The Giver
Fiction/Fantasy
By Louis Lowery
Reviewed by Moriah Teed
Rated 5 out of 5 Stars
When dreaming of a “perfect world,” usually an individual would imagine a world that is fair, equal, without war, without poverty, without stress, without pain. However, can joy truly exist where there is no grief? One cannot prevail in the absence of the other. In the world of a boy named Jonas, both have been eliminated.
“The community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made.” Everyday, Jonas gets the same food, at the same time. Everyone wears the same clothes, and each family of four — parents matched up by the community government with one boy and one girl assigned to them– practice the same, strange, daily rituals. Each moment of their lives are scheduled… if they really can be considered lives…
Jonas ponders that exact thought soon after he begins his designated career as “the receiver.” This special job entails “receiving” memories of long ago, before the uniform society was set in place, from “the giver.” With these knew memories comes the knowledge and pleasure of emotions: happiness, love, freedom, and much more. Yet, not all of what he learns is enjoyable, and he realizes that this strict system of government that envelopes all the community members’ lives, is more corrupt and dark than one might think. Maybe ignorance is bliss after all.
Louis Lowery does an amazing job of capturing the reader and leading them through a very deep plot, with an abundance of detailed visualizations. Each time it is read, there are more underlying concepts to pick up on, so it can be enjoyed again and again. Being my favorite book, I have read it multiple times and would recommend it to anyone who is hungering for a book with meaning.
The Giver is a thought-provoking story of the importance of liberty, choice, identity, and individuality. These themes are intricately woven throughout the futuristic novel, in a unique style, causing the pondering of life itself. Is evading suffering worth relinquishing control over your life?
