Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Genre: Dystopian
The Giver is about Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that makes everything the same for everyone. They don't get to choose their job, spouse, or anything. They believe that being "released" is a good thing, but it's actually death. If you mess up, you get released with shame. It's all supposed to make life easy and pleasant. Everything in this community is controlled and the same. Even with kids, every kid goes through the same process. Every year until twelve, they are given a gift and celebrated in a very special ceremony. At age one, children are assigned a name and family. At age four, they receive jackets with buttons in the back to teach them independence. At age seven, they receive front-buttoning jackets. Year eight's get new clothes with pockets, while year nine's receive bicycles (there are no cars; only bicycles are used and allowed). In year ten, the children get new haircuts. In year eleven, they are given more gender-specific clothes. Finally, in year twelve, children are given their assignment in the community. Which is based on what they are most interested in from their community service.
The story takes an unexpected turn when Jonas is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory, who stores all the memories of the time before the society was created. As Jonas receives these memories from the current Receiver, The Giver, he discovers the dark and painful truths about the community's past. Through this process, Jonas learns about love, pain, joy, and the complexity of human emotions, which are absent in the controlled society. Jonas also gets the fantastic ability to see color, which no one else apart from the Giver and the Reciever can get. The Giver challenges readers to question the cost of a perfect society that strives for the sameness of everybody.
My favorite character is Jonas because of his passion for doing the right thing and breaking a bad system. When Jonas becomes the receiver of memories, he starts realizing that the government and the elders of the community are doing bad things, like killing people who break the rules three times, even if they are kids, and putting in the guise that they are being released which the people of the community think that it is a good thing to get released. So he saves his brother, who is about to be released because he was born as a twin. In the community, twins are not allowed, and one twin has to be kept so they weigh both of the twins and whichever one weighs the most lives while the lighter one dies.
I enjoyed this book because, in the beginning, the story was progressing slowly, then mid-way through, it started going very fast-paced and introducing a lot of plot twists cha, using the book's theme and showing us what was happening in the community. If you read this book and liked it, you should read the following:
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Outsiders by SE Hinton
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Good review!!!!!