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Carol's Reviews > Son
Son (The Giver, #4)
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Too pat...and the math doesn't add up!
I was disappointed. I had found "The Giver" to be a thought-provoking, well-written book -- especially Lowry's portrayal of a community of chilling banality and the ambiguous ending -- and I was hoping to see this world flushed out in her subsequent books. (Warning, I'm going to discuss the books and while I don't give away endings, you might not want to know these details.)
But this didn't do it. It was too pat -- especially part 3 I wasn't keen on the supernatural elements and couldn't believe Claire & Gabe's actions (or inactions).
I'm also very troubled by Lowry's math -- this whole "birthmother" thing doesn't add up and I wonder why an editor never caught it.
Since there are 50 "newchildren" in each and every birth year, each class must essentially reproduce in the same proportion i.e.. to keep the community's population stable would require that 50 be born to replace the elders when they are eventually "released."
Assuming the population gender is 50:50 (25 female, 25 male), and each "birthmother" has only 3 "products", 2/3 of the women would have to become "birthmothers" -- which is clearly not the case since "birthmother" is only one of many assignments "twelves" receive (and a low status one at that).
Furthermore, since not all adults are assigned to be a couple (birthmothers aren't!) and couples only raise two children, the population simply can't be replacing itself, but would be shrinking rather dramatically....all of which contradicts the supposed stability of this community.
On the science end, I also found myself frustrated that Lowry never explained the "how" of her civilization (why no rain, thunder, animals (even birds!) or seasons) when clearly these existed down the river nor how Jonah and the others could just leave the people they left behind to their fate and not go back and work to change their society.
I was disappointed. I had found "The Giver" to be a thought-provoking, well-written book -- especially Lowry's portrayal of a community of chilling banality and the ambiguous ending -- and I was hoping to see this world flushed out in her subsequent books. (Warning, I'm going to discuss the books and while I don't give away endings, you might not want to know these details.)
But this didn't do it. It was too pat -- especially part 3 I wasn't keen on the supernatural elements and couldn't believe Claire & Gabe's actions (or inactions).
I'm also very troubled by Lowry's math -- this whole "birthmother" thing doesn't add up and I wonder why an editor never caught it.
Since there are 50 "newchildren" in each and every birth year, each class must essentially reproduce in the same proportion i.e.. to keep the community's population stable would require that 50 be born to replace the elders when they are eventually "released."
Assuming the population gender is 50:50 (25 female, 25 male), and each "birthmother" has only 3 "products", 2/3 of the women would have to become "birthmothers" -- which is clearly not the case since "birthmother" is only one of many assignments "twelves" receive (and a low status one at that).
Furthermore, since not all adults are assigned to be a couple (birthmothers aren't!) and couples only raise two children, the population simply can't be replacing itself, but would be shrinking rather dramatically....all of which contradicts the supposed stability of this community.
On the science end, I also found myself frustrated that Lowry never explained the "how" of her civilization (why no rain, thunder, animals (even birds!) or seasons) when clearly these existed down the river nor how Jonah and the others could just leave the people they left behind to their fate and not go back and work to change their society.
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November 16, 2012
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November 16, 2012
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message 1:
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Thesultan
(new)
Nov 19, 2012 10:06PM
Who agrees on part 2 to the giver to come out called the reciver and it's through an older gabes point of view
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Uh, yes, I really wanted to know who are the fathers and how can they keep out birds, rain, seasons and all of that stuff? How is that possible?
I have always wondered the same thing about the math of the community. It doesn't really interfere with my enjoyment of the book, but it is an oversight.
You know, I didn't mind the not explaining the lack of weather and such; I felt that was a sort of low-key science fiction version of magical realism. But then for Lowry to suddenly pull all of this craziness out of her hat for Book III and flat-out tell us that this Trademaster guy is (essentially) the Devil? Not cool.
In "The Giver" it mentions that they can control the climate.
I find it vaguely plausible that they can control the weather as is briefly mentioned in The Giver, but my suspension of disbelief starts to wane when they can be completely unaffected by the seasons and I have no faith in their ability to keep animals out of a certain space - particularly when they have at least fish and there are animals out there with no apparent barrier to them moving in (judging by Jonas's journey), not that I'd have too much faith in a barrier either.
As a child, I decided there was a force-shield in place high above the city (we hear they are a high-tech society) and that a particular radio wave or sound frequency deterred animals.But the birthmother quotients not adding up really bothers me. So, if each mother officially bears only 3 children, every graduating class of children would require 17 females to be assigned birthmother duties.
