the giver

Dystopian novels are all the rage right now.  The Hunger Games trilogy, The Scorch Trials, The Forest of Hands & Teeth, Delirium, Matched … I could go on and on.  The Giver, written almost two decades ago (which makes me sad because it was published the year I graduated high school) is part of a genre that existed, but wasn’t quite as popular then as it is today.

Jonas is turning twelve and in the Community this is an important time.  At twelve they are given their jobs and begin their training.  It is the first steps on the road to adulthood.  But when Jonas is skipped over at the ceremony and then given a job that comes once in a generation Jonas’s entire world changes … both for the better and worse.  Now that his eyes are opened to the world that he has lived in for the last 12 years he is disillusioned and depressed and he longs for a way to change everything.

I saw this on Lah’s of Lazy Girl Reads list of favorite books.  Then I think it was the next day or so I read an article on /Film about how Jeff Bridges was bringing The Giver to the big screen.  I picked up the trilogy at the library and started it right away.

While it’s much more chaste than the others I see where books like Delirium and Matched got their inspiration.  The way the Community lives and works is so similar it is almost exact.  But I loved the way the memories of the past are kept and passed along in The Giver.

Jonas is a brave and strong character, even before receiving his job assignment.  He longs to do the right thing and is compassionate and caring.  When the secrets of his community are revealed to him he does not dismiss the sadness, but instead longs for a way to share everything with the people he loves.

I can’t go on and on about this book without giving too much away so I will just leave it at that.  I can’t wait to read the next two books!