Review Detail

The Giver

By Lois Lowry

Review by Rebecca Stephens

     The Giver is about a boy named Jonas who lives in a community where everything is very organized and thought out, Jonas is from an ordinary family unit. He just doesnt realize how unordinary hell become.

     Jonas is an Eleven. Soon hell be a twelve, an adult. Twelve is the most important ceremony there is. When you become a twelve you get assigned a job. Hes thought about the many different jobs he could end up with. None of them are very enticing, some less then others. But, Hes not worried. The Elders never make mistakes.

    Jonas is selected, not assigned, to be the new Receiver. He has no idea what that is. Hes scared; the Chief elder said that it involved pain. She also said that its a great honor. Jonas has no idea what to expect, but this is his new assignment.

     He soon finds out that a Receiver holds the worlds memories. Some of them are truly painful, such as war. Others are much more enjoyable, such as a strange wonderful thing called Christmas.

    The current Receiver is a kind old man. He has told Jonas to call him the Giver, because he will be the one to give Jonas all the memories he now holds.  He has shown Jonas that the people around him dont really feel. They know nothing. Jonas knows pain, and suffering, love, and joy. But they dont. 

     Jonas must find a way to stop this. To make them see what is truly like to feel. But to find out you must read the book, and decide for yourself what it is like to live in his world.