The Giver [Book Review]




Title: The Giver (The Giver Quartet #1)
Author: Lois Lowry
Published: April 26th 1993



Summary on Goodreads:

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.




Review:

What will you do if you live in a world where everything is the same: sameness as it says, if you live where no one thought you the difference between this and that, you can no longer identify the colors, where everything was fixed, from the food you eat, to the clothes you wear, to the job where you should spent all your life trying to get busy, and even your family; your kids and your partner in life, in a world that you thought is perfect even if it's not. Do you want to be Jonas who wants to change everything, or to be The Giver who wants to do what he's suppose to do?

It was beautifully written, from a perfect balanced society where every man needs to be productive to an hideous society who gives the burden to just one man to keep all the emotions, and the knowledge that every man should know, just imagine you were this man who carries all this different kind of feelings and emotions whether it's pain, happiness, fear, everything, just thinking 'but it it really makes me insane, that's why I was filled with admiration to this old man, he keeps all this burden for his entire life.

If there's a Giver then there's a Receiver. Jonas, well honestly I can't describe him very well, he's just this kid like the other who plays, who have friends, and do what he's suppose to do. Then it all changed, his life changed when he was chosen to be "the Receiver", all the thoughts, all the knowledge, all the feelings should be passed unto him by "the Giver", Once he received some of them it opens his eyes to see the reality, and this is where he tries to change everything.


Well I was quite disappoint at the ending, like it shouldn't have to end that way. Otherwise it's a great read, from the start it was interesting, the next few chapters are quite not good, but when you're nearly at the mid part it was getting better and better that keeps you read on-and-on. So yea, if you haven't read it, I suggest that you should read it now.

Rating: 4/5



About the Author



Lois Lowry (born Lois Ann Hammersberg on March 20, 1937) is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s. Her work as a journalist drew the attention of Houghton Mifflin and they encouraged her to write her first children's book, A Summer to Die, which was published in 1977 when she was forty years old. She has since written more than thirty books for children and published an autobiography. Two of her works have been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal: Number the Stars in 1989, and The Giver in 1993.

As an author, Lowry is known for writing about difficult subject matters within her works for children. She has explored such complex issues as racism, terminal illness, murder, and the Holocaust among other challenging topics. She has also explored very controversial issues of questioning authority such as in The Giver quartet. Her writing on such matters has brought her both praise and criticism. In particular, her work The Giver has been met with a diversity of reactions from schools in America, some of which have adopted her book as a part of the mandatory curriculum, while others have prohibited the book's inclusion in classroom studies.

Check her site @ http://www.loislowry.com/











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