This is Book 1 of The Giver Quartet.
I dont know why I have not read this book before now. I have passed it in the bookstore countless times and never so much as picked it up to read the back. Shame on me.
This is one of the most subtly chilling books I have read in a long time. In the same way that someone who is really angry is more frightening when they whisper than when they scream, this book conveyed alarming scenarios with the most gentle of deliveries. I dont know how Lowry managed to do it, to say so little and so much at the same time, and to do so in a way where teens and adults alike would find benefit in what she has written.
The Giver is a particular view into one seemingly perfect community a post-apocalyptic world. It provides endless fodder for book clubs, family conversations, term paper topics, and group discussions. It covers a breathtaking array of social, physical, philosophical, psychological, moral, and cultural themes, and will be remembered for all that it does say just as much as all that it does not. That, I think, is part of the beauty and mystery and fear of this novel: it allows your imagination to fill in the rest, and in most cases that is far more frightening than anything she could have written.
This is one of those books that you can read many times throughout your life and glean something new and meaningful from it with every reading. Dont be deceived by the simple styling of the plot or the fact that it is a quick read. This tiny tome packs quite a punch. It is at its best when taken slowly so that you can really THINK about what you are reading, to absorb all of the wider implications of what is being said. It certainly makes for a far scarier way to read the book, but it is one that I would recommend.
The ending is intentionally (if not frustratingly) ambiguous, but that is due in part, I believe, to Lowrys attempts to force the reader to continue to think for themselves rather than to have the story spoon fed to them in exacting detail. I understood the need for that particular ending, but still felt the need for closure. Then I discovered that there were 3 more books in this series. I promptly quit moping and started reading the next book.
I dont know why I have not read this book before now. I have passed it in the bookstore countless times and never so much as picked it up to read the back. Shame on me.
This is one of the most subtly chilling books I have read in a long time. In the same way that someone who is really angry is more frightening when they whisper than when they scream, this book conveyed alarming scenarios with the most gentle of deliveries. I dont know how Lowry managed to do it, to say so little and so much at the same time, and to do so in a way where teens and adults alike would find benefit in what she has written.
The Giver is a particular view into one seemingly perfect community a post-apocalyptic world. It provides endless fodder for book clubs, family conversations, term paper topics, and group discussions. It covers a breathtaking array of social, physical, philosophical, psychological, moral, and cultural themes, and will be remembered for all that it does say just as much as all that it does not. That, I think, is part of the beauty and mystery and fear of this novel: it allows your imagination to fill in the rest, and in most cases that is far more frightening than anything she could have written.
This is one of those books that you can read many times throughout your life and glean something new and meaningful from it with every reading. Dont be deceived by the simple styling of the plot or the fact that it is a quick read. This tiny tome packs quite a punch. It is at its best when taken slowly so that you can really THINK about what you are reading, to absorb all of the wider implications of what is being said. It certainly makes for a far scarier way to read the book, but it is one that I would recommend.
The ending is intentionally (if not frustratingly) ambiguous, but that is due in part, I believe, to Lowrys attempts to force the reader to continue to think for themselves rather than to have the story spoon fed to them in exacting detail. I understood the need for that particular ending, but still felt the need for closure. Then I discovered that there were 3 more books in this series. I promptly quit moping and started reading the next book.
