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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Giver in Books

May 28, 2017  
The Giver
The Giver
Lois Lowry | 2012 | Children
9
8.5 (84 Ratings)
Book Rating
An imperfect perfect future
October 2014 Book of the Month

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

It has been over twenty years since Lois Lowry’s controversial children’s story The Giver was published and it certainly deserves its status as an essential modern classic. Jonas has grown up in the perfect world of the Community whose survival relies on strict rules and rituals. Adults are assigned spouses and children (one boy and one girl) as they take up their role within the society. At the beginning of the book Jonas is approaching then end of his eleventh year and feeling apprehensive about the Ceremony of Twelve where he will be assigned a job for him to do for the rest of his adult life. Jonas gets selected as the Receiver of Memory – a very rare position – and begins to experience memories from humans who lived a long time ago. For Jonas this is exciting until he begins to see the flaws in his perfect world.

Dystopian literature has become popular over the past few years and it would not be surprising if it were The Giver that inspired these contemporary works. Lowry claims that she did not intend for The Giver to have a sinister feel about it; she was writing an adventure story and exploring the concept of the importance of memory, but it turned out to be something much more thought provoking. As the children’s novelist Margaret Mahy (The Haunting) pointed out, up until the publication of this novel in 1993 Lowry was best known for her funny stories about Anastasia Krupnik resulting in The Giver being even more shocking and unexpected.

The Giver highlights that attempting to produce perfection can often result in the loss of good things as well as the bad. The notion of the ideal world may seem like a wonderful proposal, but in order to achieve it humans would have to do away with free choice as in ironing out the inequalities and injustices of the present world would result in everything becoming the same for each individual.

This is a difficult concept to grasp, particularly for a child. Although intended as a children’s series, The Giver and its following installments are more suitable for young adults and older. The only issue with this is that the writing style was target at a younger audience meaning that the overall story is short and lacks depth. If it were to have been written for older readers then there would have been the scope for it to become a much lengthier novel.

There are a lot of mixed reviews surrounding this book although they have changed greatly since the original publication. To begin with The Giver was banned in some areas however the dystopian theme has become accepted in today’s society. What many people comment on now is the oversimplification of such strong ideas. Then again, as already mentioned, it needs to be emphasized that this book was aimed at children, thus the language reflects the reading skills of its target audience.

The Giver is a gem of a book that not only is enjoyable but also can educate the reader on the dangers of attempting a utopian society and why it is important to retain human memories – even the bad – in order that wisdom can exist. Those who have become fans of contemporary dystopian novels, for example Divergent by Veronica Roth or Delirium by Lauren Oliver, will be sure to love this series.
  
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) in Movies

Mar 2, 2020  
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
2019 | Classics, Comedy, Drama
3
6.3 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
More classic literature retold for the modern audience, this time with a very distinctive and chaotic style.

Young David Copperfield is sent off into the world by his step-father. Unaware of the real woes of the world he must keep his spirits up as his surroundings changes to a much harsher nature. As he grows he's still a creative and happy-go-lucky young man but has he found himself in the place he truly wants to be?

I had to keep reminding myself that the film we were watching was being told to us by David himself, the chaotic nature throughout would have been, in part, down to his natural chaotic energy. It did become overwhelming at times though and starting the film with so many transitions was quite off putting.

I don't remember the last time I saw a cast this diverse, and that's a great thing but the cynical side of me did briefly wonder if it was diversity for the sake of that bit of recognition. Ugh, I hate thinking that, and it's in no way a reflection on the cast as they're all excellent actors, but I didn't feel like some of the character dynamics worked together. That may also have something to do with the frantic nature of everything else going on though.

There's definite theatre in this, each scene feels like it takes place in a confined space, like that of a stage, until it opens up at the end to its infinite future and possibilities.

Everything in this period drama feels wrong for a traditional period drama. The cities would normally be drab and dank but everything has a surprisingly light and airy nature to it, a quirk of David's optimism maybe? Each location was stunning though and designed perfectly for its needs. The Micawber's home being accessible from almost every angle to allow for the tussles with the creditors, and Mr Dick's room as a reflection of the chaos in his head. There was much to marvel at but so little time to see it as it fought for attention with the constantly moving script.

Dev Patel feels like the perfect choice for the role of Copperfield, the excitement and optimism in it is not that far off his portrayal of Sonny Kapoor in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. He brought the energy needed to keep up with the pace and it made for an entertaining lead.

Was this just too much though? So much story crammed into just 2 hours of screen time. Too many great actors never really getting a chance to make an impact [a very similar feeling to the Knives Out's roster]. A pace that was akin to a 2 hour version of Clue's multiple endings. Too much, I was exhausted after seeing it.

Having only seen Iannucci's directing before in Death Of Stalin I'm unsure as to whether this pacing issue is something common to him, I genuinely don't remember that being quite this chaotic, but that alone was enough to put me off. The experience felt rushed and that's never how I want to feel when I watch a film.

Originally posted on: http://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-personal-history-of-david.html