THE GIVER

This Lois Lowry 1994 Newbery winner was my YA book club’s pick for January. Yes, I’m that far behind on my updates, which is shameful, but at least that ensures that I can still maintain a regular posting schedule while I bog myself down with my annual Dickens novel (Our Mutual Friend, woot!).

I’d actually read this once before but apparently forgotten it entirely, because I was on the edge of my Metro seat this time around. I tore through the whole book in just a single day of train commuting, riveted, then horrified, then ultimately moved (and desperately trying to keep my eyes from welling up in public). The story is a fairly archetypal dystopian narrative (special talents/circumstances set the protagonist apart from his society, allowing him to gradually understand its dysfunction/oppressiveness and eventually inspiring him to rebel against/change it), but it’s elevated by (a) the creative concept of The Giver and Receiver, which adds a more magical and emotional element to the SF setup, and (b) Lowry’s masterfully handling. At first glance, the world she presents seems like it might be a utopia—complete with great elder care and bicycles for all—but of course, a disturbing truth lies beneath, which Lowry unfolds so gradually that even though I knew enough to suspect what was coming (if you’ve seen Logan’s Run you’ll guess at least part of it), I was still in suspense.

If I’d read this as a teen, it would have been a great introduction to the pitfalls of utilitarianism (this aspect reminded me a lot of Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” which I did read as a teen and it blew my mind—is the greatest good for the greatest number really worth it if everyone lives in total happiness but one person must endure complete suffering?) and the idea that organizing a society around certain ideals may come at the sacrifice of other ideals. But it’s still good to be reminded of those things as an adult. Our book group discussion revealed a few logical holes (or, at least, questions about smaller details), and while I liked the ambiguous ending, others may see it as a cop-out, but overall we agreed that this is a powerful and compelling book.

The Giver has two loosely related “sequels” set in the same world, one that I’ve read (but, again, forgotten) and one that I hadn’t even know about until someone in the book group mentioned it. I definitely want to check out both of them.