(Undertaking an incredible & impossible journey)
In an isolated and futuristic society, twelve-year-old Jonas lives with his father, a Nurturer of infants, his mother, who works at the Department of Justice, and his eight-year-old sister, Lily. They are all awaiting December, for the Ceremony of Twelve, when Jonas will be given his assignment as a new adult of the community. “But for Jonas, things are different. While his friends are selected to be doctors or teachers, Jonas is sent to an old, tired man (The Giver), where Jonas discovers the dark secrets that lie beneath the surface of his world.”
Are you the kind of reader that takes interest in action-packed, dystopian literature with fantasy? If so, you must read this intriguing story!
The novel is about a world that has removed pain, war, emotion, fear and hatred. Everyone must look and act the same. At the age twelve, every member of the community is assigned a job based on their abilities/interests. At the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas is given the assignment – The Receiver of Memory. The Receiver is the keeper of the community’s memory of the past, so the community can avoid making mistakes. As Jonas receives memories from the Giver, memories of pleasure, pain, colours, weather, excitement, terror, hunger and love, he realises how boring and empty life is in his community. The memories make Jonas’s life much more meaningful. Jonas grows more and more frustrated with the members of his community, and the Giver, who has felt the same way for many years. They plan for Jonas to go to elsewhere. So, the memories of the past can be released to his community. Once Jonas crosses the boundary of memories, all of them flow back into his society.
I really enjoyed the story ‘The Giver’ because of the engaging plot, interesting characters and Lois’s way of explaining pain and pleasure. After a thrilling and intense beginning, the story and its characters started to develop. This fantasy novel soon became impossible to put down. With eagerness carried from page to page, each answer developed new questions.
The themes of this book that young people are dealt each day is the importance of memory, the relationship between pain and pleasure and the importance of individuality.
I would recommend this book to capable readers 12 and above, who are interested in action packed science fiction, fantasy and dystopian literature.
I truly enjoyed reading this book, and it is easy to see why it won a Newberry Medal. I rate ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry five out of five stars.
H.M. Year 8
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Imagine a world where no one is different or in pain. There is no war, no fear or competition between anyone. This will also mean that love, compassion and laughter do not exist.
This science fiction book is based on an imagined scientific world that deals with human existence without emotions. How does that affect life and how will the main character Jonas learn to live his chosen life?
Through the book, we follow the life of Jonas, an 11-year-old boy who experiences his life-changing job at 12 years old. He meets his mentor The Giver and life is not the same.
The society that Jonas lives in is not complicated and this leaves Jonas wanting to change his people through the life calling he was given. As Jonas learnt to adapt his thoughts as the receiver of memories, he was able to take control of his emotions. His life changes once he becomes a leader and makes an impact on the life of his family members when entering different worlds. The author takes us on an imaginative concept of different reactions that humans can have and shows us that society really does need emotions good and bad to function suitably.
This book would be suitable for readers of the age from 12-14 as it is easy to read and keeps you interested to know what will happen next through the journeys it takes you on. The Giver was not your typical science fiction book dealing with aliens, monster and fighting. This supernatural world used what we have as humans and changed it to give a thoughtful story which allowed the reader to question and understand more about our human aspects of life.
By Trent L., Year 8