This book is sort of Diet Ayn Rand. Yet another negative utopia scenario. In fact it was basically Anthem for teenagers. Kid grows up in a communal society and realizes there's more to life, breaks free. Same old same old. There are some things that some people might call "Magical Realism," but I personally hate that phrase. Otherwise, that's all it was. I might have liked this book more if I'd never read Anthem. I can see why it's popular, I can see why schools use it, it's like a stepping stone to meatier things. I may use it myself one day in my homeschooling endeavors. But if you've already read Ayn Rand or 1984 or anything like that, it's redundant in my opinion.
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I haven't read Anthem (and probably won't any time soon, since I don't like Rand), but I have read many dystopias such as We, 1984, Brave New World, etc. I have to disagree that The Giver is old news having read any of those. If you look at it as "just another dystopia" then sure, it's old news, as will be a whole bunch of the current YA market, Margeret Atwood, or any other dystopia which claims its right as different from other dystopias. You have to see beyond the genre. I read The Giver for the first time last year, at 29 years old, and thought it was an amazing book. There is so much in it. I actually thought it was BETTER than We, 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, etc. It was one of the best dystopias I've ever read, the one of the most convincingly done. The two sequels aren't as good, but The Giver is one I'll likely read over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an amazing book, and agree with Amanda that it doesn't seem redundant. Of course, dystopian fiction is probably my favorite type of fiction ;) Brave New World is another amazing dystopian, and it's interesting to compare the treatment of sexuality in the two books.
ReplyDeleteAh, you guys have to read Anthem. Reading The Giver, it almost seemed like Lowry practically copied Rand, taking Rand's book and just changing around bits here and there for a YA audience. Definitely a good and palatable book, but after reading Anthem it just didn't strike me as much as it might have otherwise.
ReplyDeleteDespite my distaste for Rand, I've been curious about Anthem, because I love love LOVE dystopias. I haven't gotten up the courage to actually read it, though. I wonder if I'll feel the same way about it as you do about the Giver, since I read The Giver first?
ReplyDeleteAnthem's probably by next crack at Rand, though it'll probably be a couple of years before I get to it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed The Giver when I read it, but I'm sure it was shortly after it came out, and I was 11 or 12, which is about the age it's aimed for.
Amanda- possibly. Anthem was written in 1938 so definitely sets the precedent, but you won't know until you read it. Kind of like how I can't stand Gabriel Garcia-Cruz, but I love some of the writers he influenced, even though he came first. But you will see, Anthem is nearly identical. It's about a man in a communal society where jobs are assigned at a certain age, babies are born to birth mothers in an institution and then sent to school in groups according to age. They have numbers instead of names though, and the word "I" doesn't exist. Individuality doesn't exist. The main character wonders why he wasn't assigned to work in science, because he had so many ideas to improve the lives of the community. He comes to realize that that is exactly why he didn't get the job he wanted and was assigned instead as a laborer. The committees didn't want ideas, they wanted sameness. So he runs away with his ideas at risk of death.
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