I can not believe I never read this book before now. It is now and forever on my list of favorite books of all time. I love fantasy and I love books that have deep meaning and messages for humanity. There have been many, many utopia books, movies and shows. All of them stress the fact that you should be careful what you wish for and even perfection has a price. But, this is the first one that I have ever encountered from a child's perspective.
The author leads us carefully into the world where Jonas and his family live. In the beginning of the book it seems as though it would be a nice place to live. Maybe, strange compared to our world but not bad. There are family routines that seem rather sweet. Everyone shares their feelings at dinner and their dreams at breakfast. When someone in the community does something wrong they apologize and everyone accepts the apology. What could be wrong with that.
Early on however, we start to get glimpses that something is not quite right. The term "release" comes up more and more frequently as we move through the story. It seems to be a positive thing, a system that helps keep their community thriving. Although as a reader there is a growing suspicion that "release" is a euphemism for death, the characters in the story believe it to be such a positive thing that you can almost let yourself get sucked in to their mind set.
The deeper in we go the more we begin to realize how horrible this place actually is. When Jonas begins his training things begin to unravel. The knowledge he gains makes it impossible for him to ever belong to the community again. The worst part for Jonas is that because of who he is he can not just exist. He feels the strong need to change things. This is the most dangerous thing anyone can do.
The language used by Lois Lowry creates such an amazing mood and atmosphere that you feel as if you are experiencing each event with Jonas. It is the kind of book I most love. The kind of book that makes me dream about it at night and think about it all day. It is the kind of story that made me sad when it was over.
I could go on and on about this book but, I don't want to give everything away to those who haven't yet read it. I read it early because of the conversations we had in class about it. It sounded like my kind of book and I was right. I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.
There is one caution I would make however. As you are all too aware I like making connections to my own children and students in regards to the books we are reading. When I began this book I started to read it with my daughter (10). My husband stopped me and asked if I had read the book before. When I said no he said you need to read it yourself first. Now, my husband and I are pretty liberal minded and have never had any trouble letting our children read or reading them books like the Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter or numerous other books with "bad" guys and "scary" parts so when he said this it stopped me in my tracks. I am so glad I listened to him (no it isn't the first time). I do not feel that this is an appropriate book for elementary aged children. There are many events and themes within the book that are more appropriate at the middle school level. Of course this is just my opinion.
2 comments:
I'm glad you enjoyed this book! I did too!
It's interesting that your husband stopped you before reading this book with your daughter, because I read this book as a school assignment in the 4th or 5th grade. I remember being totally confused and not understanding what was going on. I had a conversation with one of my housemates and she said that she read it in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, all part of school asssignments. She remembers hating it and not finishing it in the 4th and 5th grades, and then finally understanding it in the 6th grade. I definately don't think this is an appropriate book for younger readers.
I completely agree that I would not read this book with a younger student! The concepts that Lowry embeds are very abstract and I think would do more damage than good at a younger age.
I loved how she brought you in, little by little, so that you saw the community in the same way that Jonas was seeing his community.
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