The Giver

Jacob had to read this book in 8th grade, and when he saw how much I liked Farenheit 451, he recommended I read this book as well.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is another view of a dystopian future society. A world where there is no violence, no anger, everyone is peaceful. Everyone shares their dreams in the mornings and their emotions at night with their families. Family is a loose term; you don't live with your birth parents. Birth mothers are assigned the job of carrying babies, and it's looked down on as a lower-class profession. You are then raised by the powers that be, until about a year old, and then you are placed with a compatible couple.

At age 12, you get placed in what will be your future career, during a grand ceremony. Jonas is 12 and will be receiving his job soon.

What he gets chosen for is more than he bargained for. He gets chosen to be The Receiver of Memory. The ONE person in all the community to store the knowledge of "life, the universe and everything." (different book, I know).

The current Receiver becomes The Giver. He's giving his memories to Jonah, and little by little, Jonah begins to realize how not perfect life really is.

It's a great book and I don't want to give anything away. I interpreted the ending as a positive, wonderful event, then I read that there were two interpretations to the ending, and it bummed me out a bit. OK, a lot, so don't read the end interview of the author. ;)

For me, Jonah and the baby Gabriel were successful.