The giver door Lois Lowry

Book: The Giver
Writer: Lois Lowry
First Publication: 1993
This Publication: 2005
Genre: Unknown

The title is the giver, which fits the book very good. It is very logically chosen, because it is in fact where the whole story is leading to. Other possible titles are e.g. memories, the receiver or snow, but I prefer the chosen title.
The author is Lois Lowry. She had an older sister and a younger brother, so she could be very much on her own. She was very solitary and spent her time with books and her vivid imagination. She was born in Hawaii, but lived all over the world. She started writing books, when her sister died at the age of 28.

The book is about Jonas, who lives in a village with strict rules for everything. Jonas is a social boy, and everyone in the village knows each other and is nice to each other. In the village, everyone has to be the same. The people in the village don’t see colours, nor have any choice in their clothes. The elders make their choices, if you’re not functioning well you’ll be released to elsewhere. Few people know that this means dying. They celebrate their birthday in December, in two days. After the children turned 12, age isn’t important anymore. At every ceremony the children get special gifts, for example a bike at nine. At the ceremony of 12, the children hear from the elders, what their jobs are going to be. Jonas seems to be forgotten, but he’ll become the new receiver of the memories. Then he gets memories of snow, sunshine, sailboats, war and much more. He begins to see colours and more things which he never knew about before. He becomes a bit isolated and doesn’t want to play some games. His friends seem to think he’s weird, but then he goes away from the village, so that everyone gets his memories. This way, he turns the world back to what it is at this time. Then he finds real sunshine, birds and love.

I chose this book, because the story on the back of the book interested me. Especially the last two sentences made me want to read the story: “Now it’s time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.” I liked the story, because it makes very clear what is in fact special, which is very normal for us. It makes you wonder about war and love. Because these people live in such a harmony, you’re going to wonder what you can do in your own life. It is one of the special books which isn’t very difficult literature, but makes you think about the world and your own life. I think it’s a good book and I liked it very much.
Source (for information about the writer): http://www.loislowry.com/bio.html