The Giver: A Newbery Award Winner: 1 (Giver Quartet) Paperback – 1 July 2014

The book is aimed at children aged 12 and above and young adults. However I am a senior and really appreciated the way it was so engaging, simple, suspensful and thought-provoking. The author has an amazing ability to portray so much with just few words on the page.I first heard of 'The Giver' as Lois Lowry was interviewed in an episode of Velshi's Banned Books Club on MSNBC. I now know that it's the first in a quartet and I'm eager to read the next 3 as well as watch the movie.

I enjoyed this book very much and finished it quickly. It is a tale that will set you thinking, and it is just a good story. However I must admit to some disappointment. My expectations were very high for this work. It is Newbery medal winner, a book that we know from the author's comments, was very well received - beyond anything she had experienced before, and thus I was expecting something exceptional. What I read was a story that had some flaws, and set me thinking, but was no more profound than Nicholas Fisk, Robert Westall (albeit himself a Carnegie medal winner) or other such authors. This was a very good book - just not exceptional.Before I get picky, I would point out I would still like to recommend this book to older young adult readers.But what did I not like? Well the world itself seems to lack explanation. We can understand perhaps why the world would seek to homogonise itself to reduce difference and relieve the suffering of difference and choice. But if we run with that premise, it is not clear why we would choose not to see colour. It is not really clear why we would choose to create the life we are shown. There is no hint, even, of some major event that caused people to react by turning themselves into automata. Personally I much preferred Orson Scott Card's "homecoming" series and also his "Worthing Saga", both of which explore this idea much more completely, and for my money, would be better and more thought provoking stories than this one.But this is a childrens or young adult book, and space is limited, so we can excuse much of this perhaps. We also must excuse the lack of explanation of what is happening with memories. Why are memories never lost? what is the mechanism for the passing of memory? We don't know but just take it on trust that this is now how the world works.Some people will not mind these gaps one bit, and for them this will be a five star book. For me though, I felt there were better renditions of the same story, although I still certainly enjoyed this one.

The tag on the front of my book reads, 'seeing the flaws in the perfect world.' From the outset the reader is aware of one huge flaw that permeates Jonas's world. However, what is surprising is how Lowry deals with Jonas's realisation of this flaw. It isn't Jonas's shock or revulsion that is surprising, because that is expected: what is well executed by Lowry and surprisingly eerie is the other citizens' lack of awareness and eerily detached attitudes.I've rated 'The Giver' five stars because it is clearly a child's book; I would rate at 4 stars if it was marketed at adults and that is because I felt their was SO MUCH potential to expand on the science fiction elements within the novel but I do appreciate these elements can be difficult for children comprehend. I recognise that fantasy, rather than science fiction, is more appropriate for the readership and know I would have LOVED this book if I'd found in young teenage years.The ending also seemed rushed; Jonas's realisation of the horrors in his flawed world, the climatic point in the story arc, is closely followed by an ending. I would have enjoyed a more deliberated denouement I suppose. Nevertheless, I did still enjoy this book. There is plenty to recommend it and I cannot say it didn't keep me engaged because it did. Throughout I enjoyed being immersed in Jonas's world and learning about its structures and rules; I also felt for the central character, Jonas's, as the narrative unfolded the ending of childhood. For me 'The Giver' was a particularly poignant tale about the loss of innocence.

As a touring musician I have lots of idle time spent in airports, on planes and of course in tour buses. Embarrassingly I'd exhausted all means of keeping myself entertained but hadn't ever thought to pick up a book and give that a go. I was given this book to read before a flight to Sweden one day and was glued to it right from the start. Instead of participating in the normal backstage antics (upon arriving at the festival in Sweden) I was tucked away in the corner with my head in this book! Obviously I give this (and the others in the series) my highest recommendation! They're fantastic, thought provoking books, with great characters and a gripping plots. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!