Review | The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver

by Lois Lowry

My Rating: 

It is the future. There is no war, no hunger, no pain. No one in the community wants for anything. Everything needed is provided. And at twelve years old, each member of the community has their profession carefully chosen for them by the Committee of Elders.

Twelve-year old Jonas has never thought there was anything wrong with his world. But from the moment he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers that their community is not as perfect as it seems.

It is only with the help of the Giver, that Jonas can find what has been lost. And it is only through his personal courage that Jonas finds the strength to do what is right…

If you're interested in reading my review with spoilers, you can find it on Goodreads here!

I won my copy of The Giver in a First Reads Giveaway.

I've been meaning to read this book for years. When it comes to dystopian fiction this story is a classic, so when I won myself a copy - rereleased to coincide with the release of the film - I was excited to read it at last.

Sadly, this book really disappointed me. The only thing that disappoints me more than a book I don't like is a book I don't like which has a lot of potential, and The Giver is one such book.

I like my dystopian fiction to scare me with the possibility that it could come true. Books like Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and The Hunger Games are frightening because we can see echoes of those stories in the world we live in now; we can understand how these societies may have come about. The Giver just didn't do that for me. I didn't get this community's way of life, and I didn't understand how a lot of it worked. For me dystopian fiction should have at least a grain of truth in it, but this community had somehow managed feats that I couldn't understand the science behind.

The Giver was too metaphorical for my tastes. There was a certain point that made me sad which is the main reason why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1, but I still didn't particularly enjoy the book.

The Giver just didn't do it for me, but judging by the other ratings on Goodreads I'm in the minority so be sure to read it for yourself if it's on your TBR!