My Thoughts on The Giver by Lois Lowry & The Value of YA Books
Hello!
This is not a book review but rather my thoughts and immediate feelings after reading The Giver which is a popular YA book. If you want a proper review please check out my friend -The Drowsy Reader's review on her site.
The comment made by the author sums up my feeling about the book. I never read The Giver as a child and I gave the book 4/5 stars because in a world where there's a TON of Dystopian YA novels, this book left me feeling exhausted in a good way. I consume a lot of books and information daily and it's not often that a children's book (or any book for that matter) impacts me as much as this one. I had to actually stop another post I was writing to write this.
The Giver is not flashy, it is a quiet and steady book but it left quite an impression on me.
I loved Lowry's writing and her ability to transform words (i.e: release and love) is absolutely fascinating, beautiful and haunting. A lot of time dystopian novels relies a lot on creating "the world" and using a myriad of bleak descriptions for the readers to imagine. The Giver doesn't offer any of that, it's a Utopian community where there's no pain, no heartbreak. Who doesn't want that?
But in reality reading this Utopian based book, probably scared me more than when I read the Hunger Games. The only time I can remember feeling this way about a book is when I read Margaret Atwood's novels. Since I read Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia, there's clear inspirations that I feel Lowry adapted. The used of a council or elder in guiding the Utopian society for example and the use of euthanasia.
The YA genre is popular for a reason. If you ask me what books I would recommend to anyone it'll probably be the Harry Potter series and The Hobbit which are both written for Young Adults. I think it's important for children and Young Adults to read classic literature but also read contemporary literature that they can relate to. I remember the discussion I had after The Drowsy Reader re-read The Giver recently and we talked about how our memories of our favorite childhood books may not be the same as adults (crying on the inside as I'm typing this). The Giver delves into a lot of social issues and consequence that many children and Young Adults may not fully comprehend. But the opportunity to introduce such heavy issues that are relevant to current events shouldn't take away from how I as an 'adult' feel about the story line. There are a LOT of dystopian and utopian YA novels out now and I think it's important for authors to also remember to use their platform to discuss important issues and maybe cut back on all the love triangles.
Again, this is not a review just my thoughts on the book. I don't know if I'll be reading the rest of the books that were written by Lowry for this series but I do believe this is a book that should be read in schools. One of my all time favorite book is Number the Stars which I have not touched since Middle School was also written by Lowry.
The experience of reading The Giver has not only given me some food for thought but also a drive to re-read some of my favorites which includes The Lord of the Rings trilogy and potentially all of the Harry Potter books at some point. As always, thanks for reading!
Until next time,
This is not a book review but rather my thoughts and immediate feelings after reading The Giver which is a popular YA book. If you want a proper review please check out my friend -The Drowsy Reader's review on her site.
Reading Challenge Category- A Book a friend recommended
4/5 Stars
*There will be spoilers*
Can a person love the themes and motifs of a book but not the actual story? I don't know, but that's how I feel about The Giver. The edition of The Giver that I picked up from the library had an introduction by the author Lois Lowry in which she wrote "In so many recent dystopian novels (and there are that: so many), societies battle and characters die hideously and whole civilizations crumble. None of that in The Giver. It was Introspective. Quiet. Short on action".
The comment made by the author sums up my feeling about the book. I never read The Giver as a child and I gave the book 4/5 stars because in a world where there's a TON of Dystopian YA novels, this book left me feeling exhausted in a good way. I consume a lot of books and information daily and it's not often that a children's book (or any book for that matter) impacts me as much as this one. I had to actually stop another post I was writing to write this.
The Giver is not flashy, it is a quiet and steady book but it left quite an impression on me.
I loved Lowry's writing and her ability to transform words (i.e: release and love) is absolutely fascinating, beautiful and haunting. A lot of time dystopian novels relies a lot on creating "the world" and using a myriad of bleak descriptions for the readers to imagine. The Giver doesn't offer any of that, it's a Utopian community where there's no pain, no heartbreak. Who doesn't want that?
But in reality reading this Utopian based book, probably scared me more than when I read the Hunger Games. The only time I can remember feeling this way about a book is when I read Margaret Atwood's novels. Since I read Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia, there's clear inspirations that I feel Lowry adapted. The used of a council or elder in guiding the Utopian society for example and the use of euthanasia.
The YA genre is popular for a reason. If you ask me what books I would recommend to anyone it'll probably be the Harry Potter series and The Hobbit which are both written for Young Adults. I think it's important for children and Young Adults to read classic literature but also read contemporary literature that they can relate to. I remember the discussion I had after The Drowsy Reader re-read The Giver recently and we talked about how our memories of our favorite childhood books may not be the same as adults (crying on the inside as I'm typing this). The Giver delves into a lot of social issues and consequence that many children and Young Adults may not fully comprehend. But the opportunity to introduce such heavy issues that are relevant to current events shouldn't take away from how I as an 'adult' feel about the story line. There are a LOT of dystopian and utopian YA novels out now and I think it's important for authors to also remember to use their platform to discuss important issues and maybe cut back on all the love triangles.
Again, this is not a review just my thoughts on the book. I don't know if I'll be reading the rest of the books that were written by Lowry for this series but I do believe this is a book that should be read in schools. One of my all time favorite book is Number the Stars which I have not touched since Middle School was also written by Lowry.
The experience of reading The Giver has not only given me some food for thought but also a drive to re-read some of my favorites which includes The Lord of the Rings trilogy and potentially all of the Harry Potter books at some point. As always, thanks for reading!
Until next time,
