Monday Book Madness: THE GIVER by Lois Lowry

Folks, I am on a serious dystopian binge. Just ask my to-read pile. Equal opportunity reading is not in my game plan these days. *ducks from knives thrown by other books*

As part of my binge, I finally bought The Book.

What is The Book, you ask? The Book I've been dying to read for a whole year. Yes, that doesn't sound like a long time, but I am a very impatient person. One year = lifetime. So yeah, as soon as I bought The Book, I actually squeed. In front of the cashier. Who retreated four steps back.

Anyway, this is The Book:

THE GIVER by Lois Lowry

Le blurb:

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

As you can see, this is one heck of a deep, moving story. And thought-provoking. And awesome.

Jonas is officially the Best Person Ever. He's so eager to learn, but he's afraid of knowing too much. He's always worried about a particular rule the Community enforces: the precision of language. You must say exactly what you mean to say at all times. No hyperboles or similes or metaphors. Exactly. What. You mean. 

Can you imagine writers living in the Community? The suicide rate would go up for sure...

Anyway! I'm officially recommending this one to all of you fine people. I wish I could talk about it more, but I don't want to ruin the experience. Trust me when I say it's a lovely story with excellent writing and killer tension. And I almost cried three times!

So. There you have it. How I spent my weekend (aside from slaving over two stupid research papers). 

Fess up: what did you read this weekend?