The Giver by Lois Lowry | Teen Ink

The Giver by Lois Lowry MAG

By Bapalapa2 ELITE, Brooklyn, New York
Bapalapa2 ELITE, Brooklyn, New York
1044 articles 0 photos 1 comment

After reading The Giver, I was left confused and disappointed. It seemed as if it would be interesting, but you can't judge a book by its cover. The contents were dull and predictable. Quite honestly, I wouldn't recommend it to any reader seeking a fine piece of literature. It just doesn't suffice.

The Giver is about a young boy named Jonas. He resides in a futuristic society in which each citizen is assigned a job, a spouse, and children. The children are born to mothers who will never get to see them. Trying not to give anymore away, I will only say that Jonas is assigned an important job and is challenged with the release of an innocent child. Jonas is left with the option of leaving his home, job, and family to save the child, or facing the harsh reality of his community and job, and enduring the release of the child.

This book was dreadful. I became more and more dissatisfied with each page. It was a waste of time and hardly made sense. I'll admit, there were a few interesting lines, but far too few to continue reading after the first chapter. Although I finished it, I regret doing so. It was, by far, the worst book I've ever picked up. It proved to be mediocre, no better than what the average person could conceive. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.


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This article has 587 comments.


on Feb. 26 2011 at 6:23 pm

I just finished this book less than twenty minutes ago, and I personally loved it. It was strange and thought-provoking, and I really like books like that.

I can see why you might have disliked the ending, but Lois Lowry made it vague on purpose, so readers could imagine Jonas's and Gabe's fate for themselves.


on Feb. 26 2011 at 9:17 am
aspiringauthor_ BRONZE, Fairfield, Connecticut
1 article 0 photos 324 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." - MLK Jr.

I'm sorry, I just don't see how you can think this book was that bad! I personally love it and read it every 2 months. Oh, and you didn't give any reasons as to why you thought it dissatisfying, so if you could do that next time, then that's great! :)

SongSparrow said...
on Feb. 10 2011 at 7:43 pm
SongSparrow, Evanston, Illinois
0 articles 0 photos 33 comments
As a lot of people have mentioned, you didn't really have any reasons as to why it was so bad. I am not critizing you for thinking what you do, but more examples would really be helpful.

Curly_Sue said...
on Feb. 10 2011 at 5:51 pm
Curly_Sue, Sand Springs, Oklahoma
0 articles 0 photos 75 comments
How can you say something like that?!? The Giver is one of the best, most thought provoking books I've ever read! I makes you question the very balance of right and wrong and how far we, as a society, will go to achieve perfection!

marei2331 said...
on Feb. 10 2011 at 2:39 pm
marei2331, Lubbock, Texas
0 articles 0 photos 71 comments

Favorite Quote:
For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others, for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness, and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

I will have to disagree. When read this in school I loved it, considering the boring things I usually have to read. It's a very interesting concept and I didn't find it too pretdictable. I understand if you didn't enjoy the book, i'm simply stating my opinion. I have read it two times after reading it in school and never get tired of it. The beginning starts off slightly slow but i found it a very moving, wonderful book! I would recommend it to anyone!

on Feb. 10 2011 at 9:29 am
gloriasinferno37 SILVER, Needham, Massachusetts
6 articles 0 photos 26 comments

Favorite Quote:
When I grow up I want to be like me<br /> -Kurt Cobain

Gathering Blue was an amaizing book! I hated the giver, but Gathering Blue was a fantastic quick read!

on Feb. 10 2011 at 9:25 am
RixxOhSixx GOLD, Rice Lake, Wisconsin
12 articles 5 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;It&#039;s never too late to become the <br /> person you might have been.&quot; <br /> - George Elliot

I will have to disagree. I had to read this book for my Psychology class, and I loved it. Sure, the ending was kind of ehhh, but I still thought it was a great read.

I understood what was going on. Maybe that's where your problem was?

Anyways, we had to read it and I have read it twice after that just because I thought it was really good.


on Feb. 10 2011 at 9:24 am
gloriasinferno37 SILVER, Needham, Massachusetts
6 articles 0 photos 26 comments

Favorite Quote:
When I grow up I want to be like me<br /> -Kurt Cobain

I tottaly agree with BlissfulyMe , I had to read this book for school and it was a waste of time! I preety much knew how the book would end by the end of the first chapter. The charictors are unimaginitve, Jonas seemed extreamly slow, and the plot was dull. All though Lois Lowry is a wonderful writer and I love some of her other books, The Giver was a total flop.

on Feb. 9 2011 at 8:06 pm
MhsAnonymous SILVER, Morristown, New Jersey
7 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is like a dream. Its perfect until you wake up into reality.

I have to disagree. Everyone has opinions and I seemed to like it. I found it very interesting that no one knows colors or anything about their outside world. Their lives are like puppets, controlled. Jonas is given the job as The Giver. He learns about pain, colors, and the outside world. He learns emotions and books that no one is supposed to know.

on Feb. 9 2011 at 8:04 pm
captaindanger SILVER, Boca Raton, Florida
5 articles 0 photos 21 comments
Maybe he did, but maybe I wasn't making my point. My point was that he might have made a bad review but he should have backed up the reasons he didn't like it with examples from the books. When I read the review, it just sounded like he was shooting it down.

Ariadne said...
on Feb. 9 2011 at 7:51 pm
Ariadne, Berkeley, California
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If we don&#039;t tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won&#039;t believe it.&quot; ~Shannon Hale

Just because it's a "classic" doesn't mean that everyone will like it. I've read plenty of classics that I thought were dreadful. The term is overused. Don't you think that this reviewer might simply genuinely have disliked this book?

on Feb. 2 2011 at 7:20 pm
literaryaddict PLATINUM, Albuquerque, New Mexico
23 articles 3 photos 157 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;We&#039;re almost there and no where near it. All that matters is that we&#039;re going.&quot; Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls<br /> &quot;The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.&quot; Lady Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

Just to clarify, I'm not saying anything against your not liking the book; I know I'm running the risk of stating the obvious, but I'll say it anyway: you are fully entitled to think whatever you want of a book, but I never like people not liking books I love.

on Feb. 2 2011 at 7:16 pm
literaryaddict PLATINUM, Albuquerque, New Mexico
23 articles 3 photos 157 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;We&#039;re almost there and no where near it. All that matters is that we&#039;re going.&quot; Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls<br /> &quot;The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.&quot; Lady Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

I'm going to disagree. Lois Lowry is a wonderful writer, and it is most obvious, of all her books, in The Giver. It is thought-provoking, haunting, and a really good read. I challenge you to read it again with a more open mind.

on Jan. 27 2011 at 1:56 pm
redpanda26 SILVER, Chevy Chase, Maryland
5 articles 5 photos 51 comments
I liked The Giver a lot! When you read it, you have to think hard, it's not the type of thing you just read page after page of. I think 1984 is a similar book and it's much more popular, but The Giver is much better! It seems dull, but not if you think.

on Jan. 25 2011 at 10:20 pm
cynthia4always, Downey, California
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
It&#039;s not about how others look at me it&#039;s how i look at myself- Beastly

i didnt mean to comment on yours i meant to comment on the reveiw sorry

on Jan. 25 2011 at 5:16 pm
I never said I thought that. The person who wrote this review is trying to tell us that the Giver is bad, but this person has no facts to back up why they think the Giver is a bad book. I actually thought the Give was really good.

on Jan. 24 2011 at 5:11 pm
captaindanger SILVER, Boca Raton, Florida
5 articles 0 photos 21 comments
I don't know what book you were reading. The Giver is a classic. It is beautifully written with well-rounded characters and a chilling setting. Unless you skimmed through and didn't try to get a deeper meaning out of the story, you would recognize this.

on Jan. 22 2011 at 12:12 pm
what are you talking about? and every other person I know who rad that book loved it. and that would be the all the 7th and 8th graeders at my school . and it seems to me your not the average person.

on Jan. 21 2011 at 5:12 pm
This is more of a hate speech than review. You have no facts to back up how or why the Giver is a bad book.

on Jan. 20 2011 at 1:41 pm
NewWorldNovelist797, Norfolk, Virginia
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
Okay so TheMesserSandman has it right, you guys are ranting not reviewing