I thought I had read this book. Or at least read parts of it or read a study guide or something. i think I have commented on it in various places over the years. All my kids have read it. I got it out of the library on audio because I drive around a lot in the car and I get bored so I am trying to get in the habit of having something to listen to. I go in and out with this habit. Right now I'm in. Anyway, I was surprised to find that I did not know the story. I was filled with foreboding as I listened to the first part. The world of The Giver is in a future utopia - or at least trying to be utopian. They (the powers that be) have decided safety and sameness (differences cause discomfort) are the supreme values of society. The government runs everything, seemingly in a very controlling but benign way. Everything has been reduced to colorless niceness. People apply to get a spouse and then the relationship is not a romantic one. After three years the couple can apply to adopt a child. Certain people get assigned the role of birth mother. No one knows their real father or real mother. It doesn't matter in this world (it is starting to not matter in our world either). Everyone takes pills so that pesky 'stirrings' won't disrupt the bland pleasantness of everything.
The story is told from the point of view of Jonas, an 11 year old boy about to turn 12. When you are a 12 you say goodbye to childhood (which is full of school and 'volunteer' hours. It made me think of how kids are required to do service hours nowadays) - and sharing feelings which is ritually done every evening in every 'dwelling' (as opposed to 'home'). Little kids get 'comfort objects' instead of lovie stuffed bears or blankets. Everything is expressed in pyscho-abstract ways. When 12, a child receives his assignment which means what he will do for his job in the Community. Jonas discovers he has been assigned to be the new Receiver. There is only one Receiver and his job is to receive all the memories of the people so that they might never suffer. But as Jonas begins to receive the memories as he trains with the Receiver to take over his job, he begins to realize there is another world out there, a world of color, of horrible pain and soaring happiness, and love. After Jonas realizes that the culture of the whole Community is built on euthanasia, he and the Receiver hatch a plan, but things don't go right.
The ending of the book is deliberately (and maybe annoyingly) ambiguous. It reminded me a bit of the ending of The Life of Pi in a way.
I found this book really complex and surprisingly pro-life. And it is obliquely Christian or it could perhaps be read that way. It is funny that I am also reading Lord of the World which deals with euthanasia and this book does too (among many other issues). For a young adult novel it is really deep and complicated but told in a simple way.
If you want to read a provocative, harrowing and beautifully crafted novel, here ya go. I don't know if I cared for the narrator of the audio version. But as usual I soon just focused on the story and not the reading voice.
A worthwhile read, but not a happy book! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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