Book Review: THE GIVER

Author: Lois Lowry
Number of Pages: 179
Publisher: Ember
Release Date: April 26, 1993

Jonas lives in world in which everything is under control. No one has to make important life decisions because they are all made for them. No one has to decide who to marry, what career to pursue, whether or not they should tell their friend an uncomfortable truth- everything is decided for them. So when Jonas is chosen at the Ceremony of Twelve that he will be the new keeper of memories for the Community, he literally has no choice- or does he? In this dystopian future that isn't so far away, Jonas has to decide whether living cautiously or living fully is the right path to take.

It seemed as though everyone had read this book except for me, so I finally decided to pick it up and dive in head-first. This book isn't long at all, so it didn't take long to read. I have to say, for a short book it was very, very good. The Community that Jonas lives in really makes you question how we live today. Is not having to making any life-changing choices the better route for human civilization to take? Is it better to know pain or live entirely without any memory or knowledge of it at all? These are the types of questions you will be constantly asking in your head as you read this novel.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. It seemed very rushed to me. I won't go into detail about it (Spoilers!) but if you read the book you'll probably understand what I mean. When I flipped to the last page of the book I actually didn't believe that it had ended at first. I thought that there had to be more to it, but it really was the end. But other than that, I really enjoyed this book.

Overall, this was a very good book. I will be reading the rest of this series in the future, hopefully soon.

My Rating: :0) :0) :0) :0) 4 out of 5 smileys.

Would I recommend it to a friend?: Yes.

Always,
NutFreeNerd