The Giver, by Lois Lowry
I accidentally re-read this today. Today was supposed to be research paper day but I was thinking about The Giver after reading and being disappointed with The Prophet of Yonwood. And it just so happens that I had checked this book out for my mom because our family book club is doing it for August. So I was eating lunch and the book was just sitting there and I thought I’d just read a little bit of it while I was eating. But The Giver is one of those books that you just can’t put down - even if it is the fourth or fifth time you are reading it.
Every time I am initially seduced by the apppearance of utopia and the sense of order and control. Every time I fall for it, thinking how much I’d like to live in a world like that. Every time, I experience the same joy and shock and outrage as Jonas does as he makes his journey towards enlightenment. I think this is not unusual, to want to be able to live in a utopia. But The Giver always reminds me that you can’t have a perfectly ordered world without giving up the things which make life really valuable.
This is a timeless book, the children’s and young adult’s version of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It is a quick read and I recommend it highly to anyone who has not already experienced it, no matter what your age may be.
