The Giver - Lois Lowry

This book is such an amazing story. I remember reading this book in high school. It is a short book, but when you read it, the Distopia that it creates almost seems real. I also remember that for a master's class, my mother wrote a play off of this book. We went to the reading of it. It is amazing the feeling that those words carry.

Sometimes I feel as if I am in such a world like Jonas. Where everything has to be the same - especially in the way my life is "supposed" to turn out. [ie - go to BYU, get married, and have a kid before the age of 21] But my life is not like that, and so sometimes [meaning- all the time] I feel outside looking in. I can relate to that feeling of Jonas' when he cannot understand the choices he sees around him because he knows something more. And when he has to save Gabe, it is a touching moment when Jonas sacrifices himself and all that he knows for a better world - one that he isn't even sure exists. I love this book because it is a book of hope.

Though this time, I read more than just the story. In my copy of the book there is a "bonus" section, with some questions you can ask at a book club. One of the questions asks at the end of the book, if Jonas and Gabe are dying or not. It is a hard question to answer, and it made me look at the end of the book a couple of times. I hope that they aren't dying, but are truly reaching a home full of love. But on the other hand, another part of me can see this as an end to their journey and that the home that they might be going to can only be achieved through death. Either way though I still find it an ending full of hope - either way Jonas and Gabe are going to a place full of love, and are finding peace at the end of their journey. I don't think you have to decide whether or not they are dying at the end of the book. Because I think in either scenario, they are at peace and that is what matters.

This is one of my favorite books, and is one that I probably read frequently. It's short so it doesn't take long to read, nor is it dense. But it brings to mind a lot of questions - something that is always a plus for me.

Final Score: 5 out of 5 stars