Book Reviews

The Giver (1993)

The Giver - Lois Lowry (1993)

Rating: 2.5/5

Genres: Dystopia

The Giver is a story about a boy called Jonas who lives in a town that has rules. You do not break these rules. Jonas is picked for the job to be the new receiver of memory.

I had really high hopes for The Giver. I had heard so many positive things about it and then I read it and got a bit confused. Have I missed something? It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I liked the setting and the idea of the community and its rules: you break a rule more than 3 times you will be "released". I found that the book went along very slowly, by the time I was about 150 pages through things were only just beginning to happen.

The Giver has a reasonable plot and I loved the idea but I think that it was just a bit too slow for my liking. I understand that this book has the potential to be something more and maybe the series gets better as Jonas progresses through the books.

Honestly I felt like the writing is lacking in the emotional connection I am used to feeling with the characters, I felt a little less than no empathy for Jonas. I feel like I didn't really understand Jonas' thoughts and actions and I didn't feel like I knew or understand Jonas' parents personalities or anything about them really.

One of the main plot points of The Giver is that Jonas becomes the new receiver of memory for the town and I honestly felt that there was very little build up for the ceremony that revealed what Jonas was going to be doing for the rest of his life.

While I can appreciate the overall message about the importance of individual differences, human emotion, etc., I felt like the book was a heavy with the moral.

I think this is one of those books that perhaps you have to read a few times to unlock its true potential.

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