What readers think of The Giver, plus links to write your own review.

In the book The Giver, Lois Lowery takes his audience on an out of body experience to a completely different community and way of life.
In this narrative we follow the life of Jonas, a young boy who just turned twelve. The utopian community in which he lives throws a new spin on life without worries. For Jonas and his family there is no knowledge of life with choices, colors, music, animals, seasons, diverse countries, holidays, family and many other experiences that we take for granted. This type of life is all he has ever known, that is until he turned twelve. Jonas is selected to be the town’s new Giver. He is thrown into a whole new perspective of his world. Experiences that Jonas has never imagined are given to him through the memories of the past. To Jonas, this old way of living seems so much better. He wonders “But why can’t everyone have the memories? I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn’t have to bear so much by ourselves, if everyone took a part.”(Lowry, page 112) Because of this he is faced with the quandary of living in a community where no one else has any idea of what they are missing out on.
I found this book to be extremely enjoyable, eye-opening, and thought-provoking. It is simple in context but profound in meaning and thought. For this reason, it appeals to both an older and younger audience. The book leaves plenty of opportunities to ponder a different way of life. It really made me think about how I take my world for granted.
Towards the end of the book Jonas is faced with death, or comes close to death. Lowery leaves the readers occasion to interpret the ending for themselves. I really liked how Lowry ends the book by making a familiar connection with a memory from earlier in the book. By doing this he ties the beginning with the end. Sometimes when writers leave questions unanswered it doesn’t work. But I found this method to be catchy and memorable, drawing the audience into the story and leaving them with a feeling of wonder.
I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for an eye-opening storyline and an enjoyable read. I definitely plan on reading more of Lois Lowery’s works. If they are as well written as The Giver is I know I will enjoy them.

The book The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is about Jonas, a young boy living in an ultra strict society with lots of rules, restrictions, and no conflict.
Each year for the first 12 years of life, the community has a ceremony where children gain new rights. At age 7, they receive a jacket with buttons on the front. At age 9, they receive bicycles, and at age 12, they receive their jobs. This is a huge deal for the children, because their job is chosen for them.
Jonas is assigned a unique job with a man called, “The Giver.” As he learns what his job entails, he discovers fascinating and horrible things. Then one day, he learns something that will forever change him. “Jonas felt sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry.” After this event, he decides that a change must occur in the community.
I thought this was an excellent book. From the beginning, I had lots of questions about things that I didn’t understand in the book, but eventually most of them were answered by the end.
This book really got me to think. I started to compare our society to theirs. It was a really interesting story line with intriguing characters. The word choice that the author used helped me to really visualize what was happening in the book. I wish that there were more chapters at the end of the book. I’m still trying to determine what the ending means, and I wish that it had gone on. Overall though, I think this is a great book and a must read for everyone.

Imagine that you live in a world where everything operates in an orderly fashion and pain, anguish, crime, poverty, hunger, prejudice, racism, sexism and other societal ills have been eliminated. It is just such a society that young 12-year-old Jonas lives and we are given a glimpse into this idyllic community.

The Gift by Lois Lowry opens as Jonas is approaching his twelfth birthday which is also the year of a milestone where the young persons, reaching the age of twleve, enter into adulthood, are given their vocational assignments, and enter into a period of apprenticeship. Jonas is bestowed a great honor when he is selected as the next Receiver of Memory.

Jonas’ world quickly turns upside down as he learns that his society, which has totally eliminated individuality and personal choice, is not as perfect as he once thought.

This is a wonderful book and the ending is quite poetic.

This book is not fun. It is not for a 11-15 age group in my opinion, since many in this age are too ignorant of the past. Some people can say it is thought provoking, wow what a weird society..But I suggest a thorough reading of Anne Franks Diary or “The Testimony” by Halina Wagowska. These are real books about real life dystopian societies that occurred in the not too distant past. The saviors for oppressed people are sadly few and one thing this author seems to forget is the greed and selfishness that make up human nature, regardless of the society or system of government we live in. Human nature is what makes a painless society something truly impossible. Communism promises everything that this fake society does in a similar way, and is probably the closest reality or parallel of an existing society today. Take a look at Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and China, these are similarly dystopian societies of the real world. The communists never want to admit their system of government is a piece of garbage that only leads to more pain and poverty, with fake promises of equality, fairness and opportunity, instead they infiltrate the educational system and look to brainwash young ignorant people with lies. The product, AOC and others like her. Sadly these idiots are elected government officials, lets see what future dystopia they have in mind. I am not too excited to find out about a world where you own nothing and are happy, but that seems to be the mantra.

This book has no point. What is the point of it. All it explains is what the world would be like if it was a simulation. The elsewhere? This place is literally just the real world. The author must not have given very much thought to this.