The Giver

This book was just ok for me. Maybe my expectations were too high after seeing all the awards this story won? I can't fault the writing style as that is quite good, (in a straight-forward way), but the story itself is just not all that original. It struck me as a YA version of Logan's Run with elements of Brave New World.

The weird magical realism of the "Giving" and "Receiving" of memories was also very strange. How that came to be was not explained at all. There was no mechanics behind it. It just was. On the other hand, there was plenty of explanation of how The Community had been formed so leaving out a cause for the titular aspect of the world created here struck me as odd.

All in all, the whole thing just rang too false for me to suspend my logical brain and fall completely into the story. On the plus side, this is a short book with decent characterization, and there is an interesting central mystery, but the abrupt and ambiguous ending left me somewhat unsatisfied.

I'm going to check out the next book in the 'Giver Quartet' to see where Lowry takes it from here.