The Giver is a science-fiction book by Lois Lowry and is set in a futuristic society free of crime and sadness. At the age of 12, the young children of this society will be assigned jobs that they will train for and perform for the rest of their lives. One of these children is a boy named Jonas, who is assigned the isolated job of training under the Giver, a respected yet mysterious man. As Jonas’s training continues, he realizes the pain suppressed by the Giver and his perspective of the utopia around him transforms into something unimaginably terrifying.
The Giver is a good book with some interesting ideas and concepts. One of these ideas was turning the setting from a utopia to a dystopia, which Lowry executes very well. Jonas is a good protagonist, and you can feel sympathy for him in certain parts of the story. The Giver was the best character in the book for me, because of how he looks at Jonas and is painfully reminded of the past events. The pacing in this book is not very good, and there’s a crucial part near the end of the book that feels very rushed. Readers be warned; The Giver has themes of infanticide, suicide, and euthanasia. Most people love this book, but I find it to be OK. It’s not a bad book, but it’s one that you’ll forget about after a few days.