The Giver Hardcover – September 25, 2012

The only criticism I have is that I wish there was more to the story! I could NOT put this book down. I read it in two days! I never read books that quickly anymore, as I usually just don't have a lot of time to devote to reading. However, for this book, I made the time. I can't explain it, but there is a strong feeling of deja vu for me throughout the novel. I suppose the community reminds me a little of parts of our own society, how some would choose to make the world colorless, devoid of life and feelings, and how some are so obsessed with the differences in humanity that they seem to forget we all are a part of the same race, we are all HUMAN. This book ripped my heart out, then gently placed it back into the cavity from whence it came, and repeated the gesture over and over and over.

What is the ideal society that you can imagine? Would you like to be happy? Does a society with no war, no disease, no pain or suffering appeal to you? Would you like to have someone else choose a very compatible mate for you and not have to worry about dating? How would you like a job that is guaranteed and is enjoyable and fits your interests and personality? The Giver is about such a society. What is the trade-off? What is missing in the people’s lives? The Giver is a very thought-provoking book.Jonas lives in this community. His thought his childhood was delightful. However, at age 12, he knows he will be assigned a job. He is apprehensive about the prospect. What does he really want to do? He is not sure. Everyone in the community is assigned an occupation that suits his or her abilities. In a special ceremony, children who turn 12 years old in a given year are grouped together. He sits in the auditorium and watches and listens as all the other children in his age group are assigned jobs. Jonas is the only one left without an assignment. Is something wrong?At the end of the ceremony, he is finally called up and told he is to be a “Receiver”. This is the highest honor. He is to be trained by the Giver. The Giver is the only one in the society that has any sense of history; he is the depository of memories. The others live only in the present. The Giver is to transfer his memories of the human race to Jonas, for the Giver is old and tired and needs to be replaced.This society is one of conformity. “Sameness” is fostered and rewarded. All the houses are identical. Haircuts, dress and activities are strictly regimented. Everyone sees grayness; no one even sees colors. Only the separate job assignments differentiate the members. They are told how to act; they are told how to live. Everyone takes a pill to keep all passion at bay. Only superficial discussions of one’s feelings are allowed; only certain feelings are appropriate. The people know vaguely about “Elsewhere”, the outside world, but they stay in the Community and do as they are told.When Jonas starts receiving memories from the Giver, he experiences pain and suffering but also love and freedom of choice. He also begins to see the world in color. He is told he can lie about his training and not tell anyone what he is experiencing. Jonas is careful of what he says at home now. When he is asked if he dreams, he says “no”, because his dreams would not be acceptable. He does not tell them that he has stopped taking the pill to suppress passion. His feelings and emotions grow, and he tries to hide these from his family and the others in the Community. The Giver is the only person who knows what he is going through. Jonas thinks the other people in the Community tell the truth about their jobs. Then one day, the Giver allows him to watch a video recording of his father at work with his job taking care of infants. Jonas had always thought his Dad liked the infants that were in his care. This view was reinforced since his father brought home an infant named Gabriel who needed some extra care. Gabriel was not learning to sleep through the night; he was different than the other infants in the ward. If he did not learn to sleep through the night he would be RELEASED. Jonas soothes the boy to sleep by acting as Giver and sending the child peaceful thoughts. The child does not sleep when he is in the new infant ward, however. Jonas learns that Gabriel is to be RELEASED.In the infant ward, twins have been born. Twins are not allowed in the Community. Only one of the twins can be kept. The other is be RELEASED. Jonas watches as his father weighs each of the twins and sets aside the smaller of the two. Then his father calmly injects the smaller twin in the head with a lethal chemical. The boy dies. Jonas is devastated. He had always looked up to his father. Jonas now knows what RELEASED means. He had thought that those who were RELEASED, including the disabled and the elderly went to a heavenly place in another community. Jonas now knows that RELEASED means death. Shocked and scared, Jonas knows that his father has been lying to everyone about what he does. Is everyone lying about his or her work?Jonas is disillusioned and decides to leave the Community, something that is forbidden. He realizes that the Community is a horrible place; it is a dystopia, not a Utopia. Jonas hoards some leftover food (all leftover food must be put out in front of each house) and prepares for the right opportunity.The Giver helps him escape. He escapes with Gabriel and is pursued by helicopters. Freezing and nearly starving, they reach a hill and look down upon a lit up house below. A family is sitting cozily in a living room with a lovely Christmas tree. The scene is a memory that Jonah had received from the Giver. Is this real or is it just a memory? Are Jonah and Gabriel safe in “Elsewhere” or are they dead?What information is kept from us in today’s world? It is easy to see distortions of truth in our media. Misinformation is spread rapidly though the Internet as well as television, and, probably, our newspapers. We see many different cultures in the world, and they all have their version of reality.Medical doctors often give tranquilizers and antidepressants to dull patients’ emotions. There is some parallel here to the pill that every 12 year-old child in the Community must start to take daily to get rid of passionate feelings. Does not great art and music need passion and intense feelings to be inspired?

I've grown fond of children's books. We take better care of our children than we do ourselves. We encourage our children to eat their vegetables whether we do ourselves or not. We encourage them to play outside whether we exercise or not. We care about what they are allowed to read, while we read trash.We should be concerned about what our children read. Reading is an intimate experience. When we read, we let someone else come inside our brains, walk around, and leave things. Sticks and stones can break your bones, but books can change the way you think. We are right to care about the sorts of things our children invite into their minds, and this concern has led to a children's literature that's better in many respects than what is supposed to be "adult" literature.I was converted to children's books in stages, as my children started being interested in reading, but the final step-the icing on the cake-was a book entitled The Giver, by Lois Lowry. It can be read in a few hours, but that does not decrease its impact, which is something like that of a sledgehammer. It is the story of a boy named Jonas who lives in what seems to be an ideal world. There is no crime, no hunger, and no dissatisfaction. Everyone is in the profession that best suits his talents. It appears to be ideal. The Greeks had a word for a place like this, and that word was "Utopia". It shows the keen insight of those old Greeks that the word means "nowhere". Nowhere is perfect. Nowhere is without problems.While the Community in which Jonas lives is without strife, it also lacks a great many other things. On the way to achieving the "perfect" community, certain sacrifices have been made. Jonas discovers this when he turns twelve and is assigned his life profession, The Receiver of Memories. Part of the price paid for utopia is loss of connection to the past. The children of the Community are not raised by their biological parents, but by foster parents who are deemed suitable for the job of parenting. After the children of the community are grown, they lose connection with their foster parents, so even family history is lost. One might think about the impact this would have on the situation in the Middle East. There wouldn't be any fighting for the Promised Land. The Promise would all be a part of the forgotten past. For those of us who would like to see peace, this notion might be quite appealing.However, Lowry's insight is that a person without a past is a person without a future. While there is virtue to be had by living in the present in the metaphorical sense, living entirely in the present without connection to the Eternal is sterile.Jonas's role as Receiver of Memory is necessary for the Community because basic survival does require some knowledge of the human past, but this knowledge is a great burden, as human history is full of pain. The Receiver of Memory remembers these unpleasant things so others won't have to. The decision was made to remove this unpleasantness from the Community's conscience. In reading this, I was reminded that some people shudder at the bloody passages in the Old Testament and regret their inclusion in the Bible. Sometimes fiction is not far from the truth.But in forgetting pain, much that was pleasant has also been forgotten: Snow, sunny days, and the love of a family. Bad weather is inconvenient, and so the weather is controlled. Sexual yearnings cause problems, and so they are eliminated by taking a pill. Even love has been removed.This brings up another theme of the book, the use of language. Children are continually urged to use language precisely. Once Jonas asks his foster father if he loves him and is told that love is a meaningless word. His foster father says that he is very fond of Jonas, but that he couldn't possibly love him because there is no such thing.Yet we, the reader, know that there is such a thing, and in the course of gaining the memories of the community, Jonas discovers not on does love exists, but that he is capable of it in its deepest form.Though there is never an explicit reference to religion, one might almost see The Giver as sequel to the story of the Fall of Man in the book of Genesis. In eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Man is separated from nature and separated from God. Mans knowledge of the universe and how to manipulate it enables him to control. The world shown in The Community in The Giver is one that logically follows from that separation. The Community controls everything, the weather, and the sexual urges of the young. The separation from nature is complete, and perhaps so is the separation from God.The theologians have a name for the complete separation from God, and that name is "Hell." Hell is not usually presented as being so clean as the Community, nor its people as being so polite, but somehow I do believe that, like the Community, Hell is made-to-order by man.The most frequent complaint that one sees about the book is about its ending. It would be an understatement of massive proportions to say that my twelve-year-old, the Middle-Child, found the ending to be very frustrating. However, it need not be if one takes it at face value, and that is all I am going to say.The next time you would like a good, short read, and if you are tired of being force-fed someone else's sexual fantasies, let me recommend The Giver. If nothing else, it will make you think.

In a world that has traded love for security, there is a colorful hope for transformation. Is it possible? You decide

Story about a boy coming of age in a dystopian society of conformity & comfort. Deals with topics such as identity, authenticity and insecurity as well as courage, sacrifice and that being human and truly alive requires a sensitivity to new experiences, be they pleasant & beautiful or ugly & painful. Memories are what ultimately limit and define our personal identity as well as our cultural identity. Growing up (as a person) or evolving (as a society) requires moving beyond one's previous comfort-zone and confront reality...and sharing these memories that define who we are. This story can be enjoyed at different levels--from simply following the thrilling plot--to something more allegorical about growing up and moving beyond one's previous bubble.

I bought this book for my son but I was so intrigued by it that I decided to read it myself. It's a cracking little book that kept me glued to the pages and I couldn't put it down until I had read it from cover to cover! To be honest, this didn't take long as it's a fairly short book and the language is reasonably simple. I think it's probably aimed at pre-teens or early teens.The main protagonist, Jonas, is coming to the age where he becomes an adult within the 'community' that he and his family and friends live in. However, things are not as they seem and the direction of the book takes a deep, dark turn and Jonas starts to see things in a different light....I won't say much more than that as I don't want to spoil it but let the above intrigue you enough to buy and read this book! It's an easy read and the story sticks with you.

Although this novel was published about 25 years ago, it has an immediacy that makes it timeless. Primarily targeted as a children’s book, it manages to captivate both young and old readers with its identifiable dystopian themes. An ordinary boy, Jonas, in an ordinary nuclear family unit, soon finds out what he had taken for normalcy and safety stems from a much more sinister design. There is something disconcerting about the Sameness that defines the entire community, with strictly regulated progress at every age as a child, each year marked by a formal ceremony, right from the time he was “born”, or rather assigned to a family, to the time he turns twelve.The community regulates its population with systematic “Release” of their elderly and genetically weak “Newchilds” to “Elsewhere”. What’s probably most eerie is the lack of deep emotions, the tightly-reined speech and language, and appropriate behaviour expected of everyone in fulfilling their roles apparently cheerfully and without contest or discontentment. Jonas begins to question this reality and sets himself apart when he is assigned a specific role to play that would tear his whole world apart.It is to Lowry’s credit that she creates this preternaturally-perfect little community in a simple manner, which would not be difficult for a child to imagine and process, and yet arouse uneasy feelings that forces the reader to confront established values and ways of living that he may have taken for granted without question. As a speculative novel, it is highly disturbing for the way it is entirely believable as a possible future.

An absolutely outstanding short read. This has been in my TBR pile for 6 months and in a way I'm gutted I left it so long to read. What a phenomally well written short story from the perspective of a 12 year old boy living in a society where they value sameness and rules. Despite being written from a child's perspective there is nothing childish about this writing style. It is informed, engaging, it is exceptionally good at the slow reveal and completely heartbreaking at the same time. Really makes you think, particularly in relation to totalitarian regimes

Jonas 11yrs lived with his parents and his sister Lily, his father was a Nurturer of small children, mother worked at the Dept of Justice, father brought one baby home, Gabriel, he was a little behind the other children and needed some family life, Lily wanted to keep him but only one boy and girl were allowed, the society they lived in had no memories, everything was one colour, children at 12yrs are told what employment they would do, Jonas was shocked to find he had been given the most important one, he was apprenticed to the Receiver who was responsible for all memories of the societyHe could discuss nothing of what he learnt or the memories he was given, he was given good memories of snow and sunshine but also given memories of pain and torture, each time he received a memory the Receiver lost it to Jonas, father was trying to decide which of twin boys were to be nurtured and which was to be release, Jonas had heard this word before when old people are released, he asks the Receiver who tells him, Jonas is totally shocked

Step by step Lois Lowry draws you into Jonas' world that of his family who live somewhere in the world, simply referred to as the community, sometime in the (distant?) future. Jonas is approaching the ceremony of the twelves where children start to become adults and the role in the community is chosen.As we learn more and more about the society in which Jonas lives it because increasingly dark and troubling more and more of a dystopia rather than a utopia.As this is a book for young adults the language is simple and the book itself is reactively short. This does not mean that the book itself is either simply of lightweight. It ask profound question about our own society and indeed all societies. I would highly recommend it to any Young adult, maybe over the age of thirteen as some of the ideas raised I would also say that any adult reader would probably find lots in it to make them think. And it is certainly an engaging read.I found Jonas' voice utterly realistic though out that the subtle way in which he starts to see the word differently is beautifully conveyed.