The 13-year old in my house is reading "The Giver" for class, which inspired me to check for it on my shelf. It's there...and now it's here.
"The Giver"
Lois Lowery
Bantam Doubleday Dell 2003
ISBN 0-440-90079-4
Jonas has a life with structure, purpose, and peace. His worries are small, except for the anxiety over what Assignment he'll have at the start of his twelfth year. But it turns out, Jonas is not assigned anything. Jonas is Chosen. All the structure and peace in his life is discarded as Jonas begins to learn from The Giver, the man who holds the memories for an entire world. And Jonas will never be able to see his world the same way again.
Lame summary, yes. But, awesome book. When I first had to read "The Giver" (special note...had to ), I rejected it. I thought the premise was stupid, the ending was stupid, and Jonas was stupid. But, I was also in the sixth grade and clearly too smart to fall for any book they made us read for class. But, like a lot of books I had to read for school, it's actually an amazing book. When I reread it, I got more and more caught up with the sinister air of the community. The whole regimented idea. Lowry's descriptions are just spot on. Everything appears to be totally normal, totally acceptable. And everything is so vivid. Discovering color for the first time is one of my favorite moments. I will say my biggest gripe with the book is the ending, but, read on. I know I'll review "Gathering Blue" at a later date.
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ReplyDeleteOh that was my least favorite book in school! Reading it again for class last term wasn't too horrible because i knew the outcomes already. I haven't read "Gathering Blue." Is it better or worst than The Giver? Also The Giver is the One Book One Community book for the library system here. You could find out if there is a book club at the library you're interning at and see what they have to say about the book!
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