The Giver

Rating:
Summary: As Good as It Gets
Review: The Giver is a story about a boy named Jonas who lives in a community that is guided by rituals and rules. There are very few choices to make because the major decisions of each person's life are made by a committee. When Jonas turns twelve, he is told that he will have the most important role in the community: he will be The Reciever of Memories. This is a job unlike all other jobs in the community, because The Reciever is the only person in the community who knows the truth about the outside world and understands true pleasure and pain.

I first read this book when I was in 7th grade. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to reread it as an adult, and I loved it just as much the second time. The characters in this novel are great, and the idea of a Community where there are no choices is fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone, child or adult.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books that I have ever read!!!
Review: The Giver is a story by Lois Lowry with the setting in the future where there are places called communities. Those are towns where everything is set so there are no choices for them to choose to avoid anything bad like fights. The meals are given to you for free in the right amounts (probably so you don't get fat). If you make a mistake there's a procedure to go through every single time, and you don't even get to choose your own job. A committee called the Elders chooses everything for the people in the communities. A speaker system announces everything to everyone throughout the community.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: The Giver is a suspensful book that keeps you guessing on what Lois Lowry is trying to get to. Then when you find out what she was trying to get to and you will say "ohh. I get it." It is interesting because the book is almost opposite from the way we live here.

The only downfall is the ending because you have so many answers to choose from of how the book ends. I wasn't a big fan of the ending but you might so find out by getting The Giver.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver: Utopia versus Reality
Review: The Giver is a thought provoking book. The community is controlled by a group of elders who believe they are protecting the people of their community. The people in the community experience a life without pain and little emotion and no memories of the past. This is seemingly a wonderful life except it is a life controlled by a committee.

There is however, one individual the Giver, who carries the burden of all memory, emotions and suffering for the community. He is like Jesus who died on the cross and took all of our sins with Him except the Giver is not perfect. Therefore, every number of years a new child is picked by the committee to be the receiver of all the pain, memories and emotion. The current giver passes this on to the new giver and so the community continues until one receiver no longer plays by the rules of the community.

The burden of being the reciever is great and they bare much pain during this time. I like how Jonas became the receiver and took up all the memories and realized all that is wrong about the community. I dislike that there is no lovingness between the members of the community. They have no pain but they also lack any real passion or love. It made me appreciate that although life can be difficult (there is real good and real bad), these two conflicting emotions are what bring vitality to life.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver is a thrilling book about a young boy who finds about what life is really like. Jonas, the main character, is choosen to be the Receiver of the community. Jonas, the main character finds out what life is really like. Jonas learns that his father is a killer and his friends is soon to be one. Jonas learns the true value of life. Jonas doesn't like the way they run the comunity. I think that this book is intresting becasue it has a lot to do with sience fiction. In this book, Jonas receives memorys from his The Giver. I think that this book is cool because he uses the powers that he is given. I also think that it is intresting becasue it has to do with the future. It is a wonderful suspense because Jonas the main character plans a daring excape. This book was thrillng, funny, and fantastic, that is why I like this book a lot. I think that this book should be read by all ages and in all libaries.

Rating:
Summary: Lowry has written a classic.
Review: The Giver is a true classic. I was captured from the first paragraph. My children's literature professor recommeded that all of the elementary education majors read this book. I finished it in two days while studying for finals. The book has since been passed along among my classmates. Each time one of us finish it we express our feelings and show such enthusiasm about it that someone else wants to read it. I would not recommend this book to those of you with no imagination. It does not offer definte closure, but imagination is what reading is. If you want someone to tell you every detail and what happens next then watch T.V. and leave the books to those of us who imagine.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver is about a different kind of community.
Review: The Giver is a uniquely written book that is full of allusion and suspense in a twisted way. It is very touching in the fact that it opens your eyes to a community that shows equality for all. On the other hand, it is a rare calling to be the receiver of knowing everything, but it can also be harsh and emotional. It is something to live among others that are blinded to the hueful side of things. This is a wonderful book for people of all ages. I loved it completely.

Rating:
Summary: The way I saw it.
Review: The Giver is a very appropriate book for the study of folklore because it shows a fictional way people live their lives. The community is an excellent example on how fictional this story really is. If the reader reads this story they might think this could be a real community somewhere on earth. The book does not have families that live in houses. They have family units that live in dwellings. To me dwellings are considered where animals live. Another thing that is fictional is people asking for release. This day and age you can't just say I want to apply for release because I am too old or I can't handle this job. Also, you can't just kill a twin baby because it is smaller and it might produce problems with the family. In this day and age you have to deal with things as they come to you. The community that Lois Lowry created for the reader is very fascinating and creative. She has an excellent imagination. There were a couple of questions I kept asking myself as I was reading the story. Who would want to become a birthmother and give the baby away after she was producing her own children? Why would they have ceremonies for kids becoming a 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. and not a regular birthday? Why would you want a child that has already been named for you? Wouldn't the family units want to name it themselves? Maybe the community has it's reasons for these types of crazy laws they have but if they knew the way the world worked today I am almost sure they would want to live their life a whole different way.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver is a very compelling book, which kept my attention focused for hours with its many twists and turns. Jonas is a young man growing up in a futuristic society. Many moments of happiness occur, such as when Father brings home Gabriel (new child) and when Jonas is able to get Gabriel to sleep at night. There are also moments of sadness, such as when Jonas knows his "duty" and when he finds out what is meant by "releasing" someone from the village. On the day of the "Ceremony," Jonas has an anxious heart and then becomes fearful that he is not good enough for an assignment and will be released. Lowry really can get to a person's heart with this book. She makes the reader think about what life is really about and how much it has to offer. She realizes what color and emotion do to a person. Jonas gets to feel all these emotions through the Giver when he becomes the Receiver. He gets to experience feelings that he has never felt before, and maybe you will too after you read this book. I would recommend this book to middle school and high school readers. The reason I give this book only three stars is because of doings in the book that are against my beliefs

Rating:
Summary: An On-the-edge-of-your-seat book! It was excellent!!
Review: The Giver is a very different book, but very well laid out. The book has a lot of mysteries to it because they say things that don't make sense to people like us. Like " When I touched he was shocked because we aren't supposed to touch other people in our community.", but you find out why later on in the book. **Hint**Hint** Just because it may not make complete sense in the begining, doesn't mean it won't in the end. It does start to make sense later in the book. For school I have to read 30 min. and I was reading 60 and 90 min. a night instead! I couldn't put it down. I love how the chapters,usually, end in suspence. This is a great book that I HIGHLY recommend!!! :o)