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Julie Ruble's Reviews > The Giver
The Giver (The Giver, #1)
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I think I'm missing something. Everyone loves this book and I liked it too, but it wasn't amazing or anything.
The Giver felt like a very sparse story to me. First, there isn't much characterization, so I didn't form an emotional connection with any of the characters -- not even with Jonas or the Giver (two central characters). Asher and Fiona (particularly Fiona) are introduced such that you assume they will play greater roles in the book than they do. I don't feel like I knew Mom or Dad or Lily at all. While the lack of an emotional bond with these lesser characters may be due to the nature of their community, Jonas and the Giver should really be more sympathetic, in my opinion.
Second, the description of the community itself is sparse. There is so much more that could've been described about this "utopian" community. I feel like Jonas' selection, his revelation about Release, and his eventual choice could've been built up and framed better. I feel like I got the quick campfire version.
Finally, while I appreciate it's overall message about the importance of individual differences, human emotion, etc., I felt like the book was a bit heavy-handed with its moral. Jonas' initial support of his community and gradual change of heart seems intended to present both viewpoints, but doesn't succeed in my opinion. The book's agenda was clear to me from the beginning. It also doesn't present alternative possibilities (such as a world without Sameness but also without war, a world without Release but also without starvation, etc.) -- the choice is either here (with Sameness and no color) or Elsewhere (with pain and suffering).
When teaching the book, I also felt it was very important for students to understand how this heavy-handed moral (that most of us would agree with somewhat) demonstrates Lowry's (and our own) privilege. That is, the reason it's easy for us to say that Jonas' community is horrible is because of our own relatively privileged lives. If we lived in Darfur, were extremely impoverished, lived in a country where women were treated as property, etc., we may make a very different choice about Jonas' life.
Despite all of this, believe it or not, I did like The Giver. It's an enjoyable read. It had a great plot, the community was interesting, and the ending was fantastic and JUST a little ambiguous -- cool!
The Giver felt like a very sparse story to me. First, there isn't much characterization, so I didn't form an emotional connection with any of the characters -- not even with Jonas or the Giver (two central characters). Asher and Fiona (particularly Fiona) are introduced such that you assume they will play greater roles in the book than they do. I don't feel like I knew Mom or Dad or Lily at all. While the lack of an emotional bond with these lesser characters may be due to the nature of their community, Jonas and the Giver should really be more sympathetic, in my opinion.
Second, the description of the community itself is sparse. There is so much more that could've been described about this "utopian" community. I feel like Jonas' selection, his revelation about Release, and his eventual choice could've been built up and framed better. I feel like I got the quick campfire version.
Finally, while I appreciate it's overall message about the importance of individual differences, human emotion, etc., I felt like the book was a bit heavy-handed with its moral. Jonas' initial support of his community and gradual change of heart seems intended to present both viewpoints, but doesn't succeed in my opinion. The book's agenda was clear to me from the beginning. It also doesn't present alternative possibilities (such as a world without Sameness but also without war, a world without Release but also without starvation, etc.) -- the choice is either here (with Sameness and no color) or Elsewhere (with pain and suffering).
When teaching the book, I also felt it was very important for students to understand how this heavy-handed moral (that most of us would agree with somewhat) demonstrates Lowry's (and our own) privilege. That is, the reason it's easy for us to say that Jonas' community is horrible is because of our own relatively privileged lives. If we lived in Darfur, were extremely impoverished, lived in a country where women were treated as property, etc., we may make a very different choice about Jonas' life.
Despite all of this, believe it or not, I did like The Giver. It's an enjoyable read. It had a great plot, the community was interesting, and the ending was fantastic and JUST a little ambiguous -- cool!
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Reading Progress
January 21, 2008
– Shelved
Started Reading
March 4, 2008
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Finished Reading
August 21, 2008
– Shelved as:
teaching
Comments Showing 1-50 of 69 (69 new)
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Bailey
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rated it 3 stars
Oct 03, 2009 05:09PM
I really liked The Giver but if your reading this book you definitly need to talk with someone who has read it before, because it can get confusing sometimes
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Bailey wrote: "I really liked The Giver but if your reading this book you definitly need to talk with someone who has read it before, because it can get confusing sometimes"Hi Bailey, did you mean to post this as a reply, or as your own review? If you want to review a book, click on the title of the book in your book list and then next to the word "review," click "edit." Type your review there.
You have absolutely nailed the way I felt about The Giver 100%.
I feel the same way I just felt lik I missed some chapters or something it was confusing and it just ended
Julie, I found your review of The Giver interesting. I feel like the lack of character and community development was meant to represent how little there was there to develop. Everything and everyone was the same. No one really had any feelings and they all basically lived in a black and white world without colors, music, weather, etc. Your point about the author not giving alternate possibilities is a really good one. Maybe she meant for those possibilities to exist in Elsewhere? If so, those possibilities wouldn't be known to Jonas (or anyone else in the community) since nobody would have been allowed to leave and come back. The community would never have accepted anyone back into the community because that would have disturbed the sameness. I'm guess that the ending of the book was meant to hint that there was another way, but the author leaves it up to the reader to decide.
I totally agree with you that it is easy for us to say that Jonas's community was horrible because we live in a very privileged society. I imagine it would look very different to those who live in third-world countries or places where human rights are regularly violated.
Thanks for giving such an interesting and thought-provoking review!
I agree with you for the most part, but I did not enjoy this book at all. It irks me how people constantly compare dystopian novels to this. It makes no sense! There are better novels to read that have the same morals in them, and ones that relate more to students. Surely you see how some of your students are confused by the heaviness of this novel, but at the same time the writing and characters are designed for them. This is a book written for young children with the themes of a young adult book. It just clashes.
I guess I can understand why you don't like it, unlike Mr. 'Kelsey' three comments up. It's an okay book, but why I, and many others, feel it is so brilliant, is because we saw the underlying message that resonated so powerfully and provocatively inside our hearts. Its a good message really-- read it one or two more times, and I think you'll see it and appreciate it more. :)
The detachment from the parents, siblings, school mates is part of the point of the book it showing how eugenics, over industrislism, the need for everyone to be different but the same it illistraits how crazy things could have gotten had say the Nazis won. parent child bonding isn't incouraged. In this society you are supposed to learn specific steps to fit this socity follows an old Japanese saying to the tee "the nail that stick up must be pounded down"
![Hanna[h] Cumberbatch](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1403470362p1/4536256.jpg)
that's kind of the point... it's about a world without emotion... i still loved it though=)
Jason wrote: "I guess I can understand why you don't like it, unlike Mr. 'Kelsey' three comments up. It's an okay book, but why I, and many others, feel it is so brilliant, is because we saw the underlying messa..."Ha, I don't think the problem is that I didn't see the underlying message -- it would be extremely hard to, uh, miss. It's not "underlying" so much as pounding you over the head.
Julie you summed up my feelings about this book 100% I can add no more other than to say yes I too liked the book but was left feeling...was that it? but what about the and then??
You should read 1984. It's a lot better
Jack wrote: "You should read 1984. It's a lot better"I started it but then didn't finish -- I'll have to give it another go.
If you read the sequels to this it ALL makes sense in the last book. Everything comes together very nicely. Although I will warn you that if you choose this route the 2nd book is a completely different story that doesn't really fit with the first one until the last book when both society's and stories come together as one. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this book! It's my favorite book of all time! I love the mystery in this series and the society Jonas ends up creating.
Victoria wrote: "If you read the sequels to this it ALL makes sense in the last book. Everything comes together very nicely. Although I will warn you that if you choose this route the 2nd book is a completely diffe..."I enjoyed it -- just not to the same extent others did :) Regarding the sequel, do you mean Gathering Blue? I read it but I liked The Giver more.
Gathering Blue and Messenger. Messenger is the book that brings it all together. To be honest though Lowry's writing isn't as intriguing to me in the sequels as in The Giver. Her writing style tends to not climax until the last few chapters of her books and that becomes very apparent in the sequels.
I am glad you wrote this, I was having trouble articulating my feelings about this book and you did so perfectly. Thank you~ I totally agree with you on all points.
I think the loving of the book depends on the first time you read it and where you are in your life at that time. The first time I read the book was in 5th grade and I found I could really relate to Jonas. The concepts at that age was nothing I had considered before and I fell in love with the book. I have re-read the book many times sense then and it sort of seems like returning to some old friends but I wonder if my love of the book would have been so great if I had read it first as an adult. I think after reading some other books and the utopia concept not being something brand new to me I would have enjoyed the book but not been as obsessed with it as I am.
Sam wrote: "I think the loving of the book depends on the first time you read it and where you are in your life at that time. The first time I read the book was in 5th grade and I found I could really relate t..."That makes sense to me. I did read it first as an adult.
I enjoyed the book. I just didn't care much for the incomplete ending. I did wonder how an entire community could not FEEL anything. I guess they were never taught feelings, but, weird how you can extinguish children without feeling any kind of regret.
Thank you for this thoughtful review. I particularly liked your discussion of your approach to teaching the book (re: Darfur). The false dichotomies set up in the book should definitely be acknowledged, although I, like you, ultimately liked The Giver. :)
thank you for the review - you describe quite exactly what I thought after reading (but was not able to express).
I understand what you mean. The same thing happened to me. Everyone was like, "this book is amazing!" And I'm just like, "it's okay I guess." I didn't like mostly because I couldn't connect with the characters and they story seemed so bleak. X
I think Lowry did very little description purposefully. I took this book to be very poetic, and I liked how she left a lot up to your imagination.Also, I think Fiona and Asher were introduced as bigger characters in the beginning because Jonas thought they were going to be big characters in his life. After he is chosen as the Receiver of Memory, their role in his life diminishes, as does their role in the story. I don't know, I always read that as part of the jarring change Jonas's life takes during the selection.
I am reading this now. I am 44% done and still waiting for something to happen. Jonas just met The Receiver, so hopefully things pick up; but I am nearly half-way through, so not expecting much. After reading the first two chapters, I had a vibe along the lines of The City of Ember/The Village/Gattaca.
Great review! This is exactly how I felt about The Giver.
Awesome review! Weird thing is I always think of myself as one of the normal citizens... it helps me realize that I'm not actually "in pain" or "depressed" as I sometimes think I am. I'm assuming it's because I'm still in school, which is to some extent similar to the community in The Giver. Idk
I agree with you. Enjoyed the read, but didn't think it was life changing.
Great review. I enjoyed the book, but I feel like I missed something. I just don't see what the big deal is about the book
I agree with your review. Vet well said. Also this book did not go where I thought it would. I thought it would delve into more of the concept of knowing there were options and why are there not now. I also thought Fiona and Asher would play a big role. And I did not like the open ending. Seems very typical of a book to be taught.
I just finished this book and I completely agree with your review. I enjoy the book but I didn't love it. I just feel that there's something missing. the theme of the book was great, however, I didn't feel the connection.
Everyone does not love this book.
I'm halfway done with this book and feel exactly the same. I'll finish it, but I already can tell I won't make any lasting connections with the characters or the story. I won't even write a review for this book - you've said it all.
I agree with every single one of your opinions except the one about the society not being explained enough. I personally thought that the book dwelled too much on the society, and could've instead spent that time on adding more action, and a better ending.
Agreed!!! I felt like the ending was such a let down. I don't really know why but I felt like the book spent so much time talking about the town and Jonas' life there, which was fun, but then when he went to escape it was very quick and just....soughta ended!
I don't bedlieve we see their society as horrible because of our priviledged society, as you say. Rather, I think your growing up in this society has kept you from seeing its horrors and sameness, and all it lacks. Travel a little, go Elswhere for a while and find out what it's all about.
That's exactly how I feel. While I thought it was a good book I really can't understand wh it is considered such an amazing book. I've even seen it called one of the top 10 greatest children's books of all time. I just can't even understand.
It just seems very very shallow.
Such a perfect description!!!
Such a perfect description!!!
I agree with you I loved reading the book but it was not all that fr me
Julie your review was amazing on the giver
I couldn't agree more and really felt like maybe I was missing something. Plus I absolutely hate the way it ended. I thought maybe it was because I didn't read this as a youth, but it is nice to see that is not the case
Just a quick note. You don't have to write a bible to write a good book.
You can be less descriptive on purpose and you don't necessarily have to create super deep characters if your book doesn't requiere them. And I think in this case, it does not.
I think that developing the characters more would work, it would diffuse the overall effect of the setting.
If your book is about a form of society you will spend more time talking about that society. Like the Lord of the Rings... the important part of that saga is not the plot in itself (even tho it is good) the important part, the real magnificent part, is the world that Tolkien created, how consistent it is and how it feels... real. Not the same case at all, but I think it is a good example. This book isn't about the characters, it is about the society. The characters are just here because it had to had a plot and a way to show and confront the options.
You're proprably right. Thanks 4 that useful advice.
Then it must be my kind of book.
I think The Giver was an amazing book. I could relate to a lot of the characters. Jonas did a lot of things that I could relate too.
I think that to understand the giver, we contemplate the meaning of each chapter, how the author presents it and why she does it this way. Deep book.
