The Giver by Loris Lowry

The Giver 

By Loris Lowry 

Rating 4/5

Genres Dystopian future, Novel world.

This is a very short read. My first thought after it ended is isn't there more to this? Because it somehow didn't feel complete. :/  The story is based in a utopia like society where the pain and suffering along with all negative emotions like boredom, hatred, dislike etc are eliminated carefully through ages - to be replaced with contentment, lack of hunger, lack of wanting adding monotony and an absence of color/passion/"life" itself into the mix. Gradually, two very specially psychically endowed people - one that calls himself 'the giver' and the other 'the receiver'(a kid called Jonas) discover it to be indeed very dystopian and make efforts to restore the past. The story ends on a note of hope and bright sunshine as Jonas and his brother Gabriel make it to the regular world outside the constructed world of utopia. 

I liked the world construction and the characters who even though are lacking in real animation/feelings strike a chord. Jonas is a kid nearing twelve and like all others his age, it is the age when he gets assigned to a career by elders of the community. To his surprise,  he gets chosen to be the receiver of memories - meaning some one who alone has access to books from the past and carries all the memories from past in his head so no one else need remember them. It is an on going assignment and the reigning receiver - calling himself The Giver - teaches him many things - both beautiful/pleasurable and painful/devastating. He has a toddler brother Gabriel who is very receptive to his memories and their bond feels quite surreal. Every night to make the baby sleep, he would place his hand on his bare back and pass on peaceful memories which others don't understand. Eventually, they understand what's happening in the community - how they are dealing with unpleasant things as they crop up and shocked, disgusted, yearning for a better future, Jonas and the Giver make a plan to liberate the society. So what do they do? 

Its a decent read for me and I am not sure I understand why it has such an overwhelming number of positive ratings and reviews - compared to many other such equally well written dystopian stories. Perhaps it strikes a different chord in each one reading it. Or perhaps its not a world from which there is no return/hope back into the past/better times. :)