Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Even though this is a middle grade-ish book, I'd never heard of it when I was a child... imagine my surprise when I log on one day and everybody is talking about what this book meant to them when they were younger and how simply brilliant is is... so naturally, due to my inherent fear of being left out, I had to find out what the fuss is with The Giver.

Plot summary: Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

When I first picked up The Giver I was surprised by how young it is, which was perhaps slightly unfair of me - I had read Lois Lowry's Anastasia series when I was a child so I should have had an idea of what to expect. I did get used to it reasonably quickly and could settle back and enjoy/be freaked out by the story, but it wasn't an instant thing.

While the language is simple, the content is not. Definitely not. If I'd have read this as a child, I don't think I'd have actually understood half of what it was trying to get across. It discusses the dishonour of being one of the women who have babies, why you're not allowed to see anybody naked and why men have to take a pill to suppress 'stirrings.' No prizes for guessing what that means.

I'm not surprised it was banned. To clarify, I'm not saying that it should have been (before I get a string of shouty comments) but I can see some parents being shocked at some of the implications in this book, even if the meaning passes the younger readers by. I could also pull an awful lot of socialist values out of The Giver, if I were so inclined... I'm totally not but I could without much effort, which I doubt would have impressed a whole lot of parents in the 1990s.

The world-building here is unbelievable, for such a simply written book. It's a fairly generic dystopian concept (or it is now - I believe it was fairly unique at the time) but it manages to perfectly balance interesting detail without overwhelming a younger reader in backstory.

"I felt angry because someone broke the play area rules," Lily had 
said once, making a fist with her small hand to indicate her fury. 
Her family, Jonas among them, had talked about the possible 
reasons for rule-breaking, and the need for understanding and 
patience, until Lily's fist had relaxed and her anger was gone. 

But Lily had not felt anger, Jonas realized now. Shallow 
impatience and exasperation, that was all Lily had felt. He knew 
that with certainty because now he knew what anger was. Now he 
had, in the memories, experienced injustice and cruelty, and he had 
reacted with rage that welled up so passionately inside him that the 
thought of discussing it calmly at the evening meal was 
unthinkable.

"I felt sad today," he had heard his mother say, and they had comforted her. 

But now Jonas had experienced real sadness. He had felt grief. He 
knew that there was no quick comfort for emotions like those. 

These were deeper and they did not need to be told. They were 
felt. 

The simple way it discusses incredibly difficult concepts is nothing short of astounding. We watch as Jonas slowly begins to see colour and tries to describe it to others... how exactly do you describe 'red' to a person who can't see?

It's a very anti-climactic ending though... If it took The Giver that long to come up with that solution, he's got a few screws loose somewhere. I'd actually planned to write about how great it was that the ending is open to interpretation, but Ellie has since mentioned that there are more books in the series, so never mind. I've decided not to read them though - I suspect the actual ending isn't the one I'd imagined so I'll just keep it as it is in my head!

The Giver is written very simply and it would be child's play to pick holes in the plot, but I'd definitely recommend it anyway. The amount of adult content is almost shocking (I don't think I've even mentioned the blown-off limbs or euthanized babies yet) but without the added irritation of it trying to be shocking. It's a quick read but a worthwhile one.

Read Laura's review of The Giver at Devouring Texts.