5.42k reviews for:

El Dador

Lois Lowry

4.08 AVERAGE


I loved this book. And I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I have only one thing to say. I am sorry for Lois Lowry because Ally Condie plagiarized her marvelous ideas.
adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Don’t really remember this book much.
I watched the movie once and remember kind of liking it but I had completely forgotten what the point of it was. So when I read it, I had no clue about the plot besides a vague memory of some big secret. I do think the idea of the colourless-ness and the way those parts were presented and described, was really well written and a super cool twist, but besides that, I didn’t like the book very much. It was quite boring. The characters were dull (which I can understand why but still) and the overall writing just felt robotic. Also, having read the book, I do think the movie should never have been made. The concept of it just doesn’t translate to film or any visual medium.
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ugh, I love/hate this book. It's beautiful and amazingly well written. Lowry builds a world where emotion is castrated and explores those consequences very nicely. My issue is the ending. That ending. It's written as one of those reader decides ones. Obviously, every book is subject to interpretation, but this ending is incredibly loose compared to the rest of the book, and it's hard to get any sense of closure from it. Which is sad in such a well-built dystopia. All the same, I look forward to exploring this with our son. 
emotional lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Even though I found the writing is challenging, I am taken back with the moral message from Mr Lowry. I do not remember much of the plot because I read this book long time ago. 

I only remember the story is heart breaking and sad at the same time. 
adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Since, I hadn't read this since my Freshman year of High School, which is now fading swiftly into the murky recesses of my past (pretty poetic, right there, I know!! :) I thought I would give this book another read! I remember really liking it, and I would often end up recommending it to students at the High School that I worked at while in college, but when I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie, I realized that I couldn't actually remember the story! I knew it was a young adult dystopian (before there ever was such a thing) and that the ending had felt really profound to innocent little 13 year old me!

So here is what grown-up Andrea thought of The Giver:
It was brilliant! This is what I want from YA, it is a shining example of the dystopic genre and it is above and beyond the best young adult read I have ever come across...in fact, it's so good, that it's just one of the best BOOKS that I've read, period. This is a quiet book that packs a lot of punch in it's 180 pages. Lowry is one of the most thoughtful writers that I've come across and you can tell that each word and each scene, has been carefully and lovingly chosen, by a master storyteller. This book still, after all these years, left me in awe and with a feeling of profound impact, I finished it's final pages not only crying but reeling as well. A YA novel that makes you think and question and learn for yourself what it means to be human!
adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No