“[The Giver] is set in a future society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian; therefore, it could be considered anti-utopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a plan which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. As Jonas receives the memories from the previous receiver—the "Giver"—he discovers how shallow his community’s life has become.”
-- Description from Wikipedia
I really liked the book from the beginning and was ready to rank it among my most favorite books. But the ending unfortunately had me disappointed. I know what happens next isn’t that very important to the plot but still, it would have been nice if we could read those too.
For a book that’s centered around feelings, this one didn’t leave me with the feeling of "warmth and love". It was cut short before I could even enjoy it. So I’m taking one star off because of the ending but the overall message still resonates well through me. It will stand as a constant reminder each time I question the reason why we live the way we live.
My Rating: 4/5 stars
Read reviews of The Giver at Amazon.com
rie on
February 15th, 2010 at 7:02 pm #
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February 21st, 2010 at 3:29 pm #
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June 19th, 2009 at 5:02 am #
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June 16th, 2009 at 2:28 pm #
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