Book and Movie Review: The Giver by Lois Lowery

The Giver has always been one of my favorite novels.  I first read this book at a young age; I think I was a pre-teen.  Recently, the movie was released.  My husband and I decided to rent the movie.  He had never even heard of the book.  We both loved the movie, so I decided to re-read The Giver and post a review of both the book and the movie.

Oftentimes, I can degrade a movie due to the things that were not included from the book.  Therefore, the movie review was written before I actually re-read the book.  Without further ado, here are my reviews.

Movie Review

From my memory, the essence of The Giver was really captured in the movie.  This was the first dystopian book that I remember reading.  The essence of the utopia was captured. The world is seemingly perfect.  Everyone is equal.  Nobody is treated special.  Then the action begins when Jonas is chosen to become the Receiver and meets the Giver.  The overall message of the novel is portrayed in the movie and I enjoyed this.

As a movie without trying to compare it to the book, The Giver was amazing!  It was filled with mystery about Jonas’s role in society as the Receiver and how the dystopian nature of the movie will play out.  The acting was unreal.  The switch from the movie being in black and white to color is surreal and expressed well.  This is a movie that I would watch again and again and I would recommend it to others.

Book Review

I am writing this review as I am sitting at the library with the second book in this series, Gathering Blue, next to me about to be checked out.  The Giver is an incredible book and I expect the same out of Gathering Blue.  The Giver shows that if you take away some of the bad/difficult things in life, such as war, you will be missing out on some of the amazing things also.  If humans are not allowed free will and the option to make choices, even bad ones, the world would be missing out on so many things, especially love.  Although the movie adaptation changed a lot of things about the book, the overall message was kept the same in both.  The book was so much more in depth and engaging.  Lois Lowry's writing style surpasses that of many authors.  This is a book that I could read again and again, and I probably will.

Have you seen the movie or read the book?  What did you think about the movie adaptation?  Is The Giver ranked one of your all time favorite books like it is mine?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.