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popthebutterfly 's review for:
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
Rating: 4/5
Genre: YA Dystopian
Recommended Age: 15+ (slight gore, confusion, and the stillings)
Pages: 180
Author Website
Amazon Link
Synopsis: The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
My husband has been bugging me since we got together to read this book, so I finally took the plunge and read it (since I found it unfair he reads the books I give him to read and I don’t read any he gives me). Andddd I really liked it! The character development was really good for such a short book, I felt I connected with Jonas and the other important side characters. I felt very invested in Jonas’ struggle and everyone elses… non-struggle lol. I can’t give a lot away so that sentence won’t make sense. The book also had an amazing storyline and plot. You can tell that Veronica Roth got a lot of inspiration from this book for at least Divergent and for this book to be one of the first really popular YA dystopians it was really good.
However, I did feel that there could have been points that could have improved this book. This book didn’t have great world building. The world was confusing and you’re left in the end with more questions than answers, especially in how a certain act was done and where the main character is going at the end. The pacing of this book and the timeline is also confusing. At times the book skips months ahead, but you don’t know until the time is mentioned. The biggest factor in this is baby Gabe who has a very confusing timeline throughout the whole of the book. I think if this whole book could be rewritten with exact timelines and descriptive world building then this book would be the best Dystopian ever in my opinion, but maybe there is more info in the other books of this series.
Verdict: World building is key for a dystopian novel, especially if set in the future. Also stillings are a thing in this book and it’s hilarious to me.
Genre: YA Dystopian
Recommended Age: 15+ (slight gore, confusion, and the stillings)
Pages: 180
Author Website
Amazon Link
Synopsis: The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
My husband has been bugging me since we got together to read this book, so I finally took the plunge and read it (since I found it unfair he reads the books I give him to read and I don’t read any he gives me). Andddd I really liked it! The character development was really good for such a short book, I felt I connected with Jonas and the other important side characters. I felt very invested in Jonas’ struggle and everyone elses… non-struggle lol. I can’t give a lot away so that sentence won’t make sense. The book also had an amazing storyline and plot. You can tell that Veronica Roth got a lot of inspiration from this book for at least Divergent and for this book to be one of the first really popular YA dystopians it was really good.
However, I did feel that there could have been points that could have improved this book. This book didn’t have great world building. The world was confusing and you’re left in the end with more questions than answers, especially in how a certain act was done and where the main character is going at the end. The pacing of this book and the timeline is also confusing. At times the book skips months ahead, but you don’t know until the time is mentioned. The biggest factor in this is baby Gabe who has a very confusing timeline throughout the whole of the book. I think if this whole book could be rewritten with exact timelines and descriptive world building then this book would be the best Dystopian ever in my opinion, but maybe there is more info in the other books of this series.
Verdict: World building is key for a dystopian novel, especially if set in the future. Also stillings are a thing in this book and it’s hilarious to me.