The Giver - the gift that keeps on giving

Last night I stumbled across the magic of New Castle County's new digital library system, and I honestly can't remember the last time I was truly impressed and excited by something so simple as a library. Basically now I can download books from the library right onto my computer and Kindle! It's awesome! With this new power at my disposal, I decided to check out a book that I hadn't read in years: Lois Lowry's The Giver. I was drawn back to The Giver because I'd recently read the dystopian novel Brave New World and started a YA book called Matched (which was so horrible that it inspired me to begin writing my own dystopian novel just to get it published and spite the author), and found myself wanting more of this world. 

"My name is Jonas, I'm carrying the wheel. Thanks for all you've shown us, this is how we feel."

Honestly, The Giver is a classic. The second read-through was quick; I devoured it in little more than a few hours. What was magic in The Giver is the flawless buildup of tension; Lowry's mastery of slowly unfolding Jonas's world piece by piece and letting the reader's horror ever so slowly mount is a fantastic thing to behold. I gasped when I was supposed to, and cried when I was supposed to. The emotions of love and understanding that we all strive for, the feeling of connectivity that we find so naturally in our day-to-day lives is a striking thing when it is completely removed, as in the environment of Jonas's community. Lowry has achieved a great thing, in forcing the reader to take a step back and with startling clarity realize what it is that makes us all human - caring and emotion - while at the same time seeing the dangers in doing so: the risk that comes with sharing all of ourselves with others, of giving our hearts and feelings away, and entrusting another with them. The danger of choice; of making the wrong choice. The danger of failure. But just as happiness is necessary, as is suffering; it is in this balance that we truly appreciate the beauty of life. 

"Giver," Jonas suggested, "you and I don’t need to care about the rest of them."
The Giver looked at him with a questioning smile. Jonas hung his head. Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.