I read this book a long time ago when I was in junior high, and when I read it I had a hard time following along. I only really remembered one very disturbing part that had me a little iffy about picking it up again.
But I picked it again a few weeks ago because it was my book club title (which I can't attend again this month, it's killing me). After reading several dystopian books in recent years--such as Hunger Games, Uglies, Divergent, etc.--I was surprised to see that this followed the same vein. You learn about the world of Jonas, a boy preparing for his 12th year, when he will be assigned his job in society that he will be trained for and fulfill the until he is deemed too old to continue. You learn this society is unique right off the bat, when Jonas is startled and frightened by an airplane overhead, which is followed by a public announcement on the speakers for the citizens to ignore the errant plane, and that the pilot was sure to be released. To be released is a great shame, banishment from home and culture.
As an adult, I enjoyed the book much more than I did after my first reading. The horrible scene I remembered still broke my heart, but I could see it in a broader scope than I could nearly 20 years ago.
I never had to read this for school. So I read it out of curiosity a couple years ago. I liked it, but of course everyone had asked me if I'd gotten to THAT part yet, but were much more spoliery about it. So of course I had a good idea through the whole book what was going to happen. I just finished Gathering Blue, which is part of the same series. It was good, but not as good as The Giver.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way!!! You'll have to go over to my book blog and read my review. I'm REALLY shocked that I didn't remember the MOST disturbing scene (maybe I blocked it??) but what I remembered was "greyscale" though I couldn't remember WHY I thought that, and I remembered the dream telling and the one dream that led to him needing to take the pills. Let me tell you, the last book of the quartet, "Son" is one of my new FAVORITE books. The middle two, Gathering Blue and Messenger were so-so, but slightly mind blowing at the same time.
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