he tells the Giver he wants to apply for a release but you are not allowed to apply for a release. So what does he do? Jonas's motivations are when he does stuff like when he tried for an a release he did not think about it he just went and asked for one with out thinking and that is how Jonas is in the book. In every decision Jonas makes he never thinks about it first and then he ends up regretting his decision. He does it because he doesn't know about the consequences or does not think of any consequences that might happen. There for Jonas is a character who does thinks before he acts and later on pays for those mistakes. Jonas role in the book is he is the main character the center point of the story. Jonas is a wise, brave, persistent boy who sees everything different from other people and that is why he was chosen as receiver of memory. The Giver the man who is training Jonas is also the same as Jonas because the receiver of memory and the Giver are the same thing and that's why they were chosen for that position in the community. The strong points of the story are that it is very exciting and adventurous, and it makes you think like why did he do this? Another one it was a very descriptive book and, very easy to read and, follow along the author describes every little detail in the book. It is also very strong in describing the characters description and what they do and why. I don't think there are any weak points in the book because it is very, easy to read and, follow along, and follows the expectation for a science fiction novel and, it is very descriptive and, really good word choice. That's what I think of the Giver a really great book. By: Derek Rager
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Summary: A utopia comes at a depersonalizing cost.
Review: Life-long care. A highly structured, advanced society where everyone has a role and no one has a need to rebel. That is the environs into which Jonas is born. Every year of his life, in the life of any inhabitant of this unnamed city, there is an assigned role with accompanying tasks, an obligatory training to prepare for the twelfth year in which a person receives her or his life's profession. In such an idyllic location it is interesting to note that those who are assigned to give birth are looked down upon; after two years of giving life to babes who will be subsequently assigned to parents who are allowed only one boy and one girl, the woman is assigned to various other chores. She is a lifegiving machine who maintains the population of the community but her ensuing role is that of some type of common laborer. No rewards for this profession! There are those who do the cooking and deliver meals to all of the inhabitants, those who clean up after the food has been ingested and trays left outside the home, those who are teachers, those who are nurturers, those who are caregivers to the elderly and those who are assigned legal tasks. The penalty for non-compliance, or non-conformity, is "release". By itself the word is innocuous enough. What it actually means, is hazy. Finally, at some point in time the elderly must be released and the decision is made for them. Big Brother is always watching and reminders are issued via an intercom. Faults and mis-steps seem to be gently dealt with but "release" is the ultimate verdict once a certain amount of opportunities for correction have elapsed. Dreams are processed each day as are feelings of anger, hostility, frustration. Reasons for behaviour are evaluated and the reason appears to be that if feelings can be processed a homeostasis will always return. Lying is strictly forbidden...until.... When the twelfth year finally arrives, a bizarre occurrence takes place. Jonas and all his contemporaries who are about to turn 12, are called to an auditorium at which time they revert to the numbers they were originally assigned, prior to the "name giving" that occurred when they were officially presented to their selected parents. Jonas is not called to the stage when his number is called. He is shocked as are all the members of the town who are present for this important occasion. The reason for the slight becomes apparent when Jonas receives the highest honor possible, he will become "The Receiver". His studies with the present Receiver reveal a far-from-perfect society and it is each subsequent Receiver who must be the recipient of the painful memories of the past. This takes its toll on each honoree as s/he literally bears the weight of the world in order to alleviate the town's folk from having to do so. Jonas gradually rebels and takes dramatic steps to escape what is not at all idyllic. Let the reader discover this moral tale. The novel is well done and can easily appeal to adults and adolescents alike. The fortunate adolescents will have adults with whom to review this book as it has many painful, ethical, moral issues to be discussed!
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