The Giver by Lois Lowry
180 pages
Published 1993
Read from April 21 to April 22
Rating: ★★★ out of 5
This book works better as allegory than as a story. I can't help it, I can't stop nitpicking stuff like the plausibility of an allegorical society in a junior fantasy novel. A system in which the burden of all memory, emotion, and sensory input is techno-magically implanted into the brain of a single 12 year old would collapse within the first generation or two; there's just no way it could extend "back and back and back," I'm sorry. There was also the odd and antiquated notion that folks with "pale" eyes are somehow special. But whatever. As far as kids' books go, this one does what it sets out to do and works on most levels. The ending was abrupt and I'm still not clear on exactly how (spoilers) Jonas' geographical departure from the community would psychically flood them with memories, an area where both the story and the allegory seemed to get a bit shaky. But mostly it was a good read.
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