“The Giver”, a book review written by Natalie Zhu, is one that I couldn’t agree with even if I tried. The review of The Giver by Lois Lowry was a rather flattering one, when, in fact, it is a book that does not deserve all the praise it receives for being such a “suspenseful” novel. For as much hype as the book gets for being “not like stereotypical science fiction”, I was deeply disappointed when I read the book myself.

In The Giver, Jonas’s community is bland, colorless, and dry, which is exactly how I felt about the book itself. Natalie states, “Lowry brings the characters to life by giving them strong personality traits,” however, the lack of personality the characters had was what was such a big turnoff for me in the book. While Lowry creates this emotionless environment in which all of her characters live in, I still felt she could have incorporated at least some personality in them. For example, when Jonas learns about the community’s past and memories, he is still the same boring, dull character he was originally. While some ideas in the book were clever, Lowry didn’t pay enough attention making sure her readers could connect with the characters. A book where you cannot relate to the people you are supposed to care about is a messy book. Personally, I feel The Giver is undeserving of its Newberry Medal, and I aggressively disagree with the review, which, like many reviews, falsely glorifies the novel.