Take a photo of a barcode or cover
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
oh my god. I fucking devoured this in a day.
The Giver was so GOOD!?! hello???? all i heard before this, thats its modern classic’s underrated dystopian book. which it is but. No one told me how impactful and meaningful this book is both for children AND adults, elders, teenagers, ANYONE!
The premise of it is easy to grasp, but the process and writing are on whole another level. So deep AND fun to read.
The Giver was so GOOD!?! hello???? all i heard before this, thats its modern classic’s underrated dystopian book. which it is but. No one told me how impactful and meaningful this book is both for children AND adults, elders, teenagers, ANYONE!
The premise of it is easy to grasp, but the process and writing are on whole another level. So deep AND fun to read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is so... abstract. It covers topics like memories, emotions, worldview, growing up, society, morals, ethics. So many things. And you may or will probably pull different things from it than even I did. It made me think and appreciate emotions even when the feel very complicated and bothersome. If we did not know pain, we could not know joy or love. And if you are a Christian, you might also pull some parallels from it as well, although it is not an allegory by any means. Just something I noticed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Blood
Minor: Racism
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great for middle-grade through adult book clubs. First of a loose quartet but stands alone.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual content
dark
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Blood, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It is such a pleasure to read such a well written book. And the more challenging vocabulary, both things that are lacking in many of today's middle and teen novels. This should be on everyone's TBR list, young and old!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Death, War
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The story starts off in a very uncanny world where there is a lack of choice, and this is all every character has ever known. However, Jonas, the main character starts to discover more about what was and what could be and has to make a choice.
The book itself has a very interesting story. It allows you to truly appreciate the life we have now and what we may take for granted. It also helps to further explain that the human experience is complicated with both good and bad through the lense of someone who doesn't know what it actually means to be human. These lessons are nice but I enjoyed the book because of the new world it put me, everything was slightly familiar but just a little off. For instance, it states "Elevens" instead of "Eleven year olds," and "family unit" instead of "family."
While learning about this uncanny world was nice, the book started to take a bad turn near the end. I felt like the build up to Jonas' big moment wasn't done enough justice. He experienced so many surreal things yet we only see him upset at the world once or twice? The book seemed to really hone in on the world building, so when it came time to actually build up the plot and try to create a proper sequence the pacing felt off. Especially with the ending, it was so rushed to me. I'm also personally not a fan of ambiguous/open endings (Yes, I know this is a series) so this only made the ending worse for me, as we weren't able to see the effects of Jonas' choice. We were only able to see a few snippets of what could be during Jonas' end journey where he questions his decision.
The book itself has a very interesting story. It allows you to truly appreciate the life we have now and what we may take for granted. It also helps to further explain that the human experience is complicated with both good and bad through the lense of someone who doesn't know what it actually means to be human. These lessons are nice but I enjoyed the book because of the new world it put me, everything was slightly familiar but just a little off. For instance, it states "Elevens" instead of "Eleven year olds," and "family unit" instead of "family."
While learning about this uncanny world was nice, the book started to take a bad turn near the end. I felt like the build up to Jonas' big moment wasn't done enough justice. He experienced so many surreal things yet we only see him upset at the world once or twice? The book seemed to really hone in on the world building, so when it came time to actually build up the plot and try to create a proper sequence the pacing felt off. Especially with the ending, it was so rushed to me. I'm also personally not a fan of ambiguous/open endings (Yes, I know this is a series) so this only made the ending worse for me, as we weren't able to see the effects of Jonas' choice. We were only able to see a few snippets of what could be during Jonas' end journey where he questions his decision.
However, something I did also enjoy with this book were the "plot twists" or more so unexpected connections between our world and theirs. For instance, with the "release," and an actual plot twist I enjoyed was with the Giver and the (previous) Receiver.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death
Moderate: Murder, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Still one of my favorite books, it is short but creates such a rich world, and tells the story with so much skill. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Blood, Vomit, War
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
* technically a re-read (it was assigned reading in middle school)
Thoroughly enjoyed it and could appreciate it a lot more than middle school me haha. Easy, quick read that has a plot that makes you want to actively reach for it to read more.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and could appreciate it a lot more than middle school me haha. Easy, quick read that has a plot that makes you want to actively reach for it to read more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As someone who never had to read The Giver in school, I am glad that I picked it up. I am left with a pletera of questions in the best way possible. This book really makes you ask "what if."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicide, War
Minor: Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail