This is one of my all-time favorite books. I'm fascinated by books about dystopian societies, and I enjoyed the concept of memory being necessary for a society, but not necessarily desirable. ( )

Whoa.

I was assigned this book for school reading. It was supposed to be a couple of chapters a day. I read through it in one sitting. I had to! Some books, it feels like I will ruin my life if I put them down. It was so with The Giver.

I'm not going to go into the utopian/dystopian setting or the political messages. What struck me about the book was memories. The people of Jonas's community had no memories other than here and now, the Sameness. It was safe, and they were all content because they did not know any other way. It sort of blew me away when I realized that no one in the book had any concept of hills or color, because those were outside the realm of their experience. Things I take for granted. And none of them had experienced love, which I have also lived with my entire life.

The Giver and the Receiver were the only people who knew suffering, hunger, poverty, agony, war, or terror. They were alone in their pain. But they were also the only ones who knew true joy, love, and courage. They needed the good memories of many generations, "back and back and back", to face the pain that brought wisdom. Someone needed to bear all those memories. They alone had the strength.

Basically, anyone who has traumatic memories, this book will be an engrossing and hard read. It brought to mind a lot of stuff for me. Some pages it was mostly memories of the joy of love. Other pages it was the pain of loneliness. But after reading this book, it's like I'm armed with the confidence, that even when the bad memories threaten to overtake me, when it hurts just to breath, I have the strength and wisdom to use all my memories to keep others safe. ( )

An interesting little mystery. The audiobook is read as if they are a teacher trying to tell a story that was going to teach me something. The entire book feels like it is setup for talking points. Even the ending breeds discussion. I give it 4 HOAs out of 5 HOAs. ( )

Interesting concept-very creative. I liked this, but....well, I hate to say this since it's a kids book, and it's very popular for school assignments...so apparently it makes sense to people of all ages, but I didn't get the ending. I guess I couldn't distinguish Jonas' character from his community role. There seems to suddenly be magical properties at work beyond just the community role he took on, not just with him, but with his destination. I'm being vague because I don't want to entirely spoil it for future readers. ( )

The Giver is a good book for readers aged 12 and up due to it and mature content.The Giver" by Lois Lowry is a dystopian novel set in a seemingly perfect society where everything is controlled and regulated to maintain harmony and sameness. In this community, emotions, memories, and individuality are suppressed in favor of stability. Twelve-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the Receiver of Memories, a role that exposes him to the painful truths of the past and challenges the conformity of his world. In the classroom, "The Giver" can be used to spark discussions about ethics, social justice, and the power of memory and emotion. Teachers can guide students in examining the parallels between the novel's dystopian society and real-world issues, encouraging critical thinking and empathy.