The Giver, or Another Foray Into Newbery Land

 

Published:  January 24th, 2006 (First published 1993)

The Giver (The Giver Quartet #1)

By: Lois Lowry

Ember

ISBN-13:  9780385732550

 

Jonas' world is perfect.  Everything is under control.  There is no war or fear or pain.  There are no choices.  Every person is assigned a role in the Community.  When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver.  The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life.  Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth.  There is no turning back.

 

Review

 

     In the Community where Jonas lives, everyone has a routine.  Jobs, spouses and children are selected by qualified officials.  Emotions are discusses and analyzed, colors are non-existent and pills are taken to halt the "Stirrings" from taking hold.  Everything is controlled, peaceful, uniform and all people are treated the same.  When you become of a certain age you join the House of Old and are released as a "reward."  Jonas thinks that his society is the perfect place to live.  Then he goes through the ceremony of the twelves to get his life assignment.  Jonas is given an unusual task that he has never heard of before.  He's apprenticed to a man called The Giver and becomes The Receiver.  He is to take on all of the memories, emotions and experiences of what life used to be like, without total control.  Jonas begins to question the way the Community is run and his place in it's mindless conformity.  When Gabriel, an underdeveloped infant that has been staying with Jonas' family, is at risk due to the Community's rules, it's up to Jonas to make a decision.  Will he follow the community or give in to the lessons he's learned from the things he's taken from The Giver?

     I have read this book at least six or seven times, the first being around 2001 or 2002, when my sixth or seventh grade English teacher assigned it to my class.  I remember being shocked by the ideas and terrifying realities presented in this book.  A place that is controlled by the government, doesn't allow for any individuality, and has no romance or family bonding - a place with no color or emotion AT ALL!!!  It blew my pre-teen mind to imagine such a horrifying thing.  I definitely identified with Jonas, questioning the world around himself and trying to make life-changing decisions (mostly between action and in-action).  In light of the movie being released next month, I decided to re-read it again and see how well it held up after a decade of being in my thoughts.

     This novel is definitely more one of introspection than action.  The climax near the end of the story when Jonas *SPOILER* takes baby Gabriel and leaves *END SPOILER* is definitely the most actiony part of this book.  The majority of this book is Jonas' journey from conformity and belonging, to being on the outside of the Community and becoming isolated when his reality shifts.  By gaining the things that everyone else he knows have lost (color, emotion, individualistic though, etc.), Jonas becomes an unlikely rebel.  "Sameness" is a concept he no longer embraces and finds to be pretty horrifying.  Probably the most conflict in this book is caused by the concept of "release" for people who don't (or can't) conform for some reason, or are just too old to be of use to society.  This is what really causes Jonas to take action.  It really makes you wonder just what it would take to push our own world over the edge, into a false utopia.  A chilling, but ultimately hopeful portrayal of a world ruled by the loss of everything real.  I highly recommend this book (it won a Newbery Award for a reason!) as an introduction to the loosely defined "dystopian" genre.  It definitely makes you think.

 

VERDICT:  5/5 Stars

 

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

It's the End, My Friends

Expected Publication:  May 6th, 2014

After the End (After the End #1)

By: Amy Plum

HarperTeen

ISBN-13:  9780062225627

She's searching for answers to her past.  They're hunting her to save their future.

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation.  A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness.  They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them.  Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: there never was a war.  Cities were never destroyed.  The world is intact.  Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed.  But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her.  Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

Review

     I tried reading Amy Plum's other series, but hated it.  So I was understandably wary about reading this one, even if the idea of it appealed to my likes.  I bit the bullet and signed up for a book tour, figuring that I had nothing to lose.  And let me tell you, I'm really glad that I did!  As you can find out from the synopsis above, this starts out like a post-apocalyptic book but its really a fake-out.  Juneau has been raised her entire life in the wild part of Alaska, just far enough away from civilization that her city's elders got away with a truly big-scale scam.  Juneau and all the children of her "clan" have been raised to believe that WWIII happened thirty years ago, and the only people left outside their village are opportunistic drifters, who'd just as soon kill you as to look at you.  Oh, and they all also have the same genetic mutation (a starburst in their eye) and have been trained to be in touch with the "Yara," otherwise known as the lifeforce of the Earth/Universe and all its components.  The way its written is a lot like magic, but something slightly more on the mystic side of the coin than usual.  It's up to Juneau to rescue her kidnapped family and the others of her clan, but once she gets into the world it gets complicated.  Because she needs the help of Miles, a strange teenage boy, who is the son of someone who is hunting her down.  And he has his own selfish reasons for helping Juneau.  Can they work together or will their agendas collide to form a disaster of epic proportions?

     I liked how the main focus of this book is the adventure and the quest.  It goes from happy, post-apocalyptic village life, to the harshness of an unfamiliar modern world.  Also, this book is a dual-point of view between Juneau and Miles, who couldn't possibly be more different.  And the narrative voice reflects their differences very well, which is something that always impresses me.  Dual-narratives are a bitch, and lots of the time both characters end up sounding exactly the same and turning off/pissing off the reader.  Or at least me, when I am that reader.  Juneau is strong heroine, able to take care of herself by living off of the land and she may not know anything about the modern world, but she calculates her next move with some serious intelligence that I admire.  Confused at times, but always sure of her moral compass, Juneau is a character I admire.  Miles is thoroughly a modern teenage boy, and is spoiled and bratty to boot.  He clashes with Juneau immediately and I love how realistically skeptical his reactions to her life story, explanations about the Yara, etc. happen to be!  No blind acceptance on his part, and above all Miles is always looking out for himself and his own ends.  No insta-love to be found either!  There is grudging respect and the two of them do have some feelings building by the end of the book.  But no declarations of undying love are made. 

     I knew there was going to be a fakeout, in terms of the false apocalypse.  But I wasn't expecting it to be because of a pharmaceutical experiment that everyone wants the patent to!  I thought they were just brainwashing cultists who got taken away by the government, and arrested or something.  Instead, the Yara is something that is real, in the sense that the genetic mutation of the children and their exposure to the drug gives them their abilities.  Also, the clan's lack of aging plays a part in the way the plot progresses.  Yes, I do agree with other readers that there isn't a large amount of resolution when it comes to the missing clan by the end of the book.  We do learn more about mysterious/possibly villainous, cult leader Whit (once upon a time, Juneau's mentor).  I also happened to love the detour taken by Juneau at mountain-woman, hermit Tallie's hidden house.  She is definitely a great secondary character in a book that really only has three characters with a lot of focus (Juneau, Miles and Whit).  But the ending is also a gigantic cliffhanger, with life and death hanging in the balance!  I will definitely be reading the next book to find out what happens next and I really hope it doesn't suffer second book-syndrome!  I highly recommend this if you're looking for something different, fresh and fun to read.  It also is a pretty quick read as well, the 350-something pages flying by.

VERDICT:  4/5 Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication is May 6th, 2014.*

You Are Mine For Keeps

Published: May 6th, 2013

You Are Mine (Mine # 1)

By: Janeal Falor

CreateSpace

ISBN-13:  9780981616247

Serena knows a few simple things.  She will always be owned by a warlock.  She will never have freedom.  She will always do what her warlock wishes, no matter how inane, frivolous, or cruel it is.  And if she doesn't follow the rules, she will be tarnished.  Spelled to bald, inked, and barren for the rest of her life - and worth less than the shadow she casts.  

Then her ownership is won by a barbarian from another country.  With the uncertainty that comes from belonging to a new warlock, Serena questions if being tarnished is really worse than being owned by a barbarian, and tempts fate by breaking the rules.  When he looks the other way instead of punishing her, she discovers a new world.  The more she ventures into the forbidden, the more she learns of love and a freedom just out of reach.  Serena longs for both.  But in a society where women are only ever property, longing for more could be deadly.  

Review

     The author, Janeal Falor, sent me a review request for this book a couple of weeks ago.  It is really easy to let books sit on a to-read shelf forever when you don't know the author personally.  And with a galley backlog as long as mine, you really have to be careful and considerate of the author who is requesting your micro-managed time! :)  I took a week to decide and downloaded a sample for my Kindle from Amazon.  When finishing those first five chapters only made me downright desperate to read the rest of the book, I knew I could give Janeal and her characters the time and effort that each author deserves from a reviewer.  I have read a lot of negative reviews about this book alongside the positive ones and maybe this comes from my imagination being tangled up inside my intellectualism, but all the complaints were ones that had me going, "Really?" with an eyebrow raised to the sky in consternation.  I've come to the conclusion that this is a book that you either get, or you don't.  And those are the best kind in my long-suffering reader's opinion.  Now onto the actual content of the book!

     The main character Serena is one of many sisters and they all live in a society where women are looked upon as property, with their only worth being that of their breeding capabilities.  Serena finds herself chafing at not speaking her mind, not being able to choose her future for herself (husband and otherwise) and for just being punished for who she is.  I loved Serena as a main character.  She has a seriously independent spirit, but in the context of the society she lives in still feels the need to be obedient and follow the Women's Canon (a stifling list of rules and behavioral expectations for women).  Serena hasn't let the constant hexes and beatings from her Father break her spirit and is something of a protector for her sisters, whom she loves with a burning sense of loyalty and true worry for their futures.  The society itself is so well built and described that I felt like I was walking alongside Serena.  I especially liked Janeal's descriptions of the magic and her intricately drawn sense of mutli-generational tradition, especially in regards to the extremely horrific engagement ceremony.  If it seems like I'm being overly vague, it's because this book is one you need to experience for yourself and I'm trying not spoil anything! :)

     Romance is an underlying theme in this book and with a woman being her husband/father/brother's property it's one that plays a rather large part.  But really the focus here is the obvious lack of romance in Serena's society.  Her new owner Thomas, who buys her after her blood is tested on her 17th birthday and found highly magical, is cruel and cares nothing for her.  If anything, Thomas promises to be just as hateful and menacing as her own Father.  But when Serena is won by a barbarian who kills Thomas and gains his property is when the real contrast starts.  In Zade's (the barbarian's) society, women are not treated as property.  They can have possessions and make decisions for themselves, even holding jobs without being tarnished members of society.  Alongside her second oldest sister Cynthia who is her main companion,
Serena learns what it means to be free and make decisions for herself.  One of her biggest ones being to employ a tarnished dressmaker, Katherine.  Interacting with Katherine who is in the lowest rung of society but has a wonderful spirit really encourages Serena that it's alright for her to become her own person.  She helps her learn that she has options in life and doesn't have to follow the commands lain out for her.  She can be her own strength and do what she thinks is right, even when it's dangerous.  It's not just Serena that's transformed either but Cynthia and one of their other sisters right alongside her as they view her being treated as a human being.

     This book is full of complex familial relationships, beautifully drawn friendships and camaraderie between women, alongside the building romance between Serena and Zade as she learns to trust him and view him differently from any other man she's ever known.  This book was one of the best that I've read this year and it also has a murder plot, intrigue and spies to keep a reader going alongside the complex workings of a very messed up society.  I truly loved the ending especially and am really excited to read the next book in the series, whether it focuses on Serena or another one of the characters I was introduced to.  If anyone is hesitant to read this book just ask yourself if you like a book that makes you think and you have an open mind.  If so, this might be the one for you.

VERDICT:  5/5  Stars

*I received an e-copy of this book from the author in exchanged for an honest review.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published on May 6th, 2013.*