Author - Lois Lowry
Genre - Young-Adult/Science Fiction
No. of Pages - 223
Year of Publication - 1993
Rating - ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I'll be very clear, I really LOVED this book. It grasped my interest from the very beginning and I wasn't bored by a single paragraph. Every chapter was a cliffhanger! It has just 223 pages, so it was a quick read. I am really bad at reading a series, I can never complete one. But this book has made me so curious that I am going to order the next part of the quartet right away, after writing this review.
So, the readers who enjoy fantasy and some other-world-settings in books will surely love this one. This book is set in a community, far away from our world, in the sense of distance and culture too. Precisely, I should say, in every sense. The protagonist is a 12 years old boy named, Jonas.
When you read the first few chapters, the community where Jonas lives will appear to be a Utopian society. No problems, everything so arranged and matter-of-factly. Everyone is assigned their professions, their spouses, everything is so arranged and rigid, it made me queasy to think of living in a society like that.
Family units have their own dwellings where they live and everyone is equal, apart from the committee of Elders which is the highest power. These Elders decide the future, including who should be in which profession and who should get married to whom and which couple is to recieve which newchild. Even being a birthmother is a profession.
Doesn't all this sound a bit too systematic?
When Jonas is assigned to be The Receiver, the highest honor one could get in the community, he uncovers the dark secrets of this actually, Dystopian society. He learns beyond the reach of this community and embraces feelings which his fellows would never experience. Even 'love' is an obsolete word for them which actually holds so much deep meaning.
Knowing the unknown and the urge to know more forces Jonas to embark an incredible journey.
The way the author has created this society which appears to be perfectly ordered, but only superficially, is what I loved the most. I was amazed when the book step-by-step uncovered the ways and constitution of the community. And I liked Jonas' character a lot, he is shown to be quite brave and sensible for his age but I liked his spirit. Lowry has been a children's author and that reflected in her writing style. She has received the Newbery medal for this book which was her second time.
I recommend this book to everyone alive, and specially to those who dream of a perfect world with no problems and pain at all. This book will tell you how much important is the farrago of pain and pleasure, love and hate, sorrow and happiness.
Review by Bhumika Singh (Blog Author)
I'll be very clear, I really LOVED this book. It grasped my interest from the very beginning and I wasn't bored by a single paragraph. Every chapter was a cliffhanger! It has just 223 pages, so it was a quick read. I am really bad at reading a series, I can never complete one. But this book has made me so curious that I am going to order the next part of the quartet right away, after writing this review.
So, the readers who enjoy fantasy and some other-world-settings in books will surely love this one. This book is set in a community, far away from our world, in the sense of distance and culture too. Precisely, I should say, in every sense. The protagonist is a 12 years old boy named, Jonas.
When you read the first few chapters, the community where Jonas lives will appear to be a Utopian society. No problems, everything so arranged and matter-of-factly. Everyone is assigned their professions, their spouses, everything is so arranged and rigid, it made me queasy to think of living in a society like that.
Family units have their own dwellings where they live and everyone is equal, apart from the committee of Elders which is the highest power. These Elders decide the future, including who should be in which profession and who should get married to whom and which couple is to recieve which newchild. Even being a birthmother is a profession.
Doesn't all this sound a bit too systematic?
When Jonas is assigned to be The Receiver, the highest honor one could get in the community, he uncovers the dark secrets of this actually, Dystopian society. He learns beyond the reach of this community and embraces feelings which his fellows would never experience. Even 'love' is an obsolete word for them which actually holds so much deep meaning.
Knowing the unknown and the urge to know more forces Jonas to embark an incredible journey.
The way the author has created this society which appears to be perfectly ordered, but only superficially, is what I loved the most. I was amazed when the book step-by-step uncovered the ways and constitution of the community. And I liked Jonas' character a lot, he is shown to be quite brave and sensible for his age but I liked his spirit. Lowry has been a children's author and that reflected in her writing style. She has received the Newbery medal for this book which was her second time.
I recommend this book to everyone alive, and specially to those who dream of a perfect world with no problems and pain at all. This book will tell you how much important is the farrago of pain and pleasure, love and hate, sorrow and happiness.
Review by Bhumika Singh (Blog Author)
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