This week I’m reviewing a novel for a younger audience. Here’s a novel that raises an interesting question. Is it possible to create a perfect society and what
should be sacrificed if this was to be accomplished?
The story follows a protagonist named Jonas he lives in a world of sameness and obliviousness, a world with minimal suffering, where everything is controlled. But on one fateful day, Jonas is selected as the receiver of memories and is ripped away from his world of comfort. He is given the truth and the ability to feel and to question. Now he is face with the decision of whether to stay in his oblivious yet safe society or to risk it all for freedom and the life of a significant other.
The story explores an extreme side to communism and also deals with the significance of memories
This novel is about as depressing as child novels get, yet it is greatly written novel. I really enjoyed this novel for the most part but I’m a little disappointed about the ending (it was sort of anticlimactic). But all in all, this was a great novel that I would recommend to readers 12 and above. I give the giver a 4/5
I have read The Giver, and I agree that it is an excellent book, but I have to disagree about the book being depressing. It deals with mature themes in a way that can easily target any audience to send a message, and while it's not a novel that exemplifies the sense of joy that's often in books targetted for a younger audience, I don't find it to be a sad book. It gives us a window to a world that is not only possible in the future, but actually has aspects to it that make sense, even if they are alien and strange. The book has a way of tearing open the human psyche and saying that which can really pull a hole in our understanding of society. Would a world without different cultures be better or worse? I personally am not racist, I'm all for social equality, but there are wars and genocides because of skin color or religion, and in the Giver that isn't a problem because of the uniform nature of their world. It brings up emotions and problems of our society by removing them and showing the difference, even in a very young age group. I agree that this book is very well written, and in my opinion its a classic!
i would not call the giver a depressing novel, but i do believe that the majority of childrens novels are a lot happier. i don't mind this though, if the author wants to give a novel a realistic feel they often have to resort to making the story sadder because real life can be quite depressing in many ways. and i also have to slightly disagree with your comment, i believe that though the giver is no doubt a very well written novel, it still has many issues scuh as the poor ending and the fact that the author did not fully explore the theme, that is why i gave it a 4 instead of a 5.
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