The Giver

YA dystopia/post-apocalyptic was the genre that got me into reading when I was younger, and with this being dubbed as the OG dystopia (first published in 1993) novel, I just had to read it. I also watched the movie adaptation a few years ago and liked it, and more recently, a university classmate who I had a crush on mentioned that this was his favourite book, so obviously I am going to read it.

I found that it did not feel like a YA book at all, it read more kid-ish, and this might be because of the standardised language the citizens of the Community are required to use. Everything is standardised, which gave a technical feel to the world. Sameness, they called it. Sameness was the ideal, Sameness meant everything is perfect.

The main character, Jonas, is likeable and easy to empathise with. I think that if I had come to the novel cold, I would have been just as frustrated as Jonah was, trying to make sense of all that he is finding out about this seemingly flawless world. But of course, we know that it isn't perfect at all. It raises interesting questions- whether having potentially disruptive knowledge and information purposefully hidden is ethical or not, is it better to have limited choices to ensure stability, and oh, how would you feel if your big, life decisions, like what your career and who your spouse and children would be, were mandated by a system and the government?

The book ended on a hopeful note, a cliffhanger which I felt was a perfect segway into the next novel in the series. I have not gotten my hands on it yet, but because this was a good read, I intend to do so.