book of the month

I recently joined an online book club called Book Club Bloggers. Each month we are assigned a book to read and then we will post on our separate blogs our thoughts and feelings. I'm always reading, so this isn't too difficult for me. But I do find that describing my thoughts on a book are difficult. I tend to forget certain points, or I can't adequately describe what I liked or didn't like about it. So I can't promise that my reviews will be very meaningful or insightful, but bear with me as I stumble through this!

Our first assigned book is The Giver. I have read this book twice before, in middle school. I have long considered it to be one of my favorites and have meant to reread it now that I'm much older. So this was the perfect chance to do so! It was also a good book to start out with, as it's a simple, easy read.

I won't write a quick summary of the book here. Either you've read it or you haven't. If you haven't, you probably shouldn't continue reading this post! Here we go:

It's come to my attention that this book is controversial and there is debate on whether or not it should be read in elementary schools. This surprises me, as I can't comprehend what is so controversial about it! First of all, I firmly believe that from a young age we should be encouraged to learn about and question different beliefs and ideas. And second, doesn't that stem from the same notion of what The Giver is about in the first place? Our right to make choices, to be aware of what is pleasant and what is not, no matter what our age?

As mentioned earlier, I'd read this book before and the same things stood out to me as the first time: the red apple and the red hair, the character's struggle for the word apprehensive, and the lonely and scared feeling of his not being called upon at the Ceremony of Twelve.

But this time I found myself yearning for a more adult novel, one with more detail. One that answered such questions as:

How did they achieve climate control? How did they make a medication to prevent Stirrings? How did they stop seeing in color? How did they prevent animals such as birds from entering their communities? If Elsewhere exists, how do they prevent the outsiders from interfering? Does Elsewhere really exist or are there endless communities like Jonas'?

And most importantly: How the heck did they convince everyone to go along with it, to stop feeling, to stop wanting to hate as well as love?

All in all, the meaning of The Giver is very straightforward: There are things in life that we will experience that are both dreadfully bad and exquisitely good. The bad may be horrible, but how can we truly appreciate the good if we don't have the bad to compare it to? The most important thing is choice. 

" 'The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.' "