Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Publication Info: Bantam 1993
ISBN: 055-357133-8
Genre: Top 100 Banned Books
Submitted by Angelina
Fans of 1984 and Brave New World will not be disappointed. Society has become a disinfected and homogenized version of what it was. Children are born to designated Birthmothers and given to “families†during the ceremony of One. Family is no more, adult males and females live together only long enough to raise the children in a secure environment. All citizens look basically the same, everyone must conform. If you deviate in any way, you will be Released (euthanized).
This story follows Jonas. Jonas is preparing himself for the ceremony of Twelve. The ceremony of Twelve decides what occupation will be given to each citizen. Jonas is excited, as are all the children. However, Jonas is different from the other children. While the other children all have dark eyes, he has light eyes. You later learn that this is what gives him the ability to “see beyondâ€( color). During his ceremony of Twelve, it is announced that he will become the next Receiver of Memory. He will hold the memories before the time of Sameness, memories now held by The Giver. As Jonas begins his training, through the memories he learns of concepts such as truth, beauty, love, and compassion. It is then that he begins to see the shallow hypocrisy of the world he now inhabits.
The author keeps the book at a steady pace, nothing too jarring. My only complaint when I first read this book was that the ending was too ambiguous. When he escapes the community with Gabriel, an infant with eyes like him, you are not sure if they die of hypothermia in the mountains or if they are rescued. However, that has since been settled by the sequels.
As a young adult, this book resonated with me because I was beginning to think for myself. I was born and raised in a small town in Michigan. Hypocrisy was something I could understand. It was all about sins of omission. Afternoon brunches often had conversations about nothing while a 600 pound gorilla sat in the same room that everyone saw but no one would acknowledge. We white-washed the dirty parts of our lives the same way the council white-washed the dirty parts of humanity.
Why are there so many challenges? I believe it is because people are squeamish when it comes to the topics of euthanasia, selective breeding, and social conditioning. If anything, this book does not encourage these ideas, but rather it discourages it. I sometimes wonder if the people who place challenges on a book have ever even it read it.
SPOILERS…
I was so sure, when I first read this, that Jonas died. I thought that it was an awesome ending (I was a morbid kid). Imagine my dissapointment, upon the recent publication of “Messenger,” to find that Jonas had inexplicably survived and founded his own society in the wilderness.
Only the pseudo-romance with Kyra from “Gathering Blue” could make up for it.
You guys are coming up with some good banned books. I’ll have to check this one out too.
Oh wow, there are sequels to this? I’m so excited now!!!
if anyone ever asks me what my number-one favorite book in the entire world is, this is my answer. generally i will fudge around and say “i love so many books! i can’t choose!” but the Giver is just…the best. every time i read it (and i’ve read it manymanymany times) i get sucked up and i feel Jonas’ pain and am intrigued anew with the crazy society and even knowing what happens afterwards (Gathering Blue and Messenger are also awesome!) the ending makes me catch my breath.
go lois lowry!
unrelated: my security word is cars84, which is just creepy, because that’s my brother’s favorite thing and the year he was born. weeeiirrrrddddd!
I hated, hated, hated this book. I cried and was so angry when I finished it that I can’t even look at the cover without recalling how much I detest it. It was akin to emotional rape. Sorry. Guess I need to read the rest of the series.
I loved (love) this book and listened to it on tape as a kid. I had NO IDEA there were sequels… I am torn between wanting to leave my perfect memory alone, and wanting to see what else Lowry came up with.
I got into a heated debate with a woman over on the Books and Writers CompuServe community about this book; she wanted to ban it on the basis of being told about it by another mother.
*hits head against brick wall*
One the biggest problems in our society today is that people are becoming increasingly illiterate. No one knows how to read anymore, unless its a blurb on an advertisement or a scrolling headline on CNN.
I knew that when I read it, there were rumors of a sequel. I never even knew for sure that it had been published, let alone that there was a third one.
I don’t think I want to read them. I liked the ending ambiguous, as it was.
This book was actually banned in my middle school, when we were reading it as a class in the 8th grade. The reason for the ban was that one of my classmate’s mothers, a very hardcore uber religious type, objected to the death of a baby in the story. She raised such a hell-mess over it, the school board banned it Martin County, Florida.
At the time, I remember thinking awesome! We don’t have to take a test on this! Now, as an adult, the whole thing leaves an awful taste in my mouth. This was an excellent, thought-provoking book and it’s a shame that one narrow-minded individual took that experience away from our class.