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eva_berglund 's review for:
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
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:
No
Louis Lowry’s The Giver follows the story of an 11-year-old boy named Jonas. He lives in a mostly self-contained community. A council of elders makes decisions for the community, including who they marry, what children they receive, and what job Twelves are assigned to at the yearly ceremony to indicate aging for children. At the ceremony of Twelve, Jonas is assigned the most honored position in the community: Receiver. His role is to receive the memories of what life was like before the community system was put in place and Sameness became the norm. He was picked in part because of his ability to See Beyond, just like the current Receiver. Receivers use the wisdom they receive from memories to advise the council on important decisions for the sake of the community. When they meet, Jonas immediately begins the process of receiving memories, one at a time. The Receiver, who calls himself the Giver, loses these memories when he passes them on. Through the long process of receiving memories, Jonas learns just how different the world is now. He is faced with a moral decision in the end, and makes a discovery that shows him that he only has one choice.
The Giver is at a Lexile score of 760L. Based on average Lexile per grade, students begin reading at this level around fourth grade. I believe that this book is appropriate for middle school students and onward. The book carries brief mentions of violence, but is generally appropriate content-wise for middle schoolers. This book needs little prior knowledge to understand. This book may be a good fit for readers who enjoy dystopian fiction and pondering what it means to live a good life. This book is on the shorter side, so it is a good choice for students who have trouble staying engaged with longer works. It balances character development with an exciting plot, so this book would fit the interests of a wide variety of readers. In the classroom, this book would be an independent-level read, but there is a lot to get out of this book thematically. If I was teaching this book to a class, I would ask questions such as: “What makes a community run smoothly in our world?” This book ends ambiguously, so there is a lot of room to ask students about their interpretations. A good activity as part of the teaching of this book would be to ask students to make inferences about what happens after the end of the book.
This book met my needs as a reader by having an engaging plot. Details about the setting were slowly revealed, which caused dramatic shifts in my understanding of events in the book. The text was short and had language that was not difficult to understand. However, one thing that upset me about this book was the ambiguous ending. It did not feel very satisfying, and I did not get a sense of closure when I finished this book. The ending is good for instructional purposes, such as analysis and inference, but it is somewhat disappointing as an individual reader. This book also qualifies as dystopian fiction, which is my favorite genre. I enjoy getting to compare and contrast the society and structure I live in to the societies of dystopian works. This short, accessible book might be a good way to introduce readers to that kind of analysis work.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence