The Giver (Giver Quartet, #1)

by Lois Lowry

The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

• ISBN10: 0547995660
• ISBN13: 9780547995663
• Publish Date: 25 September 2012 (first published 26 April 1993)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Houghton Mifflin
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

I have never read The Giver by Lois Lowry before until now. It was never a book that I never was tasked to read The Giver by Lois Lowry in school. I remember seeing the movie when it came out, but I never read the book. My oldest child had to read it in middle school, and I decided to squeeze the book into my reading schedule. I was supposed to read it last month (July 2021) for the Society against Book Banning but was dealing with medical issues at the time. 

Storyline/My Thoughts: After reading The Giver, I did find some aspects of the book problematic, but some of it eye-opening. It’s supposed to be a utopian society, where there really aren’t any feelings (emotional ones). It includes sameness with everyone, and no one can see color. There is a Receiver who handles all the memories of the past (good and bad). For instance, Jonas has never known what snow looks like or feels like, and he’s never experienced hunger or death. He’s about to find out about it since he has been assigned the job of the new Receiver. Once Jonas starts receiving the memories of the past from the Giver, he starts seeing and feeling things differently. He also starts realizing that maybe the society he is in is not Utopia.

Here’s the problem with the book for me personally. I didn’t connect well with Jonas because there was nearly no characterization or world-building that I’m used to reading in other books. There were secondary characters in the book that I wanted to learn more about but never did. I only got snippets of them. Lois Lowry did describe what it was like to live in this society since Jonas told it from his POV. The book is only 179 pages, so I knew it would not give me much. There was also the ending that I felt ended abruptly. I was left hanging. I didn’t feel there was a real HEA to the story either.

There was an issue also with something that Jonas finds out in this book that bothered me. This is one thing I don’t like in books, but since this is labeled as dystopian, I was expecting something to bother me. I mean, the Hunger Games bothered me when it involved kids. The rest of the society found no issue with it, but Jonas immediately knew it was wrong once he found out the truth. 

I found the book interesting at specific points. Everyone didn’t have to deal with a rollercoaster of emotions. They lived their lives. One of the downfalls to this is never experiencing love, even as a family. There was how Jonas got to learn from the Giver on experiences that were good and bad. He changed once he started learning more about life. 

My daughter, when she read it, didn’t like it much because she found it boring. She was only 12-13 years old when she read it, and she’s my picky reader anyway. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed the book as a teenager. I was into horror and mystery books around my preteen/teenage years. 

I will say this I enjoyed the movie a little more than the book. I felt the film covered a little more, and I understood it better. The ending of the movie was better than the book. 

Overall, this book gets four stars from me. This book is not my usual cup of tea, but I’m glad I read it. I don’t see a reason to ban the book entirely, but I see issues with a particular age group of kids reading it. My oldest daughter can handle things in this book, but my youngest daughter may be bothered by this book. She’s my sensitive child when it comes to certain things. She doesn’t like violence and doesn’t like seeing/reading anyone that gets hurt. She’s very empathetic. 

Standalone or Part of Series: After reading the synopsis of the other books in the quartet, each seems to follow new characters. I’ve also read reviews of the other books from other readers who mentioned that each is standalone.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you enjoy dystopian books that include a utopian-like society in them. The characters in the book believe it to be. After I was done reading it, I know the community was flawed, and they didn’t realize it. I would also recommend watching the movie.

[Jo]

Review to come.

[bookoala]

3.5 stars
I didn't like it very much but I didn't dislike it either. The world building is interesting, the characters are interesting, the story is interesting.
I'm still not over the fact that they couldn't see colors and it took me half the book to understand!

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

For such a small book, THE GIVER packs a punch in its dystopian elements. This book is from a time before fiction was so inundated with dystopian novels, and its ideas are rich and accusing. Although I first read it years ago, I don't think I fully understood or appreciated the implications of this community and it's need to impose the weight of memory, wisdom, and conscience on to a single person as so to unburden the community to function at peak effectiveness.

And that isn't even to touch on the conversation of language. There is an emphasis on precision of language that could easily be unpacked into a full essay. There's a lot to talk about here, and that's only when we discuss the dystopian elements.

As a novel, THE GIVER is easy to read and intriguing in not only its hypotheticals, but also character and world building. The end comes abruptly and leaves the reader wanting more, making the whole a compelling story. If you've read this before in school or when you are young, it's well worth a reread and some contemplation.

For an extended review of this and other books, or for more bookish content, visit The Literary Phoenix.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Jonas lives in a world of Sameness. There is nothing to differentiate one person by the other, everything is seen in black ad white with each year relinquishing a little of the individuality you possessed, following like a group of Lemmings. At your 12th year, you are given your assignment, and begin your training to contribute to the community. Jonas is given the responsibility of Receiver, the holder of all the world's memories before Sameness came into being. Jonas learns the burden of carrying around thoughts of war and starvation, but understands the benefits of things like colors, and sled rides. Soon he learns due to others oblivion he will always be an outsider with his new found wisdom and wonders how long he can last.

"For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo."

And so the story ends, with the question of, was this Jonas' death or his savior? Does Jonas make it to Elsewhere or is it only a dream? There are many themes throughout The Giver, but I think the most obvious and stand out is what if? This society is so closed-minded that it is hard to fathom their inability to learn and look beyond to the bigger picture rather than just their sector. What if such a mask was to occur and wipe to a clean slate? True, we could do away with so much hate and hardship but is the risk worth it, or is it better to learn from our mistakes? That's the question I believe Lowry is asking.

This was one of my favorite books growing up, I think because it was unlike anything I had read before. Even now, 10+ years later it leaves as just as large an impression. Perhaps The Giver is like a bottle of good wine, it just gets better with age.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

This book caught my attention and held it from the first page. I was drawn into the world...right into, not just skating on the top of it, but into it. I was sad when it was over. I wanted desperately to know what happened to Jonas and Gabe. I still do! Someone please tell me there is more of their story in the next 3 books...

The Giver was one of those books that I ended up giving a five-star rating without even needing to think about it.

Here's a one sentence literature History lesson; The Giver was first published in 1993. This book was written more than ten years ago and what I found really interesting was that it's still relevant more than ten years later. While The Giver, might not be one of the first dystopian books that were ever written, it's much more original and refreshing compared to most of the modern dystopian books that I've read.

Like most dystopian novels, The Giver focuses on the perfect Utopian society. I couldn't help but compare it to Matched even although The Giver was written a long time before Matched was. With both novels, I couldn't help but have a sense that there was something creepy and dreadful beyond the perfect surface.

So, I'm going to become a horrible person whose compares two books of a similar genre. :( The Giver and Matched are similar in nature, but I will try to keep these comparisons as subtle as possible.

In the Matched series, I felt as though the passive action (the internal or introspective action) wasn't enough and I kept on itching for something more to happen. In The Giver, everything that takes place is introspective, meaning that is takes place within the main character, Jonas. This meant plenty of character development as Jonas starts his training as the Receiver of Memory. And I love awesome character development! The only time that there was external action in the book was towards the end, and even that external action wasn't about action at all. I love action books and books without any action, bore me to death, but Lowry is a genius! There was something about The Giver that was so interesting and gripping that I couldn't stop turning the pages. In my head, I knew that nothing much was happening in the world that Jonas lived in, but I didn't care!

The Giver had strong world-building, great character development and was a surprisingly gripping passive action novel. Definitely, one of my favourites!

[Kelly]

What the effing eff is that ending? That's just cruel. Seeing the next book is about someone entirely different, is there no conclusion?
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/03/the-giver-by-lois-lowry.html
I really enjoyed it, but now I'm in a pissy mood. The Giver wasn't at all what I'd expected. While it certainly didn't live up to the praise, I did enjoy it nonetheless. It follows the story of Jonas, a boy who sees beyond the world he lives in. Reminiscent of a cult like community, no one challenges the rules but rather simply obey. Citizens live without freedom and choice, and the only person in a position to change is The Giver, and now Jonas as the Receiver. The storyline was wavering between contemporary and paranormal, rather than dystopian for me. Little explanation is given to how the community came to be, other than glimpses of the world through The Giver's shared memories.

I can imagine as one of the first dystopian type young adult novels released, The Giver went on to inspire such series as The Hunger Games and Divergent. It was novel, unique and had me enthralled from beginning to end. But as groundbreaking as The Giver was, it left me feeling deflated. At only two hundred pages, it felt so incredibly clinical, character development was sacrificed in order to build the world that was The Community. As much as I like Jonas, as a character you're only given a basic view of his identity and that of his family. The concept is brilliant, and although it was well written, I wish it had of been further developed to create an emotional connection with Jonas and his plight.

But it was the ending that unraveled for me. Open ended, the reader is left to draw their own conclusions. While most readers enjoy the mystery and imaginative path the storyline too, I didn't. I felt cheated and angry that I'd invested in the storyline, only to have it not reach that definitive ending I so desperately needed.

[cornerfolds]

My brother has been trying to get me to read The Giver for years. It's one of his favorite series and I've heard him talk about it over and over but, for some reason, just never got around to picking it up. If I had to guess, it's probably because it's a classic and I don't usually love those.

I should preface this review by saying that I saw the movie first. I know, I know. But I did. The movie was actually pretty good! I really did enjoy it... until I started reading message boards and realizing how different it was from the source material. That is why I decided to finally read it and I'm really glad I did!

The Giver is definitely a heck of a lot different than the movie that was recently released. Honestly, I did enjoy some of the changes in the film and I can totally understand why they were made. I really am not sure if the book could have been translated exactly to screen. But I digress.



The book opens with Jonas as he prepares to get his assignment - his job, essentially. Much is revealed about the workings within the community he lives in. There is a huge focus on precision of language, sameness, and honesty, to name a few. It quickly becomes very obvious that this is a community run by very strict guidelines that are never -not- met. Jonas, however, is a questioner. Though he feels guilty, he doesn't do everything exactly the right way and sometimes sees strange things. This starts to make sense to Jonas once he is given the assignment of Receiver of Memory.

The previous Receiver (now the Giver) explains a great many things to Jonas through memories. Jonas learns of how things were before the world became the way it is. He learns about colors and pain and love. But these things that previous Receivers were content (or not) with are not enough for Jonas. He always wants to know more and asks all the why's.

I greatly enjoyed the characters in this book, although they were obviously very strange. I liked Jonas a lot simply because he was not content with what he was being told and he wasn't content with the way the world had become. The Receiver, though sometimes gruff, had the feeling of a grandfather who was concerned and wanted his grandson to have (know) everything. Fiona and Asher were also interesting characters, though I would have liked to have known more about them.

The story of the Giver is very imaginative. It made me laugh at times and it also made me cringe at a few moments (okay, more than a few). The only downside for me was that I didn't feel like I knew enough. Like Jonas, I wanted to know more! And this book left me with more questions than answers. I guess that the remaining books share a little more about what may have happened, but I feel like The Giver itself was abruptly ended and needed more explanation.

Back to the film, I liked the touches of romance that were only very briefly hinted at in the book, though I did like how the book explained more about how romance within the community worked. I also felt like the book did a better job with their assignments since Asher's especially seemed a little ridiculous in the movie. And while the movie's landscapes seemed a little far-fetched, I did like that it was better realized, while the book left pretty much everything completely to the imagination. Overall, I liked both the book and the movie for different reasons and I'd definitely recommend both!

I remember reading this in school and I remember liking it. I'm very interested in seeing the movie. I don't remember reading the other books because back than it wasn't easy to keep track which books were in a series.

I can't wait to see where the author decided to take her book.