A review by emily_m_green
The Giver by Lois Lowry

dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The Giver by Lois Lowery is one of those books that you will think about for a long time after you finish it. The premise is an interesting one: after the world has been through war and a lot of bad stuff, people decided to take away most choices and make life uniform and simple. Now, every child reaches the same milestones at the same time at a yearly ceremony. And once you have a job, that is where you stay for the rest of your life. 

Jonas begins the book waiting for the Ceremony of Twelve, when he and all the other children born the same year as him will find out what they will be doing for the rest of their lives. Where his other friends seem to know where they will fit, Jonas has no idea where he will be placed. 

Life in Jonas’s world is all pre-scripted—there are words to say to apologize, words to say to comfort, and words to say for the few emotions that they are allowed to feel. Of course, Jonas is about to learn that things aren’t always as they seem and that there might be other ways to live. 

The first time I read The Giver it hit hard—I was an adolescent and always felt that I was different and that everyone noticed. I struggled with how formulaic life seemed. As much as I hated the feeling of being different I wanted to be different—I wanted to stand out. I wanted, like Jonas, to be marked for different things. 

From the other side of childhood, it is still a great story. It still packs a warning for society. In many ways, though, I have a better understanding of how I fit into the world and the self-knowledge to know that I am no outcast. Like many, the way that I change the world is more local than global, but I work to have a positive impact and to help others to have a positive impact. 

The plot of The Giver does not feel as surprising this time around, perhaps because we are using it to discuss the hero’s journey and perhaps because YA books about post-cataclysmic society are more common. It is still an enjoyable and intense book to read. 

Would I teach this book? Yes. The Giver fills the space adolescents need to know that they are different, important, and not just impacted by the world around them, but also impactful on the world. It is a book that makes them think about choices and the power to choose. Perhaps they are not yet thinking about things like giving up rights in order to gain safety, but some day they will. There’s a good chance that at that point in their lives they will remember The Giver.