Hello everyone!
In school, my grade finished reading a book called The Giver by Lois Lowry.
It’s…a lot.
So how does a review sound?
The Giver takes place in a society free of pain and choice, where nobody has to starve or make the wrong choices. And there’s no color or bad weather or anything that brings negative emotions. Everyone gets the same things at the same times.
The protagonist is a boy named Jonas, who believes, like everyone else in his community, that everything is okay.
…he’s desperately wrong.
When Jonas has his Ceremony of Twelve, in which he is assigned a job to begin training for, he is selected as the most important dude in all of the community, The Reciever. Being the Reciever, Jonas gains memories and wisdom from a man called The Giver–but with this wisdom comes pain.
Eventually, after unearthing the dark truth about the Community Jonas has to make a decision to protect a loved one. Is his wisdom enough? Or will everything stay the same?
There are a few things you should know about this book:
- Despite having other books, The Giver is a standalone work. The other books in the series don’t refer much to this book.
- The Giver is a dystopia, so it has some pretty heavy topics. I don’t recommend it for young children, or anyone sensitive.
- The Giver also has some…let’s put it, “interesting” descriptions. Again, not recommended for young children.
All in all, it’s a pretty good read.
If you like dystopian fiction (which I don’t, but you do you), there are two other dystopian fictions I’ve read that are EXTREMELY DEPRESSING AND HEAVY (I think that 5th-6th grade was too young to read these), but are otherwise good. These are for lovers of dystopian fiction.
- The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. About a girl named Cia who undergoes government testing and discovers dark secrets…about the government.
- Legend by Marie Lu. About a boy named Day and a girl named June who discover things about…the government. Who would’ve thought?
Yeah, if it’s not already clear, horrible/corrupt government is a common theme in dystopias.
But it’s cool.
So, you should go read The Giver–if you’re old enough, like maybe 13-15.
Alright, that’s all I got.
Bye ЁЯША
-Abby