Home | About Us | RSS Feed | Shopping Cart

Search all brands/categories

	The Giver
	Rating
	Special Price
	Lowest Used Price	$2.00
	Categories	Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic   Lowry, Lois   Fantasy   Science Fiction   Hardcover   Printed Books   Young Adult
Similar products
A Reading Guide to The Giver (Scholastic Bookfiles) The Giver (Cliffs Notes) Number the Stars Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics) Esperanza Rising
Customer Reviews
A worthwhile dystopia   2010-09-04
By wiredweird (Earth, or somewhere nearby)
Each age has its own idea of the good life - and of its opposite. Lowry has done an exceptional job with the latter. This owes a lot to Brave New World, with it peaceful people drugged into passivity, but throws in the abolition of sexuality that others, like 1984, have advanced. (I have to wonder whether this book's loss of color influenced later dystopias, like that in Equilibrium.) Then, Lowry throws in aggressive feel-goodism and praise of mediocre that have become so entrenched in the current education establishment - and a core of hypocrisy and casual brutality that chill even more than overt aggression. The central character is scapegoat-in-training, the child who will become the conscience of the community - the one who feels the horror so that others don't have to. If you want a clearly happy ending, well, you're not going to love it. That's your problem. This book's value lies much deeper. -- wiredweird
The Giver by Lois Lowry   2010-09-02
By Alma Winters
Jonas an eleven year old, is preparing for the annual Ceremony when he will become a Twelve.In essence, he will be leaving childhood behind and beginning the road to adulthood. This is not unlike some religions which celebrate the attainment of age twelve with some sort of ceremony.However, Jonas lives in a community which is strictly controlled in order to preserve a kind of perfection that has serious flaws. When Jonas and others who have been declared a Twelve (no individual birthdays are celebrated; every child advances to the next age in December each year at the Ceremony),they are assigned a specific role in the community. This will become their life's work.Jonas discovers that he has been selected to be the next Giver, which is considered to be a great honor.However, Jonas finds out that this is not such a great honor because his training will be the most difficult of all the others. He also learns the great flaws in the society into which he has been born. The author, Lois Lawry, has incorporated in this story many concepts which are cleverly presented in order to show that the world is not a perfect place and in order to obtain the kind of perfection that is purposed, all undesirables must be eliminated.I'm not sure these concepts are evident to the average young person in the age group for which the book is targeted.
A good place to start, but otherwise hackneyed   2010-08-31
By K. G. Flippin (Oakland, CA USA)
I had a class on dystopian fiction in college with one of my favorite professors, so between that and the fact that this is, essentially, a book for young adults, perhaps I am jaded. I mean, I see why so many people like it so much, but after reading Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1985 and great heaping mounds of sci-fi, I find myself thinking "meh." I had all the big twists figured out by about page 60, and the biggest well before that. So, bottom line: if you're just getting started in the genre, this is a great place for it. If you've been in for a while, I think you can skip it, unless you have an obsession for thoroughness or just want to be able to participate in conversations about this book knowledgeably.
absolutely a must read!   2010-08-29
By Maggie Hasbrouck (Atlanta GA)
My daughter was 11 when we read this, and at the time it was the most thought provoking book she had ever read. The joy of seeing her mind open to new and difficult questions about life is what makes this one of my all time favorite books. It is impossible to read this and not question your own assumptions about what is good in life. This is a masterpiece that no one should miss!
The Giver   2010-08-20
By Z. M. (Utah, USA)
Lois Lowry must know something we don't. Lois Lowry's book never fail to amaze me. The Giver takes place in the future where there is a perfect world. Nothing is wrong, everything is the same. There are no wars, no fighting, no pain. Everything is simply perfect. Or so it seems. In this world there is no emotion. There is no love. You are assigned a certain job, a wife, and a family. There are no colors, no variety. Everything is the same. Jonas is not an ordinary child. He sees things others don't, feels things others don't. When the day comes to assign jobs, Jonas is assigned as The Giver. The Giver is the one who has all the memories of the past, all the feeling, everything. This is no easy job, but can Jonas do it? This book is incredible, for lack of a better word. I recommend this book to all.