Critical Book Review of the Giver by Lois Lowry

The book I will be discussing for my critical review is, ¨The Giver,¨ by Lois Lowry. This was a great book in my opinion, it’s one of those books that you read and they leave you on a cliffhanger on each chapter that keeps shoving you to read more (especially at the end). The author also included a theme in the book to inform the reader a lesson or make a statement. I believe theme of the book was the importance of memories since they play a significant role in the story.

To better understand my points and statements, here is a brief summary of, ¨The Giver.¨

The Giver is about a boy named Jonas who lives in a community were life is dull and emotionless. Everyone in the community has a family unit (one male, one female each). Children are born from Birthmothers, and the babies are assigned to a family unit. Jobs are assigned in the community, and you don’t have a choice what job you get. In this community everyone acts the same with no problems at all. Children have ceremonies that congratulate their ¨coming of age¨ and they have one every year up to their 12th ceremony. The ceremony of 12 is the most important in the community because that’s when the children are assigned their jobs for the rest of their lives. Jones was assigned a job called, ¨The receiver of memories,¨ he then has to work a man called The Giver. After the ceremony of twelve, Jonas’s life will never be the same. Throughout the story, the author gives subtle hints on what the theme can be.

I believed the theme was to show how important memories are and I have evidence to support this statement. Near the beginning of the story, Jonas visits The Giver regularly and learns about him and his own assigned Job. The Giver teaches Jonas how to hold on to memories of the past, how to feel how to express emotions. He informs Jonas how the past can be reliable to problems or questions we have and depressing towards how we feel. This causes him to begin to feel and think about happy times and express himself, and even learns to see different colors. The story begins to show how memories affect our lives. I believe the author wants the readers to realize how important memories are towards our lives and appreciate them. They can change our mood help us answer questions, and even keep loved ones alive for as long as you live. The author did a great job writing his book and I would love to tell everyone to read this book.

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