The Timeless Novel.

I went back and forth for several days trying to figure out what book I should choose to be my O.G. book review/recommendation. It’s summer, so should I do a must-read summer book? (and in case you didn’t know, I’m a total sucker for romance & YA beach reads). Or I just finished a killer mystery novel-no pun intended, surprisingly– should I do I review on that instead? The books on my shelf were daunting me-which one was worth the first review?? I eventually decided to trash all my ideas of how to recommend something fitting to the season, genre, or year and go with the one book that no matter how many times I read, I can always pick it back up and read it again. The one book that has become my comfort object.

The Giver By Lois Lowry

I know, I know it was originally published in, what, 1993? But it’s freaking timeless, and if you haven’t read it yet-go to the store, your kindle, amazon, wherever you can get your hands on it and read it immediately. Forget about the books on your “Need to read” shelf, those can wait. You’re clearly behind the times and need to catch the freak up.

[Disclosure: It is a YA book, so if you’re looking for something in-depth, lengthy, and wordy-this book’s not for you.]

So what’s the hype?

The Giver is a dystopian utopian novel based in the future (I assume, the timing, quite frankly, doesn’t matter) and follows a 12 year old boy, Jonas. The community has transpired into sameness- nothing can’t be controlled. There are no colors, no fights, no political issues, etc. . Things are just the way that they are, and there’s nothing to do to change it. But there’s also nothing wrong and no one knows any different. At the age of 12, the community chooses your job, or your contribution to society, and you continue to do this work for the rest of your life. No career changes here! At the ceremony of twelves, Jonas gets chosen to be the receiver of memories. Which is the highest honor in the community-only one person has this job and it is theirs until they get released (the nice way of saying die). Jonas now has the responsibility of holding all of the past memories of life.

So basically, Jonas now has to learn about everything that we go through on the day-to-day basis. Without having any past experience to prepare him for the negative parts-like pain, both emotional and physical. Imagine not having to deal with any type of, like, real emotion and then having to deal with All of It? It’s a lot to handle, as I’m sure you can imagine. The Giver shares a story of how perfect things sound in theory, and how if you were to take things away from us, as individuals, takes away the point of living, the point of feeling.

Why do I love it?

I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s the greatest book ever written. I’m not that naïve. I can’t tell you what makes this book , THE BOOK. Maybe it’s because it was the first book that gave me a taste of real, raw life. It’s a story that addresses a huge moral conflict and the repercussions your actions can have. Heck, if I read this first as an adult and not a kid I could have very well hated it- though I highly doubt that would’ve been the case. I think if I were to absolutely give a reason why I love this book and why its become my go-to comfort quick read, it would be because it sends the most important message there is to learn in life:
Trying to be perfect isn’t the perfect way to live.

I could probably tell you the whole story verbatim but I’m not going to, but I do hope I peaked your interest enough to pick up this book, or download it, listen to it, whatever, you get my point. If you haven’t read The Giver, do yourself a favor and start reading it immediately.

GUYS.

So I totally didn’t know this until this very second, but apparently, The Giver is one of the most controversial books in America. According to the Office of Intellectual Freedom, most complaints are because people claim it’s unsuitable for the age group. Which is mind-blowing to me because I probably NEVER would have picked up this book if it weren’t on my summer reading list in the 5th grade- and I think it was one of the first books that made me really think.

Between 1990 and 1999, “The Giver” ranked 11th on the list of the books most frequently requested for removal. In the 2000s it was 23rd, just two spots below “To Kill A Mockingbird”

Businessinsider.com

you can check out the whole article here —–> https://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-giver-is-banned-2014-8

Also, I should mention that they did adapt it into a movie in 2014. Apparently, it’s super futuristic looking and nothing like the book-which is why I haven’t even attempted to watch it. So if you’ve seen the movie and think your know the DL on the novel, think again, and pick up that dang book.

Read it already? Loved it? Hated it? Comment below and let me know all your feels!

Keep reading Book Nerds, till next time. Xo.