The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jonas is chosen to be the next receiver of memories out of the entire community. He lives in a strange world where there is no color, sunshine, or snow and people need to take pills so they don't have wet dreams or feel pleasure , at least that is what I understood . They are assigned parents from birth and even the birth parent is assigned that special role. It's really weird and I have never heard such a place before and that is why I think this book is fantastic.. To be a receiver of memories is a great honor but as he learns ; it involves pain . Jonas is a pretty smart kid and he perceives early on that where he lives is not the norm and wants so much to go 'beyond' to where it has always been forbidden to go. He is wrought with sadness because he wants everyone to come with him and to know what he knows ; like the color red or blue for instance. It's like he can't keep these memories to himself and wants to be released. However, to be released doesn't mean what he thought. He feels betrayed and lied to .

The first time I read this book was in 2008 when I worked as a light duty cleaner in a school . The Giver by Lois Lowry was being read by the grade 6 classes and I remember how fun it was to be reading it the same time as the students were . I liked it a lot. It's a great book .

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UPDATE: Jonas' friend mistakenly said "I want a smack" instead of 'snack' and was disciplined :(  . I'm rereading it and I have come to where the current receiver of memories tells Jonas to call him 'The Giver'. Ya there is pain involved in becoming 'the receiver of memories' but it baffled me that they didn't know what snow , or sunshine was because of climate control they made it obsolete and went to 'sameness' . That's really sad .