Hollywood always gotta insert romance into a story that doesn't have one and doesn't NEED one.
The Giver was perhaps dystopian fiction before dystopian fiction became a thing. It takes place in an implied future, where every aspect of life as we know it today has been changed: hills don't exist, because they interfered with shipping and travel. Weather doesn't exist, because it interferes with the efficiencies of life. Sunlight doesn't exist. Color doesn't exist. Everyone is herded through early life in groups according to their birthyear, and they explore the same milestones together, learning about interdependence and the importance of community cohesiveness. Careers are assigned to them based on their aptitudes, spouses are assigned based on compatibility. Sex doesn't exist, children are born by birthmothers and assigned to family units. Rules are paramount. Rules are what keeps the community existing.
Enter Jonas, who approaches his twelfth year ceremony with apprehension, the year everyone gets their career assignments. The community is shocked when he is assigned to be the Receiver of Memory. Jonas learns about how the previous Receiver, now the Giver, holds the memories of the time before, meant to remember all the hardships that all these extraneous things brought them, and advise the community when questions arise that would bring the state of their community into jeopardy.
I wouldn't say it's an overly complicated plot or anything, and yes, we see this idea of sameness=bad, freedom to make our choices=good, etc. in other works, but I think it's important to consider first, the time that this was published, and second, the audience. This book came out before our latest glut of science fiction and dystopian young adult works, so really, a lot of the work we're seeing now is really sampling from what Lowry wrote. For example, Divergent uses the same trope of "This categorizing isn't LIVING! Freeeeeedooooom!" -- only executed a lot poorer. But also, this is children's fiction, possibly middle grade by today's publishing standards. You don't want a middle grade book to be TOO far above the audience's heads, which this book is not. The writing is easy to understand and digest.What makes Lowry's writing so much higher quality is the fact that while easy to understand, it's still challenging for that age group, and really gives them something to think about in terms of what they might want society to look like in the future
There's not a whole lot I can take away from this from a technical standpoint, because I don't think that middle grade will be my genre of choice, but I like having the example of what's appropriate for that age group. If that was something I wanted to explore at some point, The Giver would certainly be a decent example to emulate, as far as word choice and sentence structure.
One thing I found interesting is how Lowry emphasized the characters that have distinctively light-colored eyes: Jonas, the Giver, and the previous Receiver all do; as well as Gabe, the newchild that Jonas's family is caring for. There's also a female Six that Jonas mentions has the same eyes. They mention that the Birthmothers only bear three children in three years and then retire, so it's not possible that all there could have the same birthmother, but I do wonder if they're related somehow. It makes it seem like the ability to give and receive these memories (which Gabe can also do) is somehow related to their genetics. Perhaps the community has a store of sperm? I wonder how they would replenish that supply, given that every male in the community takes the pills that remove all sexual desire?
Additionally, it's never really explained how the memories 'escape' and return to the community. When Rosemary was released/died, her memories just flew out and everyone had a piece of them. It's heavily implied that Jonas and Gabe die, but they make it seem as if they believe just leaving the community will release those memories back. How does that work? They pass some special line on the ground and lose those memories? It's not like there aren't other communities in the world, they specifically mention groups of visiting children from Elsewhere. I guess I just wonder at some of the logistics of this world that Lowry didn't explore, because from an adult perspective it doesn't necessarily make sense. Which isn't the point of the book at all, so it's okay to not explore that--I'm just that kind of annoying reader, I guess.
Incidentally, I have only now learned, twenty years later, that there's a Giver series and now I must read the others. Maybe my questions will be answered!
"But now that I can see colors, at least sometimes, I was just thinking: What if we could hold up things that were bright red, or bright yellow, and he could choose? Instead of the Sameness."
"He might make wrong choices."
"Oh." Jonas was silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."
"Not safe?" The Giver suggested.
"Definitely not safe," Jonas said with certainty. "What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?"Or what if," he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity, "they chose their own jobs?"
"Frightening, isn't it?" The Giver said.
Jonas chuckled. "Very frightening. I can't even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices."
"It's safer."
"Yes," Jonas agreed. "Much safer."
But when the conversation turned to other things, Jonas was left, still, with a feeling of frustration that he didn't understand.
Overall: 5 stars
Amazon: The Giver
More reviews: The Giver on Librarything (Average 4.2 stars)
The Giver on Goodreads(Average 4.11 stars)
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