The Giver - Jessica's thoughts (and spoilers)

    The Giver by Lois Lowry is the first part of a Quartet of novels. To be honest I'm not sure whether I enjoyed the book or not. Although it isn't a very long novel (about 132 pages) it took me forever to finish it. I was expecting a bigger reveal at the end, but I'm guessing I would have to finish the series to find out what it's really all about. As a stand alone novel The giver raises some good questions about what we might think of as ideal. There have been times when I have thought that a society where everyone just worked in a field they excelled in, and some central power handed out everything that was needed for a comfortable life, would be ideal. If there were no rich citizens and no poor citizens and no one even knew that was an option, wouldn't people be happier? I think this is pretty much communism, or maybe socialism......to be honest I hated government in school so I still confuse them. The only way this would have any chance of working is if NO ONE KNEW BETTER, which is kind of the point of this novel. No one knows about the world before this idealistic society came about except for one person, The Receiver of Memories. One man knows everything about the past. One man has experienced hunger, weather, loneliness, sunshine, and love. Only one man has seen color. The citizens live in a society of sameness. Families are placed together after the council carefully studies the citizens to find them a good match. Birthmother is a job title and the children are place with families each year. Parents raise their children and then they go to live in the home for childless adults to make room in the family homes for new families who are ready for children. Then they are moved to a home for the old until they are ready for "release"
    Now, as I was reading, the first time I read "release" I immediately knew what was going on. With the house of old, I didn't think anything of it. Kind of sad, but if they were ready......kind of an angel of mercy thing in my opinion. But then we hear about people who break the rules 3 times being released, and babies who don't cut the mustard as far as temperament and weight are released. At first I thought that only the council knew what was going on, but that wasn't the case.
    I got side tracked a little here. Jonas is a boy who is about to turn 12 and he will be assigned to his career at a ceremony along with all of the other children in their 12th year of life. Everyone gets their jobs and no one is particularly surprised at their assignments. they have all been volunteering in different fields and their aptitudes are quite obvious, but Jonas has no idea what his assignment will be. He is chosen as the new Receiver of memories. This job consists of holding on to every memory of life before the sameness. This happens by some kind of magic - placing of hands - transference from the old "Receiver" now known as "The Giver." The Receiver keeps the memories so the citizens don't have to. Most importantly it keeps order in the society. The Receiver is also used to council the council. he uses the memories to steer them in the right direction by using the past as a guide.
    The old Receiver did his job without much question. He bore the pain of holding memories of war and famine, and the joy of memories of sunshine and holidays and love, without thinking that it might be better if the citizens experienced these things themselves. Jonas, however, questions these things and wishes he could pass the memories on to his family and friends.
    Jonas is pushed too far when he finds out what it actually means to be released. His father is a nurturer at the newborn facility. When a set of identical twins are born, the rules state that one of them needs to be released. Jonas wants to see the ceremony that is performed at each release and as the new receiver he can ask to review video of the ceremony. Jonas sees his father weigh each of the twins and then send away the heavier one to the nursery. The other is given an injection in it's soft spot and killed, then placed in a box and thrown out the garbage chute. It was kind of like reading a horror novel at this point. I was completely disturbed. Jonas can't handle this new knowledge and he takes off in the night along with a baby he stole that was set to be released in the morning. I don't blame him. This is not the only reason he leaves. He and the Giver have decided that Jonas will leave and (because of the magic memory thing) once he leaves the community all of the memories he holds will be released into the minds of the community and they will all see what he has seen, the pain and the joy. It could lead to a greater understanding, but it could also lead to epic chaos.
     As far as the reader knows, they never get caught. but the journey is full of peril and more weird memory magic. Apparently recalling memories of snow can make him cold enough to remain undetected by heat seeking radar, and recalling memories of sunshine can keep him warm enough in the snow so he won't freeze. Then the book kind of just ends.
    The kind of magic/ kind of supposed to be a real futuristic society threw me off. I'm not opposed to either type of story, but explain how this person got power. Saying they have the ability to "see beyond" doesn't do it for me. I love a story that keeps me guessing, but when I guess too soon, it's ruined. I just want to rush through and see if I'm right. This book kind of reminds me of Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read it a few years ago and It raises some very interesting questions, but I think it is meant for an older audience and is written a little more maturely. It kept me guessing for a good portion of the book, and I was left with the same kind of "WTF" feeling. I recommend The Giver for high school age kids. I think it might help understand why some types of government can look ideal on the surface, but in reality they are far from it. Maybe if I read this book in high school I would have been curious enough to find out the difference between communist and socialist societies.
    I might eventually read the other 3 books to see if they explain anything more. I still have questions.

May 2013 book selection

All of the book suggestions were placed in a hat and the chosen book for May is...........

 

The Barnes and Noble website describes the book as:

 "December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man-the man called only the Giver-he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.

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."

The author also wrote Number the Stars. A novel about a young girl during the Holocaust, that I remember reading around age 11. This selection was from our newest part time member (my sister) Sarah. Her member profile will be up soon (as soon as I send her the interview questions and post her answers) Thank you for following along. Please pick up the book and read along with us so you can participate in the comments.

The book is 190 pages, and under $7 everywhere that I have looked so far.