The Giver

This was a required reading for my children. When I was cleaning my bookcase, I decided to give this book a quick read. Although it is a short, “quick” read, it will leave you pondering what you just read. There is more depth than length to this book.

Jonas, a 12 year old boy, lives in a dystopian community where everything is safe and people accept the sameness. They have their routines, their assigned lives and jobs and they are content in their community. When he receives his lifelong job as The Receiver, he releases his life has been a lie and there is so much more to it.

It's an interesting concept. I feel wiser but then there's no words to describe what it really feels to read this book. It's a great one.

Jonas made the right choice, and plot twist gave me strong feelings of sadness.

A friend recommended this to me and I'm happy to report back to her. I loved this book.

read this as a requirement back in college for one of my major classes. i initially did not plan to read the whole thing and decided i was just going to look up the summary online in case i got quizzed about it (lol smh don't do that) but when i gave it a try and got past the first chapter, reading it became very easy and exhilarating. i couldn't put the book down and got so engrossed in it and ended up finishing it in 2 days. the plot wasn't intimidating at all, nor were the elements overpowering for such a solid work of dystopian science fiction. i think this would be a great first read for someone who's just starting to get into sf.

beautiful book but i have serious hands to throw with the ending

I think this is a book more for adults (though writen in in the form of a children's story). It is covers the same themes and concerns as Atwoods's Handmaid's Tale but doesn't give the same satisifying glimpse backwards upon the enclosed community that the main character strives to escape.

I hate this society so much and that's probably what I'm supposed to do I just what the heck

Finished this book in one sitting

I read this book ages ago in middle school for my reading class. I can't recall much about it, but I remember liking it back then. I don't plan to reread it soooo🤷🏻‍♀️

LOVED THIS ONE. can't imagine myself in a world like this.

Wow. Amazing concept, beautiful simplicity. I know this book came out in the 90s but something like this is truly timeless. I wish there were more books that maybe focused on Jonas, but I know the next three are gonna be amazing.

read for class and surprisingly enjoyed ! it was so thought provoking and enjoyable to read

This is a really deep book masquerading as juvenile literature. What is the difference between a utopian society and a dystopian society? Turns out, not a lot.

incredible and captivating concept. i loved every minute reading it. so many details i adored and really likable and interesting characters too. if i could bet transported to a book for one day it would be this one.i wanna see and feel what these characters did.

I was loving till about 60% in. But the ambiguous ending did not work for me as well as i would have wanted. I think if there would have been a sequel, it would be my favourite series.

The Giver is written from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that has eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, and there is very little competition. Everyone is unfailingly polite. The society has also eliminated choice: at age twelve every member of the community is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests. Citizens can apply for and be assigned compatible spouses, and each couple is assigned exactly two children each. The children are born to Birthmothers, who never see them, and spend their first year in a Nurturing Center with other babies, or “newchildren,” born that year. When their children are grown, family units dissolve and adults live together with Childless Adults until they are too old to function in the society. Then they spend their last years being cared for in the House of the Old until they are finally “released” from the society. In the community, release is death, but it is never described that way; most people think that after release, flawed newchildren and joyful elderly people are welcomed into the vast expanse of Elsewhere that surrounds the communities. Citizens who break rules or fail to adapt properly to the society’s codes of behavior are also released, though in their cases it is an occasion of great shame. Everything is planned and organized so that life is as convenient and pleasant as possible. The Giver transmits memories by placing his hands on Jonas’s bare back. The first memory he receives is of an exhilarating sled ride. As Jonas receives memories from the Giver—memories of pleasure and pain, of bright colors and extreme cold and warm sun, of excitement and terror and hunger and love—he realizes how bland and empty life in his community really is. The memories make Jonas’s life richer and more meaningful, and he wishes that he could give that richness and meaning to the people he loves. But in exchange for their peaceful existence, the people of Jonas’s community have lost the capacity to love him back or to feel deep passion about anything. Since they have never experienced real suffering, they also cannot appreciate the real joy of life, and the life of individual people seems less precious to them. This book was very interesting and I liked the world-building, but because I was forced to read it for a book report in high school, the book is forever soured for me. The ambiguity of the ending is also another aspect which makes this book interesting to read. There are two possible meanings behind the ending; either Jonas and Gabriel freeze to death together on the sled, or they have really found "Elsewhere". Ultimately, the ending still shows us that, whatever happens, Jonas has made choices for himself rather than being told what to do. Whatever happens to him, it is still better than his life in the community would ever have been. The community is a metaphor for restriction and censoring; it limits the choices of an individual until they have none left, removing joy from life. By leaving the community Jonas has already made an individual choice, and this demonstrates to the reader that it is better to live your life the way you would like to, than be held back by others and never really be happy. I think this is an important message for children and young adults today, as experiences such as bullying in schools limit people from being themselves.

I would recommend but a my age I don’t really Have that life changing moment.

The Giver has certainly become a "classic" of its own. It's pretty much at every school library. It's hyped and popular, now even a major motion picture. Most of my friends also gave this book a shiny 5 stars. So, while you can read the many other awesome reviews for this book, take a few minutes to read my two cents? Ahem. The Giver is a stunning dystopian novel because it's different and unique. It's original, and I have never encountered any dystopian world quite like The Giver's. As stereotypically dystopian as it may seem, it's not used much. It was also a tear-jerker, family-friendly, and heart-warming. What more could you ask for? Best part: stuff about human nature. There you go. Super great book. The Giver is a book about a colorless, emotionless, pretty much lifeless community, where Jonas lives. He has never known anything more (depressing much?) and never has thought to explore what's beyond the community until he is selected to become the Receiver of Memories. In his training, he has to learn about what's beyond. He discovers what everyone else has been missing. Does that not sound brilliant. I know. Go Lois Lowry. The way everything is described is not normal, but it's in such a familiar, simple language that you just get everything. The community is definitely not normal, but in some ways, it's just like the real world. It feels like something we all know. This was just a heartachingly good book. I totally recommend it. You should prepare to feel like someone ripped out your gut at the end though. Especially the end because who would be cruel enough to end a book like that like do you want your readers to spend the rest of their lives haunted by it. Recommended with all of my heart, times infinity.

'The Giver' comes across as more a fable than a detailed novel, but in that sense, it works. Remember this was published in 1993, long before the likes of the Hunger Games and Divergent, and was a pioneer of the young-adult/children's dystopian genre. The utopian/dystopian world of the novel doesn't seem that original, given all the tropes we've now seen in the 21st-century, but the careful story achieves what it sets out to in its simplicity. It's an enjoyable read, with a dark moral vein. I understand why it's often used in reading circles and school curriculums.

has been and always will be my favorite

I’m honestly a little lost for words.

This book is centered around an 11-12 year old boy named Jonas who lives in a community of “sameness”. There is no color, individuality, love, pain, or choice.

Jonas is “honored” with a special life assignment during the ceremony of twelve which opens his mind to all the pains and joys in life that he didn’t even know existed.

He is faced with a moral dilemma after learning more about how his community operates but ultimately (in my opinion) makes the right decision.

I absolutely recommend this book.

This is definitely a great book! I look forward to reading the others in the series... however, im very confused by the ending.

Even better than I remember from my childhood reading. Moving and insightful, I found this thirty year old juvenile dystopian novel to have a lot to remind us of. Especially interesting provocations about conformity and euthanasia.

80% of the book was really compelling. Then the end was not.