Review: The Giver

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

     I'd been meaning to read The Giver for quite a while now. I first came across this book when it was chosen as a monthly read in one of the groups I'm a part of but didn't read it that month as I had other books planned. The main reason I finally read it was that the movie they made after it was finally released and I definitely wanted to see it. But, most of the times, I like reading the book before seeing the movie, and so I started reading it a few days ago, before I go see the movie.

     I will admit to one dirty secret of mine: sometimes, when I read a book, I do tend to select it by the cover. So, when I saw the cover for The Giver I was a little bit intrigued. A Young-Adult book with the cover of an elderly man? Then I read the description and found out that the book is actually about a child rather than a young-adult, and so I put it on hold indefinitely. Now, after having finished reading it, I am glad that I finally did. 

     The Giver was an interesting book. The fact that it was dystopian gave it a plus in my experience. Although, I see that people loved it and thought it was amazing, I will not be as generous. I think it was an alright book, but I fail to see what was so extraordinary about it. I liked the story. It was somewhat different from all the other dystopian books. Granted, it seemed like an utopia at first, and maybe that's why the impact was bigger, but it felt different, in a good way. Maybe one of the things that bothered me was that the characters were children, and it's hard to imagine children in a dystopian world. But, the awful truth is that if the world ever goes wrong like that, age won't matter. I guess it's hard and unpleasant when you think about it.

     I can't say that I had a favorite character in this book, seeing as how short it was. There wasn't enough time, or better said, enough story, for me to develop strong feelings for any of the characters. However, I did like The Giver and even Jonas, presumably because they were the two main characters, the ones we got to spend more time with. 

     Even though I can't say that I loved this book, I really liked the concept of it. I thought it was different, fresh, innovative. I liked the idea of a world without color, without emotion, without the simple concept of love, pain, fear. I thought it was well written and well thought. I do not plan to read the rest of the series, at least not for a while, but I enjoyed reading The Giver as it was a very different reading experience for me.