Monday, May 19, 2014

Ignorance is Bliss

The Giver
by Lois Lowry
p. 1993




Lois Lowry’s take on a futuristic Dystopia, The Giver, is one of those books I just can’t believe I never read in my youth, because it would have been right up my alley, not to mention it has left quite a legacy, so much of one, in fact, that it has finally been made into a movie to be released this year (something I did not know about prior to reading the book). You can be sure that many more people will be talking about it into 2015.

At 12, our protagonist Jonas has entered the phase of maturation when every person in his Community must be given a role to fulfill. Nobody has the ability to choose what they want to do for the rest of their life; in fact, nobody has the right to choose much of anything, as the rigid rules of the Community dictate things like who you are to marry, how many children you are allowed to have, even when to die. Even trivial things like what age you are allowed to ride a bicycle or own a stuffed animal or wear a coat with buttons are determined by the Elders who run the Community. Yet everyone seems content with the system, convinced that they are perfectly happy with the life that is chosen for them.

With such strict guidelines in place, it is no wonder that the whole Community is aghast when young Jonas receives an unusual assignment—the apprenticeship of The Giver, of which there is only one. I won’t bore you with the details of Jonas’s apprenticeship. If you’re reading this, you’ve either read the book already or are perfectly capable of reading it in a single uninterrupted afternoon (and it would not be hard to do so, as it’s the kind of book that implores you not to put it down). Suffice it to say, Jonas’s experiences with The Giver open his mind to a world and a history that his and all of the neighboring Communities could never know of, and forces him into a role of adulthood heretofore unknown.

The Giver is not just a great young adult novel, but a great Dystopian novel, and would serve very well as a young and curious reader’s introduction to the genre. As per necessity, the book is not without a bit of darkness, but then so is life, and a young reader could benefit from the more adult perspective. In any case, The Giver is not too graphic or too dark.

Apparently there are a couple sequels or companion books I will be checking out some time this year. I alternately look forward to and loathe the upcoming movie adaptation. Lowry’s book is one that has become a cult favorite, and it deserves justice on the big screen, but it could easily get caught up in the shallow eccentricities of tween book-to-film adaptations today.

No comments:

Post a Comment