The Giver by Lois Lowry (Book Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report

This is a quick book summary and analysis of The Giver by Lois Lowry. This channel discusses and reviews books, novels, and short stories through drawing...poorly.

This is a story about a boy named Jonas who lives in a somewhat sheltered community. Jonas lives with his Father, a newborn caretaker, his Mother, a judge of some kind, and his younger sister, Lily, an imaginative girl who asks a lot of questions.

This community regards age as extremely important, tracking each boy and girl with various labels based on their age. Because Jonas is turning twelve, he will be assigned his job. And while his friends and peers are assigned regular jobs in the community, he is selected to be The Receiver, a prestigious position that must learn and keep the memories of the past.

He begins training with the previous Receiver, The Giver. The Giver is an old man who is wise and tired. The Giver begins transferring memories from the past to Jonas through touch. At first this is exciting because he experiences things like snow and color, which are absent from this community. However, The Giver then transfers memories of pain and other negative images, which hurt Jonas.

After contemplating what to do with this knowledge, Jonas decides to take a newborn, Gabriel, with him and run from the community. He eventually makes it to society, where he is greeted by the sight of brightly decorated homes.

And while there are elements of the supernatural - the passing of memories - the somewhat utopian/dystopian society established in the story is a topic of important discussion.

The community in the story feels no sense of emotion, color, feeling, or remorse. And while our current society is not as blatant in these absences, we can, still today, feel the lack of those same things.

Color seems to be an important characteristic in this story. The majority of the community sees the world in a literal and figurative gray tone. Also, the use of red appears several times in the story - the apple, a girl's hair, flowers.

This story presents a scary scenario where a community decides the lifestyle of individuals and individuals have no real choice. Does it sound familiar?

[MinuteBookReports]

If you found this video helpful, please Like and Share the video with your friends. If you want to know what I’m currently reading, as well as watch other book summaries, please subscribe to the channel. Thanks.

[smiley]

am I the only one that finished the book before even watching this?!

[ghost-exdu]

My class read this book and we thought that Jonas was not met by a town, but by his own heaven. He passed away. He was losing consciousness by riding down the sled, and even before that he showed signs of afterlife.
He fell in the snow, and he had a sudden "urge" of happiness and this is when I imagine he already died. The movie also exhibits hints of his death and passing. He felt as if all hope was lost and then he all of a sudden felt happiness? We also know his favorite memories were sledding and Christmas. The last sentence of the book is "or perhaps it was only an echo" when he thought he heard music. What many people think is proof he didn't die is the book gathering blue where Jonas is now a wood carver in a village but this is just a cameo and not our Jonas. It is obvious because Jonas never knew the wood carving skill and it is unlikely the giver has ever given it to him.

[alphyishere]

Dude seriously thanks. During the weekend I was suppose to read this book and I had no clue about it, today is the last day I have to read it and you saved my ass XD thanks man. I'm going to hang on to your channel for a bit. Lord knows what book reports I'll get next....

[melodyflores]

Thanks so much for your short summary of the book, it helped my daughter who has ADD/ADHD finish her 5 paragraph report. It's not easy for children who struggle with the ability to maintain focus, but your short video and summary helped her a lot after she VERBALLY heard it. Thanks so much.

[julianapennybear]

Lol the amount of irresponsible students here...
.
.





I can relate.

[amiix]

this on my recommended 11 years later makes me a little happy, I read this book this year for school and I love it so much.

[SummersTimelyCringe]

When everyone's talking about either being saved and now being able to write an essay/compelete a test and/or talking about whether Jonas and Gabe died or not and you're just like:


*Oh... so that's the name of the book. I remember it now!*

[solemank]

well, just like the others i'm here because an assigment from my lecturer.
thanks for your summary.

[Obcordata]

Theme: The importance of memories. I still remembered that, well one of the themes.

[candyleafchan]

Thank you so much for existing!
I am literally typing up a school project at this very moment. lol

[revitalizedreadingpodcast]

I really enjoyed this book, it was incredibly engaging, and really explored some deeper themes. My only quarrel with the book was how abrupt the ending the felt, the rest of the book was paced really well, but it almost feels like Lowry got tired of the book and just quickly made up an ending. That sounds pretty harsh, but I know I'm not alone in feeling that. Definitely still worth a read though.

[chathamgriffiths]

The short summary helped me a lot with my essay. Thank you so much.

[amberxtea]

As somebody who cannot read due to how i cannot concentrate (nor listen to audiobooks either cause I will also loose focus pretty quickly) and i general almost cannot pick up a book for those few months, it literally saved my grades since it's 12am and i have to present about this book today. Ty ^^

[jackbeason]

i honestly thought this book had a message but that was all it was

[alicealone]

Im here bcuz my English teacher is forcing the whole class to read the whole book
And I aint got no time lmao

[randommemesweekly]

0:43 YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE Oh wait, wrong movie

[aerchii]

Honestly, I hate to say it, but I don't think Jonas, nor Gabriel lived, or at least, they shouldn't have. Lois Lowry intentionally made it unclear, and while she said herself that she doesn't like when people automatically assume he died, it's the most realistic scenario.
It would be too convenient for him to find a town all of a sudden, in the middle of a snowy forest.
I think it's safe to say that anyone who's read the book would have wanted Jonas and Gabriel to have a happy ending, but honestly it just doesn't work with the whole mood of the story. Of course, I'm not the author so I don't know what Lowry originally had in mind, but that's my interpretation of it.




Ok, that was a bit of an intense explanation for a children's book, but I don't know. I can't help myself sometimes.

[juliaroxallaj]

You saved my life :D I supposed to read this book and write a paragraph about it but then i was like "Hmm lets wait a few more dayszzz" Then here the last day of vacation I remember I have to read this book. I didnt know about this book so I basically cheated xD

[hamodahmahmoud]

Thank you soo much bro i really appreciate it!