Book Review #1

Hanna, Daniella

October 31,2016

English, Period 4

Book Review #1

The Giver

Lois Lowry

Realistic Fiction

225 Pages 

John Newberry Medal

 

            The novel The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is a fictional book about an eleven year old boy, Jonas, who lives in a world where every little thing is organized to the maximum. There are different communities in this world but they all operate differently. There are rules where every single etiquette is required, from apologizing for the smallest things to eating at certain times and talking about certain things. There are many words in Jonas’ community that people don’t know, such as colors and shapes, which makes it a very simple place where not many descriptions are used. Jonas is getting ready for his ceremony of the Twelves where he will be assigned his job, while his little sister, Lily, is getting ready for the Eights. Jonas’ dad is a nurturer and is taking care of a child named Gabriel who is growing much slower than everyone else so his father decides to bring him home not knowing that him and Jonas would soon become very fond of each other. During Jonas’ ceremony his name is skipped when it approaches his turn. He believes it is a mistake but he soon finds out it was not. At the end of the Twelves’ ceremony the Chief Elder announces that Jonas was not assigned to a job but he has been selected for one of the most important roles in their community: The Receiver of Memory. This role gives Jonas new rules in life and during every one of his trainings, Jonas’ instructor, The Giver, transmitted new memories to him about things he never knew existed. Jonas had become something very important in his community because if any of his memories that he had received were to be released to the community every person would have memories of pain, violence, and things they wouldn’t be able to comprehend. As well as receiving many new memories, Jonas also learns many new things, such as what a release is in his community, and what happened to the last person chosen as The Receiver in their community, Rosemary. Jonas, growing very fond of the child Gabriel, has started to transmit some of his own calming memories to Gabe to  help him sleep at night. When Jonas finds out that Gabe may be subjected to a release, which Jonas now knows means his death, Jonas decides to include Gabe in his plan of releasing his memories to the community so that they are all aware of everything going on in this world whether good or bad. Jonas takes Gabe onto his bike as he rides far from the community until he is far enough to where the memories are no longer just his but now the whole communities. The book ends as Jonas is going through many adversities on journey but he feels it’s worth it to save Gabe and let everyone experience the things they never knew existed.

            This book includes many great things as well as bad things. Something I really liked was how the author made it seem so realistic even though there is no community like this in the real world. The author goes into every detail describing Jonas’ thoughts throughout every scene and it just makes the book much more appealing to read when you are able to imagine every setting and everything that is going on. Something I didn’t like about this book was the amount of suspension between each chapter or scene and the way everything was so perfectly set in this community. Some people may like the way the author suspends things and makes you want to keep going but I’ve never really liked that style of writing very much. I didn’t like that even though all the people were use to this type of life, they did not have the freedom they needed to live a great life. Many things that would’ve made their lives much more animated and full of description rather than simple and plain were kept from them and the rules made in their community were very strict and made it very hard to be any different or unique from the rest of the people in the community. I did not really like the ending of the book because it leaves you in suspense. Although the rest of the book is amazingly written, the ending made me mad because after going through all that reading about Jonas’ hardships through getting away from his community, the book ends when Jonas is going down a hill going further away as he starts to hear music and people singing but he thinks it may just be an echo. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys semi realistic fiction but with a big twist. Anyone who enjoys fictional books with much suspension and detail would like this book because it does keep you wanting more and it makes you feel like you are lost in another world where the details create a whole new setting for you and you feel like you are right there in the book experiencing it all. The book ends in suspension as Jonas is leaving and make you want to read the sequel right away: “Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only and echo.”