The Giver
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable
Age Range: Young Teens
Period: Future
Genres: SciFi , Thought-provoking
Synopsis:
Jonas is about to turn 12, the age when people in his futuristic community become adults and are assigned jobs. His job is to receive the memories of his community and all those which have gone before. At this point, we discover that there is no such thing as colour or music in Jonas' world, and that euthanasia and chemical sexual inhibitors are the norm, children are borne by (artificially inseminated?) women whose job it is to do so, and are fostered to computer-assigned couples. Deliberately vague ending, but is good enough to have merited a few more pages.
Notes:
Not an original theme: future Earth where masses are brainwashed and colour and joy have disappeared. Interesting idea of having one person to transmit memories through the ages. Some (very few) indelicate descriptions when Jonas feels the “Stirrings” of adolescence. Plus a bit of moral tub-thumping on the subject of over-population leading to hunger.
Tuesday 1st January 2002