Book Talk

 

Have you read The Giver by Lois Lowry?

I have some very outspoken friends who are not afraid to share their opinions. When I posted on Instagram that I was reading this book, a friend said, "Worst book ever!" 

Another friend said pretty much the same, and added that she didn't "get" this book. I was intrigued, and I had a similar feeling when I read this book last year - because it too, got some negative reviews. 

I was determined, like a hamster on its wheel, to read this book to the last page and see what all the fuss was about. 

The Giver tells the story of a young man, Jonas, who lives in a utopian world where all the rules are laid out.  In this community, there is no hunger, poverty, war or pain, and everything appears to be fair and equal. Or is it?  There is also no color, and no one has a memory of an alternative life. Or so it first appears. 

On his 12th birthday, Jonas is given his lifetime job assignment, as are all the children that age. He is given the highest role of "Receiver of Memory" marking his transition into adulthood. Over time, Jonas must train and receive all the memories and experiences, from The Giver, that the community gave up in order to have this utopian life. What Jonas used to think was fair and just is now replaced with feelings of anger and a fight for change, now that he has memories of what life was really like before. You see, The Giver, shared with him memories of what it feels like to see color, to feel love, to feel pain and anger and to experience snowfalls, sledding and many other things.

Armed with these new memories and experiences, life can never be the same for Jonas.  He longs for a different world, other than his own community filled with deception, and he risks everything to find it...this place called "Elsewhere."  

I think the ending of this book is what makes people so vocal about whether or not they like this novel, or if it's the "worst book ever."  I think the ending can be whatever you want it to be; it's how you interpret it. And without spoiling it for those who haven't read this book, I'll just say that Jonas was called to act. He felt he had a duty. He persevered through many obstacles, but did he make it to "Elsewhere"?

And that my friends...is the question that only you can answer.