The Giver by Lois Lowry
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Book Reviews of The Giver
Book Review: The Giver is very interesting
Summary: 5 Stars
Name: Audriana Santoya
Period:2
The Giver
The book, "The Giver," is a very interesting and highly descriptive book. The author that wrote the book goes into very detailed events. The book takes place in a small town where people keep their lives simple. They have one big ceremony for the birthdays. For every age celebrated they are given one present to represent how mature they are or should be. At age seven of what they call the group of sevens, they receive a new jacket with buttons to represent themselves a s pre-independence to others and themselves. At the ceremony of twelve's, each child is given a specific job that h as been chosen by the head chief. The head chief goes around town with her assistants and spend many minutes examining each child would be good at according to their potential.
Jacob, the main character was given the job to be a Giver, the most respected people of all and the most highly important job in the community. As the head chief was awarding Jacob she had also brought up that soon will come pain and hurt which everybody expected Jacob to know because they didn't. Jacob was given an envelope and was told to arrive at a certain place first thing the next morning. The envelope that Jacob had received was one paper with a list of rules that were to be followed or optional. The one rule that he did not want to follow was the one that said he had the right to lie. Jacob was always use to telling the truth as well as the rest of the community. As soon as the morning rose, The Giver started to training Jacob right away. The Giver had told Jacob that he would be known as, "The Receiver," until he was given all memories and all power. The Giver would have Jacob lie down and close his eyes as the Giver sensitively stroked his hand along the back of Jacob and began giving happy memories like snow to Jacob. After a while of training, The Giver felt like Jacob was ready to become the new Giver, he had told Jacob to use his powers to leave the community as fast as possible without saying goodbye to anybody. This was because the community had to learn how to take control by themselves and learn more painful and confusing things sense they always relied on The Giver. So Jacob and a baby named Gabriel headed for another community. Jacob used his heating memories to keep Gabriel warm. Soon they arrived safely at the community.
Book Review: Color Your World
Summary: 5 Stars
Lowry, L. (1993). The giver. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
Synopsis: Life is perfect when everything is given to you. Jonas lives a happy life with his family unit. All his life, Jonas has lived in utopia, a perfect society where no one feels pain, experiences starvation or is ever left to want more. There are no wars, crimes or fears in his world. There are rules and guidelines for how each person dresses, wears their hair, and apologizes for transgressions. Everything is under perfect control. Or so it seems! On his 12th birthday, Jonas receives an important assignment and has no idea how it will change his life forever. After the assignment ceremony, nothing remains the same. Suddenly Jonas' world is turned upside down. All the value he found in his life is now a web of lies and a controlled environment. Set in a futuristic small community environment, Jonas, who has been sheltered from pain and pleasure his whole life, will now become The Receiver of these suppressed memories from the community's past. As he receives memories, Jonas realizes that all the choices in life are made for the citizens by the Elders. He begins to understand that the control of their entire lives is the price that the citizens must pay for the community's utopian society. Once Jonas receives the truth, it "colors" his whole world forever.
Evaluation: Readers quickly realize this story is fantasy. When Jonas describes the "sameness", population control, lack of pain, suffering and pleasure, the reader is sure to understand that Jonas' world is a utopian society full of necessity and lacking freedom of choices. The citizens' experiences do not include color, music, or love. When Jonas realizes the level of control in his society, he uses this knowledge to become assertive and change his destiny. Lowry carefully balances the values of freedom with the necessity of security in our lives. The plot is full of surprises and leaves readers hanging on the edge of their seats. This book provides an abundance of conversational topics appropriate in multiple settings. Used in the home or school environments, children are encouraged to analyze the benefits and deficits of a society like Jonas'. Educators are bound to use this text to compare students' lives with Jonas'. Students aged 10-17 are likely to find this story captivating.
Book Review: Wow. Incredible book.
Summary: 5 Stars
I should probably preface this review by saying that I first read this amazing novel in the 7th grade (age 13). I say this because of the many 1-star reviews warning parents of the "dangers" of children reading this book. I have to agree with this on some levels, but probably not on the level as most of the reviewers. More on this later.
The Giver is a very complex and enthralling novel about what life would be like if our society strived to exist as a "perfect" utopia-like community. Jonas, along with all his friends, have their careers chosen for them, the less intelligent children being forced into laborers or "birthmothers". Jonas is decided by the elders to be a very special child, and is sent to study with an old man who can transfer memories of a distant life to him. Jonas must now carry the burden of these memories alone.
The overall tone of the novel I found to be quite sorrowful. From The Giver's own loss to the society's way of dealing with overpopulation, I found myself tearing up on occasion. The idea that no one, except perhaps for Jonas and the Giver, can experience "love" is just beyond horrible. However, there were many parts of the novel I found to be uplifting and just plain fun to read, such as the interaction between Jonas and his sister, Lilly.
Bringing in my original statements about children reading this, I do feel that the novel's true meaning might be a little out of reach for younger children. That would be my one reservation when recommending it. HOWEVER, I don't think denying this book to children simply because of the "violent" sections (it was what, one paragraph?) is doing anyone any good. If a child has the intellectual capacity to understand the book's point, let them read it. I read it at the young age of 13 and have read it many, many times since. While I found the goings-on of the society quite shocking, I did not have nightmares and to be quite honest, I found myself remembering other parts of the book more than the parts that seem to be so controversial on here.
My point is, this book is a classic. Every now and then, I find myself picking it up and reading it in the span of a few hours. Each and every time, I gain a new perspective on the characters and story. It's one that should not be missed.
Book Review: An interesting book
Summary: 5 Stars
?The Giver", a book review by Johannes and Vitali, two German pupils in the 10th gradeAfter we read the book in the English class at our school we'd like to give you a book review with our opinion about this book and we hope that this might help you.
Jonas lives in a community where you are always observed and where you have to do everything you are told. At first he is happy in his community. He has friends and has a usual life as a citizen in his family unit. He lives together with his sister lily his father and his mother. In the community there are different ceremonies for every age.
After the Ceremony of twelve Jonas is declared to be the new Receiver of Memory and starts his training with getting memories of many eras before he lived. He gets memories of war, elephant hunts, snow and riding a sled, sunshine and such things. But very important is that he learns to see colours. That's important because no one of the citizens can see colours. In this world they achieved "sameness". They got neither weather nor any differences between them. When Jonas begins to discover the dark side of the community he is in fear of it. He begins to see, that nothing is as perfect as it seems.
He discovers that in this community many people are murdered every day when they break a rule or when they got to old. When the foster child Gabriel of his family unit shall be killed he decides to escape with him to "Elsewhere", a different and better world.
The opinion of Johannes:
At first I found this book boring but when we read further parts of the book it got more and more interesting then I began to read this book with more interest and I began to read it very fast. In the end I found that book interesting and informative but I think that it is not really good written.
The opinion of Vitali:
I found it interesting to read about a book which deals with a different community and with other rules then we have. But I can't imagine that no one apart from the Receiver can see colours or hear music. First I found the book a little bit confusing, but then it was clearer. The book is well written but for a German pupil it is a little bit difficult to understand all the vocabulary. Also I think that the ending is felicitous, because it makes you think further, what could happen.
Book Review: The Giver
Summary: 5 Stars
The GiverBy: Lois Lowry
Reviewed By: Jason Yeh
Per. 2
This book is about a community where Jonas lives and Jonas life. The community was normal and everything was Sameness. They had the annual ceremonies which celebrated the aging of children and selection of new jobs for the Twelves. Jonas spent his volunteer hours as an Eleven at many different places. When the day of Jona's ceremony finally begins, everything goes by slowly until all the Elevens were Twelves and started working. The headperson skipped Jonas number and gave the rest jobs. The citizens figured out and started wondering. The headperson apologizes and tells Jonas that he was going to be given the job as next receiver of memory which was a highly honored job. When his job began, Jonas met the current receiver and became friends with him very quickly.
The next few weeks, Jonas learned much information from the Giver. He received memories of pleasant things at first, but the Giver knew that it was his job to transfer pain to him.
He transferred light memories of pain and finally transferred a great pain to Jonas, "poverty." Jonas lives this life until the day he ran away with a newborn, Gabriel, who was about to be released. With the help of the Giver, Jonas escaped to another community. With few memories, he and Gabriel traveled many miles to try and reach another community. Finally, hey hear some music in the distance and knew they had reached their goal.
My favorite part of the book was when Jonas received the memories. He was forced to bear with the pain but was relieved with a dose of happiness, love, and warmth. Receiving the memories seemed exciting and unexpecting. He didn't know how much pain he would receive.
I enjoyed this book because it was very tense and had a good plot line to it. "JONAS, JONAS, JONAS, JONAS." This quote explains how the community was accepting the selection of Jonas as the next receiver. Unfortunately, he doesn't last very long. He decides to run away. "'He lied to me!' sobbed Jonas" This might have been one of the reasons Jonas wanted to run away. Since he was not used to being lied to, Jonas felt angry at his father when he lied to him. Overall, this book was still a wonderful piece of literature.