Denise

For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.

Surprisingly I never had to read The Giver when I was in school. I decided to read it now before the movie version comes out so that I could compare the two should I decide to see the movie. While I did enjoy this book I did not enjoy the ending. I'll get more into the ending later but first let's discuss what comes before.

Jonas was definitely a good character to follow as he becomes the new Receiver. It was interesting to read his reactions to his sessions with the Giver and see how they affected his view of his community. I thought the community was really interesting and would have loved to have learned more about it, specifically the different jobs the people had, as opposed to always following Jonas.

I hate ambiguous endings. When I read a book I want resolution and I want an end. I don't want to have to make up my own version of what I thought happened. (The only ambiguous type ending that I actually enjoyed was Gone With the Wind, that left readers wondering whether Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara will end up together again.) The ending of this book was definitely left to the interpretation of the reader. I felt so invested in the story and couldn't wait to see what happened with Jonas and what happened with the community that this ending felt abrupt and not satisfying.

Overall I felt that this was an interesting read and I do feel that this would be a perfect book for highschoolers to read. I'm sure other people have made more in-depth reviews of this book with much more insight than mine but all I can really say is that I enjoyed this and would definitely recommend that everyone, sometime in their life, read this book.