Guest Reviewer
Lois Lowry
Laurel Leaf
“It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.”
Thus opens Lois Lowry’s haunting novel The Giver, in which a boy inhabits a seemingly ideal world: a world without conflict, poverty, unemployment, divorce, injustice, or inequality. It is a time in which family values are paramount, teenage rebellion is unheard of, and even good manners are a way of life.
December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve year old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man—the man called only the Giver--he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.
Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling, it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.
I first read this book in my grade 6 English class at the choosing of one of my favorite English teachers. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think she was quite influential in developing my appreciation and need for books. The Giver was not my introduction to Lois Lowry, however. I had read Number the Stars the year before, and loved it as well. Since, I have read Messenger and Gathering Blue multiple times and am beyond excited to read her fourth installment, Son. The Giver has remained my favorite of Lowry’s novels to date.
I ripped through the book, finishing it in about a day during a very busy Christmas season. It had been a while since I read fiction geared towards as young an audience as The Giver is, but I enjoyed the story and the story telling all the same. Lowry is excellent at dropping readers into the midst of a world they know nothing about and revealing key details just in time to allow you to understand what’s happening, but keep you guessing about what could possibly come next.
I remember the book seeming much longer the first time I read it, perhaps because many of the ideas and concepts of dystopian fiction were entirely new to me at the time. My eyes were certainly opened to many new concepts of government, choice, rights, and responsibility the first time I read The Giver. My most recent read found me particularly focused on the idea of truth: what qualifies as truth, when it should be told, when it should be with held, and the power and responsibility that comes with the truth.
One of my favorite things about rereading books is the experience of going back and finding a new detail that hadn’t stood out to me before. The Giver was a comfortable and familiar book that was still able to challenge my opinions. Jonas’s story is easy to read and his experiences allow one to see aspects of our lives that are taken for granted, through a fresh pair of eyes.
It is always a pleasure to read Lois Lowry’s work and I recommend this book for anyone as young as grade 5, and any and every age older.
Reviewed by Diana at Project:Read
