by Lois Lowry
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Product Description
When Jonas turns 12, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver--who alone holds memories of pain and pleasure in life. Now there can be no turning back from the truth. Paperback.
Amazon.com
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Superb book for young people, 2008-08-16
As a teacher of learning disabled students...I can say that all of my pupils loved this book. Some of the ideas might need a bit of explaining, but it is a story that kids can really get into.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 As Heller said, "the atrocities that horrified us a week ago become acceptable tomorrow...", 2008-08-13
It's a bit difficult to put into words how I felt about Lowry's The Giver. The first thing that came to mind and just wouldn't go away is "horrific". And though one can't really be caught surprised with the unfolding of events since Lowry, as a measure of her skill as a storyteller, quite expertly built up the climax, there's still a part of me that kept thinking, "Surely it wouldn't be so bad..."
Of course, it was inevitable that this seemingly eerily perfect world she created would topple. And it was all brought about by the power of memories and one's yearning for love. It made me realize that I've never felt so perplexed and awed by a story in a long while.
Certainly dialectic and begging for a multitude of interpretations, The Giver is another one of those worthy reads that dared to explore, among other things, the boundaries of threshold a person can reach, along with one's capacity to break free of bonds just to truly realize what it is to be human.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Controversial!, 2008-08-11
The reviews of The Giver are absolutely hilarious. People, this is a book marketed to young adults; don't let it kick you around. The author, Lois Lowry, expects the reader to make inferences at certain points throughout the novel. You are going to have to turn your brain on and do a little teeny tiny bit of thinking. But that's okay! Just take a deep breath and try to remain calm. You will make it out alive, trust me.
Seriously, the reader response to this book is almost as fascinating as the book itself. When the adults responding here are not complaining about The Giver being hard to understand, they are objecting to its violent content. Isn't that a little like saying our government's anti-drug commercials are too shocking for TV? When authors write about totalitarian societies, they usually try to frighten the reader into guarding against the emergence of such horrors in real life. It's ironic how the reviewers here, in their responses, betray the habit of being spoon fed their truth in much the same way as the characters in this novel. The members of Jonas' community cannot think for themselves, and the reviewers of this book can't even puzzle out the climax. Not only that, but their aversion to The Giver's violent content is exactly the kind of attitude that would lead to a safety-obsessed world like the one Lowry envisioned.
I'm awarding The Giver three stars. It's an overall decent dystopian novel, but it's flawed in that it doesn't stand out as particularly memorable. A story like Animal Farm, by contrast, sticks with you for the rest of your life. Authors who write about totalitarianism probably want to make a deep impact on their audience and drive home a message. If the message doesn't stick, the book is a failure (at least to a degree). Nevertheless, all in all The Giver is a worthwhile read for all age groups.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
My favorite book, 2008-08-09
I have read The Giver 4 times--twice to myself and two other times to other people. This is one of those books that should be read more than once, just because of all the information in it. The Giver starts off slow, and migh deter some younger readers, but once it gets a few chapters in it becomes very intriuging and thought provoking. This is a wonderful book for young kids to first realize and understand the freedoms and other important things we have in our world today. This also teaches that sometimes living through the bad in life is worth it to get the good. I really cannot say enough about this book. It is simply excellent.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A Powerful Read!, 2008-08-07
This book, to me, was just brilliant. I love the idea of another time and society, which were expressed so originally in this story. Rules, safety, everything made for what could have been a perfect society. But it is what lies beneath these things, what they choose to cover up, that makes the story really interested.
Jonas, at twelve, grows up way too fast. It is traditional for twelve year olds of his society to be an adult at 12, but Jonas is the only one who truly experiences any real growth.
Given the choice to protect the world they live in or unleash everything unknown, he has a powerful choice to make, and does so accordingly.
This book gripped me right up until the end, which was the only slight let-down. While the end was good, it wasn't great, as the rest of the book was. But overall, I highly recommend this book to everyone. An instant classic.
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