The Giver - Lois Lowry

Books on the Nightstand have recommended this book to their listeners, so as a dedicated listener I had to read it.

The Giver follows the story of Jonas; a twelve year-old boy who lives in a seemingly utopian community. People in this community are very happy, their lifes are content and do not want for anything. However they do not have a choice in anything. Husband and wife are matched, parents apply for children and receive exactly one boy and one girl, and children mature into the next stages of their lifes at an annual ceremony until the age of twelve. At the twelve ceremony, children are given their position in life based on what the "Elders" have decided you should be. Jonas is given the position of "The Receiver" where he begins to learn and understand how controlled his community his.

Nadine's review.
I read this in an afternoon. It's only 180 pages and it's language is simple and easy to follow. The story is incredibly intriguing and so sad. You will not want to put this down until you have finished reading it. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys stories of a dystopic nature.

Jaki's review

This book was utter tripe. That is the only way I can describe it. The first third to half of the book is so boring and utilitarian that I had to force myself to continue, and that was only done because so many people said this was an amazing book and I thought it must get better. For a while it did, the middle of the story was interesting with the transfer of memories and Jonas experiencing all sorts of new things. Then you get towards the end of the book, which not only seems extremely rushed, but feels like the author had no idea what to do and so just slapped something together on the spot.

I would definitely not recommend this book to anyway and actually persuade people to take it off their reading lists if it is there. Don't waste your time. While it is a short book and doesn't take long to read, seriously you will have many other better books on your list that you will actually like a whole lot better.