This was selected as the monthly selection for my book club, and has been described as “the quintessential dystopian novel.”
Jonas lives in a world where there are no choices. No one knows passion or pain. Everything is determined by the committee, including who shall marry and when, and who will be assigned children.
There is ultimate unity, with no one having a birthday, and all the children celebrating year 1, year 2, year 3, etc at the same time. Each child has a number within their year (1-50, so only 50 children per year), and at the annual ceremony, they all turn a year older.
Each year has a significance, from losing ribbons on braids, to getting a bicycle, or getting a job assignment at 12. After 12, age does not seem to be tracked or celebrated in any meaningful way.
When Jonas reaches his 12 year ceremony, his number is skipped over during the announcement of assignments. This causes quite a stir, and at the end of the ceremony, it’s announced that he has been selected to become “the receiver.”
In his job information packet, he gets unexpected instructions. He is told he can ask anyone, anything, and that he is allowed to lie, something that has been strictly forbidden in their society and ingrained since birth.
The Giver follows Jonas on his path as the “the receiver” where he learns that there are many memories of before, and it is the giver who is the keeper of these memories. Jonas will receive them from the giver, and then become the giver when the time comes.
What Jonas learns from the giver is reality changing for Jonas, and he must come to terms with this new knowledge, which leads into the climactic ending.
A grade 3-7 book, this is a very easy read. As such, it also lacks some depth, but still kept my attention. At the end, I wasn’t sure if I loved it, yet I was intrigued enough to keep reading the remaining books in the quartet.
The second book, Gathering Blue, tells the story of a parallel society, where things are much different. Kira is a young girl who has just been orphaned. With her crippled leg, she has always been somewhat of an outcast, and without her mother to defend her, the other women in the society want her gone.
Fortunately for Kira, the counsel (another committee!) deems her talent as a seamstress worthy, and she is suddenly moved into a private room, where her meals are brought to her, and she has a private bathroom with running water (something she had never even known existed).
Like Jonas, Kira uncovers some unsettling information about her society and must make a decision as to what to do with this information. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil the ending.
The third book, The Messenger, brings the return of some familiar characters, and shows us that these societies are co-existing! The final book, The Son, brings the stories to a conclusion. Personally, I enjoyed these more and more as I progressed through each one.
3.5 out of 5 stars.