jdroth

I'm a life-long fan of dystopian fiction, and The Giver is a fine entry in the genre. Lowry's writing is clear and direct. Every word and scene seems to be present in service of the Story, and I appreciate that. The story itself is small-scale dystopia, about a community containing maybe a few thousand people. (There are precisely fifty children of any given age.) So, this novel feels like it's more a critique of cults than of society as a whole. I liked it very much.

This is a good book. In an alternate universe — if the author had made some different choices — it would be a great book.

I liked “The Midnight Library”, and was grateful to have read it. Honestly, it's exactly the book that I need for my life right now. I've been having some of the same thoughts and experiences as the main character, Nora Seed. I thought the overall concept was clever, and I liked some of the philosophical stuff that Haig explored.

That said, the book has a couple of glaring faults that drove me nuts.

First, there are parts that are tremendously awkward. Nora's conversations with characters in alternate timelines are often clumsy and frustrating. These moments (and there are many) don't contribute anything to the story after the first instance. We get it. We get that going to a new timeline is disorienting. We don't need to be shown it every single time.

Second, the climax is awful. It's as if it were written with film (bad film) in mind, not the written word. It's lame and kind of undermines everything that has come before. So frustrating.

Still, I'll end up recommending this book (with caveats) to many people, especially folks looking for something interesting to read for book clubs. This would prompt great discussions, I think. And, this is a book that I'll read again in the future. When I do, though, it won't be on audio. I need to be able to skip all of the repetitive, awkward transition scenes that ought to have been edited out (and probably were in the universe where this is a great book instead of okay).

This is a charming chapter book that plays as straight-forward childhood escapism for much of the time. But the penultimate chapter includes a couple of lovely insightful observations about life. Plus, I very much enjoyed how well the author brought 1967 to life. Lots of little details that reminded me of my youth.