Conclusion to The Giver by Lois Lowry

After completing The Giver by Lois Lowry and can officially say "This book is weird!" The book concludes with Jonas running away to go "Elsewhere" bringing Gabriel and food, riding away on his father's bicycle. As they run away they dodge being seen by search planes and travel a long time until heavy snow makes riding his bike impossible. They finally find a sled at the top of a hill and Jonas an Gabriel experience the thrill of a downhill sled ride. Again, I can officially say "This book is weird!" I have never read a book like this and I really am having a hard time explaining just how odd this book made me feel. To have a book end by the main character experiencing the thrill of a sled ride, is truly odd and not particularly satisfying, but makes this book really stick out in my mind. One really cool thing about this book is it shows Jonas truly cherishing the most simplistic of concepts. In chapter 20 it says, "He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he though he heard music too." This quote shows hearing music as such an odd concept, which allows the reader to compare his or her life where music is very common to a life where simply hearing music is a new experience. This book was one of a kind and I doubt I will ever read book similar to The Giver.

Midway Review of The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry is told from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven year old boy living in a futuristic society that has gotten rid of pain, fear, war, and hatred. In this society no one makes judgments due to everyone looking and acting basically the same. Also, there is very little competition and everyone is extremely polite. The society also eliminated choice of occupation; at the age of twelve every child is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests. Citizens apply to be assigned with a spouse, and each couple is assigned two children each. I could probably go on and on about all the different aspects that make up this extremely odd society. So far I am really enjoying this book almost entirely because it is unique and odd. I am not used to a society where people walk around like robots and look exactly the same, so reading about one is as close as I could get to this situation. In addition, reading about a place like this really hooked me in because I wanted to learn more and better understand what this futuristic lifestyle is like. In chapter 13 Jonas says, "We really have to protect people from wrong choices." This quote sent chills throughout my body because it is something that would be completely outlawed in our society. Jonas is verbally agreeing that it is important for people to never make a bad choice, but in our lives today we understand that through our mistakes we can learn a lot. These kinds of odd differences are found throughout the book and they make the reader understand just how different the society depicted is from our current one.