Thought-provoking and well-written

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	• The Giver (Collins Modern Classics) Lois Lowry Collins, 2003 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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The Rarest of Books

Why this book is pigeonholed as Children's Literature is a mystery to me, perhaps merely because the protagonist is a twelve-year old, perhaps owing to the author's past works--I'm just glad to have found it. "The Giver" treats the most profound issues in a manner that speaks of deep understanding; the book will ring you like a bell, the ideas resonate and can not be forgotten. For this reason I call this the rarest of books; once read it will immediately and forever be a part of the reader--in a sense, our author becomes her own creation, she becomes the Giver of memory and her reader a Receiver.

It is a spare presentation of a dystopic future world where the "problems" of humanity have all been neatly resolved; everyone is polite, happy with their job, unthreatened by pain, sickness, conflict and even death. Though it becomes quickly evident that what the author really gives us is a rather convincing rationalization for the fact that evil, pain and suffering are necessary. Foes of religious belief often claim that the idea of pain and suffering is inconsistent with a loving God; but, even for the secular among us, Ms. Lowry shows how suffering and joy are linked. "The Giver" argues that granting unlimited license to those who would sacrifice individual choice in their attempts to achieve relief from war, famine and economic inequality could very well eliminate that which makes life worth living. "The Giver" says much about the danger of placing the interests of the community above the interests of individuals.

To say much about the story risks spoiling the slow exposition of the underlying flaws in the utopia, which was exceptionally well paced. At first the "community" seems vaguely creepy, by the end of the book it is horrifying. "The Giver" is a novel of ideas that begs to be discussed and argued over as the part of any moral education. It is powerful beyond my ability to express and like any truth, it offers something of value to any reader at any level.

Highest Recommendation.

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Great Series

Lois Lowry is one of those unique authors who has won the John Newbery Medal for children's literature twice. Once for the first book in this trilogy and once for a book about the Holocaust called Number the Stars. (Just as an aside only one other author has ever done that Madeleine L'Engle who I would also recommend highly.) I would begin by recommending any of her books; they are all worth the time and the effort. This trilogy is set in a post apocalyptic world. The first two books each focus on different community's who have recovered from the devastation differently, both have strengths and both have weaknesses. And a young boy must heal them both and the land if either is to survive.

The Giver
Lois Lowry
Laurel-Leaf Books
ISBN:0440219078

Jonas is a young boy who lives in a community with a lot of technology and many rules about it. He has only seen an airplane twice for planes were not suppose to over fly villages, it was against the rules. Children of the same age are raised together and each December they move up a grade, when the reach the age of twelve they are selected for occupational training Jonas in talking to his friend states about selections: "Jonas Shrugged. It didn't worry him, how could someone not fit in? The Community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made." However all the other Twelve's were assigned and Jonas was skipped then at the end of the ceremony it was announced that he had been selected he was chosen to become the `receiver of memory.' He was to learn all the history and story of the people and become an advisor to the council that ruled the village. It only happened every so many generations and only 1 keeper of memories was installed in each village. Jonas and his family take in an infant who is not maturing and growing quickly enough. The child is given a year extension, when the child is marked to me replaced (abandoned and killed). Jonas takes the child and runs away. Through the winter Jonas knows he will not make it and pours all the memories he has learnt into the child. But can he save the child? What will happen to him and his community? Jonas thought his world was perfect, that the elders had everything under control, that there would never be war again. But also a world without choices. Till he is given the knowledge of the past the choice to save a child or let it die?

Gathering Blue
Lois Lowry
Laurel-Leaf Books
ISBN:0440229499

Kira, is an orphan and she has a twisted leg, she lives in a village with very little technology and one that casts aside those who do not contribute. The weak, injured, and helpless are abandoned. However things are starting to turn around for Kira, she has been spared by the all powerful Council of Guardians, for she has a gift she is a weaver and can die cloths in ways no other in the community can. As an artisan she is installed in the palatial Council Edifice and spends the whole year working her trade, her primary task is to care for the Robe of Remembrance that tell's the story of this community. But with her privilege comes expectations that she will do the council biddings. She befriends a young boy and his ragged dog, Matty `The Fiercest of the Fierce'. Matt tells Kira about another village where people are not cast aside, where they share their food. Matt brings her a gift the color blue, and a blind man that is her father. She is torn between staying and leaving the life she knows, and the truths she can find out what will happen.

Messenger
Lois Lowry
Thomas Allen & Son
ISBN:0618404414

Matt has returned he is with Kira's father and living in the new community from beyond yonder. This village is guided by love and compassion, and guided by the `Leader' a seer arrived in this village one winter night many years ago on a sleigh with an older boy who did not survive the journey. The Seer can see the future and can often see for people what might be for his people. Matty is almost at the age where he will be named, he is hoping to be named `Messenger' for he takes message both in the village and to other villages which many can not do. But things are changing, the village is becoming hostile, starting to turn people away and the woods are becoming ferial and people are dieing. Can the Leader save the village, can the world be healed, what will happen to Kira, her father and Matty?

These three books will challenge you, after reading The Giver the first time I was overwhelmed and it haunted me for a long time. I went back and have reread it many many times. All three books raise questions about community, love, friendship, and care for other people. They also show dark paths that we as a people can go down, and how it can devastate all around us when we make the wrong choices for the wrong reasons.

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Thought-provoking and well-written

I did not read this book until my mid-forties, but I would have enjoyed it at any age past about seven or eight.

Story: Jonas is twelve, and has grown up in a community where there is no crime, no violence, no poverty, and no misery. All of that has been methodically eliminated, in an attempt to create ultimate peace, harmony, and happiness. Everything is very well-organized and planned out. Couples are matched together based upon very good reasons, founded in the community's goals. Each couple has two children. The children's aggressive and sexual impulses are muted by medication. At age twelve, each child is matched with the career that best fits him or her. The Elders teach the children and train them in their careers. There is no pain; there is no misery; there is no poverty. And, there is no freedom. Freedom and individual choice and variety are the costs paid by the community for the peace, the harmony, and the . . er, happiness.

Happiness? Maybe contentment. No joy.

At twelve, Jonas is assigned his career: Receiver of Memories. He is trained by an Elder called "The Giver." And, Jonas finds out what the world could be like. He comes to understand the price that has been paid by the community, the price the community doesn't even realize it is paying, as they have all forgotten what life, freedom, and choice are all about. The Giver has not forgotten, and now, Jonas learns about that price. And, he refuses to pay that price.

What will the community do to Jonas, to preserve its harmony? I will not give that away here, but think about "Brave New World" or "Logan's Run".

"The Giver" earned five stars from me on two points: technical quality and content. Technically, this book is very well-written, with a fast pace, no lulls, three-dimensional characters, a well-described setting, and no plot contradictions. The nature of the community is described so well that you feel that you have been there, and you want to avoid going back.

It is the story content that really elevates this book to five-star quality, however. Diversity and conformity are issues that surround us, in the news, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in government and politics, and in the courts. The Giver puts the debate under a microscope, and it leaves room for no simplistic answers. It portrays an artificial society where diversity has just about been abolished. It depicts the benefits of that society, the shortcomings of it, and the internal conflicts caused in the mind of the protagonist. "The Giver" gives no answers, but gifts us with a wonderful way to look at an important question. This is a great book for a classroom project, or for a parent to read with his/her child. There are discussion questions listed at the end, that can be used as a launching pad for an intellectual exploration of the issues portrayed.

I think that, while written for children, many teenagers and adults will enjoy it, and find it thought-provoking. While the reading level of the book is aimed at children, the concepts are relevant to all ages.

A non-spoiler spoiler: The end is intentionally ambiguous. While I have decided, for myself, what the ending means, each reader must make his/her own decision on what happened at the end. You get to choose. What a nice gift that is.

NOTE: This review appears on other, unlinked editions of this book.

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