I've been pretty blue these past couple of days and wishing for a simpler time. High school, specifically, and I read The Giver for the first time in high school, so in my mild regression I decided my next review would be of The Giver, first in The Giver series which, coincidentally, will have its fourth installment released in October.
The Giver takes place in an uber-futuristic world, in a community that, in an effort to minimize difficulty and pain, has eliminated things like weather, hills, and personal choice. There is no sunlight. There is no rain. The people have lost the ability to see color. Adults apply for a spouse and one is assigned to them. Spouses apply for children and they are assigned to them- one boy, one girl, no more, no less, not ever.
At the annual ceremony where infants to children of 11 (turning 12) receive the items, responsibilities, age, and hairstyles of the next year. The 11 year olds that are turning 12 are given the job assignments they will have for the rest of their lives, and the story centers on one of these 11-to-12 year olds, Jonas.
At the ceremony, Jonas is named the next Reciever of Memory. The community only has one, one man that holds the memories of generations past and feels all the pain and love that the rest of the community never gets to experience. In order for him to retire he needs to transfer the memories to Jonas.
Jonas then begins to see the problems in his community. The literal and metaphorical lack of color. The reason why they are so serious about precision of language (parents don't love their children, they enjoy and take pride in them. You're not starving, you're hungry-- no one in the community is starving, or ever will be. Etc.) Jonas decides after gaining so much experience from the memories, that things need to change.
One of the things I love most about this book is the amount of detail Lowry packs into such a short book. The way she has the community set up is watertight, no element of life in the community is left out. You aren't distracted halfway through going, "Wait, how do they...?" because it's covered.
In fantasy criticism there's a rule that's been repeated so often it's cliche: the book or movie needs to establish a set of rules of what is and is not possible in the world being worked in. Chandler and I say this all the time on Movie Gaga. It's this seemingly small rule that, not followed, can destroy a fantasy work. The Giver stays well within its own bounds. More than that, it just barely goes outside the bounds of the natural world. The only magic that actually occurs is in the transfer of and the ability to almost enter the world of the memory.
This book is also the perfect introduction to dystopian stories. Too young for Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Brave New World, but old enough to begin questioning authority and the world around them? There isn't another book for tweens/young adults that shows how dangerous mind control can be.
There are layers of symbolism and allegory that can be analyzed all on their own, as well, which is what makes this book something you can return to over and over again for years, even as an adult. I love it.
5 stars out of 5
