One of my local meetup.com bookclubs chose The Giver as our reading for this month. The book turned out to be one of the most memorable and thought-provoking read I have had in a while. It is also a short 1-day read.
It's a science fiction book for young adults that has received lots of awards. It is on the banned list for some states but is on the school reading list for others (like Wisconsin). I generally don't like the idea of books being banned. With that said, this book is probably more meaningful to adults anyway and might cover topics that are not suitable for young adults.
Now about the book...Jonas, the main character, is a 12 year-old boy who has grown up in a utopia society called Sameness where there is no pain or suffering because everyone's life has been arranged by a committee to achieve harmony. For example, husbands and wives are selected by the committee so that their temperament balance each other out, one boy and one girl are assigned to each family, and so on...To maintain this harmony, rules against things like boasting, lying, etc. are also in place.
Every child in this Sameness society goes through a coming-of-age ceremony when they turn 12, and they receive their life-long career assignments during this ceremony. For example, if the assignment is to be a Nurturer, then the child will start receiving training that then evolves into their long-term career of taking care of newborns. Each child has been observed by the committee from childhood until right before they turn 12 so that the assignment is supposed to match their intellectual capacity and temperament. During this ceremony of the twelves, Jonas ended up receiving one of the rarest and most important assignment, and the training that followed set up of a chain of events that forever changed Jonas' life and his perspectives.
This book might be a slow read starting out, but the eerie feeling that something was off with this perfect society kept me engaged...and it's an important stage-setting part for the book. I liked the part after Jonas received his assignment the most because that was where the action picked up and Jonas' discoveries started.
I think this is one of those books where different people will pull from it different meaningful life messages depending on your own life experiences. The book resonated with me and hit close to home because I had lived in a culture where there were more rules and less choices. I also walked away with 2 meaningful messages...First of, to me, it seemed to be a cautionary tale against the lack of diversity. As someone who likes living in places where there is diversity in people, experiences, and food (the most important factor for me!), I could not imagine not having those options. The second message seems to be that both joys and sorrows need to co-exist in order for our lives to be fulfilled. Sorrows give us more appreciation for joyous events. While not experiencing pain or not having to make tough choices seems tempting, is living without choices and emotions still a LIFE?
No comments:
Post a Comment