The Giver

Lowry, Lois. 1993. THE GIVER. Read by Ron Rifkin. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing. 4 cassettes. ISBN 0-553-47359-X

PLOT SUMMARY

This 1994 Newbery winner is set in a utopia where precise language is valued. Jonas lives in a world with perfect weather, well behaved children, model parents, no crime or death. In this futuristic world, children cease to be children at the age of twelve. At that time they are assigned their life profession. Jonas becomes the community’s new Receiver and receives the memories of the past from the Giver. It is as the Receiver that Jonas slowly becomes aware. Aware that animals once lived, that color is a reality and that choices do exist. Jonas must choose to continue the life he has always known, or venture to the unknown and seek the world that has not just the good things in life, but also the heartbreaks and the wonder of choices.

ANALYSIS

I listened to the unabridged audio version of The Giver read by Ron Rifkin on 4 cassettes.
Ron Rifkin is given a very brief introduction and at the end of the book we are again told that Ron Rifkin was the reader.
The actor's professionalism is apparent as his enunciation of each word is superb. Rifkin 's voice seemed to command authority, yet delicately varied his tone and pitch when reading the parts of Jona’s younger sister.
Music was played throughout the book. I appreciated that the music did not play only at the end of a chapter, but also when changes in topic or scenery occurred within the chapters.
Perhaps because I am a fast reader, I found the reading to be very slow. I would often read ahead of Ron. Now I know how my kiddos feel when I read slowly to them during class!
While the characters, plot, style and theme in this story are important, I feel that the setting is of utmost importance. One does not instantly understand this is a futuristic tale, yet we quickly understand that the world described here is not like ours. As we read we discover this and that makes this book very difficult to put down!

For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final
decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.

Lowry presents the reader with some heavy moral questions: How important is the power of choice? What to do with our elderly population? How does our profession define us? Is a world different from our a possibility? The genius of this book, is that students are enthralled in the plot! Lowry allows the reader to reach his own conclusions instead of her dictating that through the climax of the story.

Once he had yearned for choice. Then, when he had had a choice, he
had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was starving.
But if he had stayed... His thoughts continued. If he had
stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life
hungry for feelings, for color, for love.

As the story was coming to a climax, I have to admit that the ending disappointed me. When I heard Ron Rifkin stating the last sentence, I felt as if Lowry's thoughts dangled. Even after reading the ending to myself several times, it didn't sound as if we were coming to the end of the book. Perhaps that is exactly what Lowry had intended: the feel that the story is to continue, but it felt unfinished for me.

Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left,
he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.

REVIEWS

This is a compelling prospect for family listening. Initially Rifkin's voice seems too regional to portray the characters of this utopian/dystopian world, but he convincingly conveys the anticipation of the coming-of-age ceremony of Jonas and his friends.- From AudioFile

With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers.” From Publishers Weekly

The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time.” -From School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry is seen as a companion book to The Giver. While it is not a continuation of the story it is also set in the future. Comparing and contrasting the plots and the main characters of each book would be a fantastic activity.

Other titles by Lois Lowry include A Summer to Die, Number the Stars, Messenger, Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye, and The Silent Boy to name a few. For the slightly younger crowd Lois Lowry has a series of books about a precocious pre-teen named Anastasia.