The Giver

The Giver

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Bantam Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1993.

Annotation: Young Jonas is chosen to be the one who experiences the truth and history. In his supposedly perfect society, he finds out the dark truth of his community and has to make a choice for his future.

Reason for Nomination: This is one of the best books I've read, ever. I am personally a big fan of the distopian branch of fantasy/science-fiction. This one stands out along with 1984 by George Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Lois Lowry paints of a picture of a tightly controlled society that believes it is nearing perfection. The protagonist is just turning 12 and is dealing growing up and questioning what is around him. The book's use of proper nouns is interesting. For example, anywhere not part of their society is Elsewhere(which is vaguelly death or another location or both). The author manages to make the preposterous, believable. The main character is easy to relate to, even from an adult perspective. The POV, which is third person limited sets us away from the character a little bit, but we experience and feel what he does, which makes the book more interesting. When Jonas is confused by something in his community, so are we. Tools like foreshadowing are present, but don't ruin the story, they do their job making the book mysterious. The book leaves us wondering more the whole way through even after finishing. This book will grab you and not let go.

Genre: Distopian Novel, Fiction.