Giver

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Lois Lowry: Giver (2012, HarperCollins Publishers Limited)

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-00-736988-1
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5 stars (1 review)

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

26 editions

Review of 'Giver' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Ordinarily, I’m not a huge fan of the YA Dystopian genre. Reading this story, I think I finally realised why that is: they’re all poor imitations of this one!

Just kidding. They’re actually quite different.

In most modern YA Dystopian stories, we’re told “the way things are” over a few pages, early in the story. Most of these stories are also told in the first person (often through the eyes of a teenage girl), and they’re presented in a way that intends to disgust and revolt us straight away. The situation is unequivocably, irrevocably bad, it needs to change as soon as possible, and the protagonist is going to be the one to do it.

You’re told what to think and how to feel about the state of the world.

This story’s different. It’s told in third person, and focusses on Jonas, a regular kid of approximately eleven years old …

Subjects

  • Children's fiction
  • Science fiction