The Giver felt like a very sparse story to me. First, there isn't much characterization, so I didn't form an emotional connection with any of the characters -- not even with Jonas or the Giver (two central characters). Asher and Fiona (particularly Fiona) are introduced such that you assume they will play greater roles in the book than they do.
Jonas' training involves receiving, from The Giver, all of the emotions and memories of experiences that the people in the community chose to give up to attain Sameness and the illusion of social order. The first memory that Jonas receives from The Giver is a sled ride down a snow-covered hill.
Other articles where The Giver is discussed: 10 Devastating Dystopias: The Giver (1993), by Lois Lowry: Jonas, an unusual pale-eyed 11-year-old boy turning 12, comes of age and is assigned the prestigious role of Receiver of pain and memories in an apparent utopia where war, fear, pain, and choices have ceased to exist. He meets…
Thompson Valley’s drama department debuted “The Giver,” its fall play, Thursday evening, kicking off a three-day run of the show. Based on a young adult dystopian sci-fi novel, “The Giver” follows the ...
Times Union: 'The Giver' at Sage an affecting look at a future world
The stifling horror of a truly conformist, homogenized society reveals itself slowly in "The Giver," a dystopian drama adapted for the stage by Eric Coble from Lois Lowry's award-winning 1993 novel of ...
The Giver is a 1993 young adult dystopian novel written by American author Lois Lowry, and it is set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses.