Rating: 
Summary: Top Ten
Review: I think "THE GIVER" is a good book. At first I didn't understand it , but then everything started to unfold. The ending wasn't what I expected but then I figured out that I could make up my own Ending Its a must have book.
Rating:
Summary: Lowry's best book
Review: This is truly Lowry's best book. In this book Lowry captures your heart and soul. She makes you think about the things in life we take for granted and what you would do without them.She makes you realize that there is no perfect world. In this book there are very strong emotions and acts of bravery and love. This book has changed my life forever and I will always treasure the memory of reading it. I would recommend this book to any one who likes Lois Lowry's writing skills and who loves books that change your life. In the book there is a world with no pain or suffering and the people who live there are always protected. It sounds like a place you'd want to live but after you read it you just might change your mind!
Rating: 
Summary: meh
Review: I think I missed a chapter or something because it was confusing.
It was about Jonas, a 12 year old boy, who,with the rest of his classmates, gets assigned a job. His is to keep all the memories of the world, and the whole community doesn't feel a thing. Everything the people do, is routine. They do the samething everyday. Any person, baby to elder, will get "released" from the community if they did not meet the towns expectations. One day Jonas watches a baby being "released" then he decides to run away from his community with a two year old named Gaberail to a different town. It also comes with a very weird ending. I wouldn't recommend this book to people who like excitement.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT, DEEP, THOUGHT PROVOKING, MUST READ
Review: This book is for a mature reader. The parallels to our society are remarkable but a young pre-teen may not "get it" without help. A teenager (or adult) who is aware of the problems in our society should be able to understand the message this book is trying to send. Reading about the story line may ruin the suspense and surprise that this book provides. READ IT. THINK ABOUT IT.
Rating:
Summary: Another book, Another day, Another part of me
Review: I don't know about you, but whenever i read a book i take something from that book, that is normally recognizable. I am much like Jonas, besides the fact that I'm a girl. I can see deeper than most of my friends, and I feel things that they cannot relate to. The giver was an excellent source for me to experience life from someone elses view, to show it's not just me- or you, that feel... different
Rating: 
Summary: Best Review
Review: "The Giver" is a novel which takes place in a community of the future. This community has strict rules. The people have no memories about their history and they don't see any colours. Only one man has the memories how life was in th epast. This man is the receiver of memories. His name is Jonas and he is 12 years old. He is trained by the Giver who was thr receiver before. They make a plan to change the community. They want to give the memories back to the people so that the get back their individuality. Will this plan work? Read the book and u will see it!I think the book is great. It has a very good story. However, there are some logical mistakes in the plot and the end isn't the best I've ever read. But if you are not irritated by the mistakes and like future novels you have to buy and read this book Have Fun!!!!
Rating:
Summary: What is wrong with people?
Review: I cannot believe some of the one-star reviews given to this absolutely fantastic book. Children write in that they dislike the book, and admit its probably because they "don't get it," but it appears the adults don't get it either. Writing in ALL CAPS, they decry what they see as an endorsement of euthanasia, infanticide and suicide. They say the "stirrings" are not age appropriate reading, the book is much darker than her previous work, and the ending is too ambiguous. Worst of all, some of these people are in education! I feel sorry for the kids who are being deprived of a wonderful book by unimaginative, ignorant, reactionary librarians, teachers and parents, who don't seem to realize that depiction does not equal endorsement. I don't understand how anyone could misconstrue Jonas' father's flippant attitude toward "release" as Lowery promoting the practice. It's a cautionary tale, ladies and gents, and not a terribly subtle one either (kids take their cue from Jonas, and he is appropriately horrified by the truth). Kids that "don't get it" aren't ready for the material (just as most 11-year-olds aren't ready for James Joyce). It doesn't hurt to have them try, because if they're not ready, it'll go right over their heads (like Joyce :) Television depicts violence and sexuality all the time. What it doesn't do, and what The Giver does in spades, is give a context to violence and sexuality, mainly by showing how society's distorted perspective of certain aspects of life may become so warped in the future that birth will be assigned, all sensual feelings banished by a pill, and suffering unheard of (but no freedom, no joy, and no love). There is no gore, no sex scenes, no cheap thrills that you find on TV. Instead, Jonas has a dream about a close female friend, and he describes feeling a sort of tenderness toward her. It is cleverly written so only those who have had that feeling before know what it means. As for violence, Lowery weaves an elegant tale that explores suffering in a way that children can understand, and juxtaposes two concepts, represented by the two Receivers of the Memory, Rosemary and Jonas. Rosemary is a model citizen of the community: contented but not ebulliant. She is all too happy to have memories of pony rides and sunlit gardens, but when exposed to a memory of violence, she can't take it, and asks to be released. In her perspective, it is better to be dead than to live with the possibility of pain. This line of thinking is carried through in the release of the elderly, who are sure to suffer if they continue to live...and it benefits the community as well, not to have to care for these non-workers. One step further, and babies who cry too much, or who are small, or one of twins can be euthanized as well. Much better in this community's opinion to slip quietly, painlessly away into nothing than to stay and be in pain or cause disruption to the community. Sameness is better than the chaos that would follow if people had the ability choose! Of course, this is contrasted by our protagonist Jonas, who believes, like most of us I'd imagine, that suffering is part of life, and without suffering there can be no true joy. Lowery does not pull punches either, letting kids understand that suffering can get very bad indeed. But when Jonas' father is unable to tell his son that he loves him (truth be told, love is impossible in that world), the reader gets the message: nothing is worse than that Sameness, not even pain. That is why Jonas risks everything for Gabriel. If that's not a life affirming message, I don't know what is. At the time I read the Giver, I was disappointed in the ending. After a few more reads, I realized I liked it so much I didn't want it to end, not that it shouldn't have ended there. Ambiguity is the only way a book like this can end. It is a look into our possible future, and we are the ones who'll determine whether or not it has a happy ending. Jonas' future is uncertain, as is ours.
Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver is a great science fiction book written by Lois Lowry. This book is about a boy named Jonas and his family in a perfect world. Jonas does not like this world but he cannot leave. When the children become twelve they become adults. They also get their first job. Jonas's job is to become the Receiver of the town's memory. This makes his life even harder. Now he wants to escape. I loved how Lois Lowry described this setting in this detailed book. In one part of this book Jonas receives a memory from the Giver about snow, which Jonas has never experienced. He feels the Giver's old, frail hand touch his bare back. All of a sudden, Jonas feels the room grow cold. He also starts to feel tiny pin pricks on his back. He then realizes that the Giver told him it was snow. I think that is a great setting description for that memory. When Jonas learns about love, the Giver puts his frail hand back on his bare back again. Then all of a sudden Jonas is in a warm room with a fire in the fireplace. Then he sees multiple children and parents. He turns and sees two elderly people. He thinks to himself, "This is an odd family unit." He feels something in the room but can't quite grasp it. Then the Giver says that it is love. I know this makes me want to read the book more. A perfect world is not always good. To make this a perfect world, they had to take out many things such as color, memory, love, hope, fear, and hate. Imagine a world like this. The author might like this world because she wanted perfection but I think that some people would not like this world. I know that I wouldn't like this world. The Giver has a strange ending but has an interesting twist at the end that makes it exciting. I understood this book because of the themes. For example, love cannot be artificial and a perfect world is not always good. I also understood this book because of the settings. Without these in the book, I would be lost. This book has good details and an interesting plot. It was a good book because it made me feel differently about perfection. I give it two thumbs up. You should read this book too.
Rating:
Summary: Take a look at the front cover.
Review: Take a close look. This encompasses the central theme of the book. At some point, people realized that all kinds of sin and strife sprang from differences and envy. And so they removed color. The book never explains quite how- it's not pure science fiction but more of a mix with fantasy. But there are two in the society that can always see in color. And they are the ones who remember pain, for without pain you can not truly make wise decisions. Now that cuts to the wick. You don't expect something so deep in a children's novel that puts the novel into a category of not only readable for adults, but one adults *should* read. Lowry very realistically describes the process of emerging color-sight, describing what it is like for the first time to truly see after all your life living in a society of black and white. In the process she reveals, if it is our differences which cause the strife between us, perhaps the removal of those differences is too great a price to pay. And perhaps pain itself is too great a thing to lose if it means a life of mediocrity and forgetfulness. For with much pain also comes much Joy. The ending- by this I mean the last 3 pages- I cannot reveal, but it is far too quick and undeveloped. And it brings down the rest of the book. The Giver will stick with you; you will remember it's myth. But you must embrace it ultimately as an unfinished story, for the sense of complete incompleteness the reader is left with.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This book is amazing , the way it writen just pulls you to it. When it leaves you questining something that they said , you will surely find out as you read on.. Though I found the ending kinda disturbing , I really love the whole idea of the book , and the way its writen.. If you want to read something good , then why not pick this book up , if you like something that has to do with a future world , this book is also good for you.
|
