The Giver

Hardcover, 192 pages

Published Feb. 5, 2019 by HMH Books for Young Readers.

ISBN:
9780544157880
OCLC Number:
1119521120

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5 stars (1 review)

At the age of twelve, Jonas, a young boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is singled out to receive special training from The Giver, who alone holds the memories of the true joys and pain of life.

36 editions

Review of 'Giver' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Ordinarily, I’m not a huge fan of the YA Dystopian genre. Reading this story, I think I finally realised why that is: they’re all poor imitations of this one!

Just kidding. They’re actually quite different.

In most modern YA Dystopian stories, we’re told “the way things are” over a few pages, early in the story. Most of these stories are also told in the first person (often through the eyes of a teenage girl), and they’re presented in a way that intends to disgust and revolt us straight away. The situation is unequivocably, irrevocably bad, it needs to change as soon as possible, and the protagonist is going to be the one to do it.

You’re told what to think and how to feel about the state of the world.

This story’s different. It’s told in third person, and focusses on Jonas, a regular kid of approximately eleven years old …