Avery Reads: The Giver by Lois Lowry

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 32 Comments

Welcome to Avery Reads! My 13 year old daughter is sharing her thoughts on The Giver here today. We thought this would be the perfect book to review during Banned Book Week!

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: First published in 1993
Categories: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Social Issues
Source: Our own copy
Description:
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.

Avery’s Thoughts:

I hardly know where to start with this book. First of all, it was amazing. It was well written and the overall plot and concept of the book were incredible and intense. There were parts that were very unnerving to read in the most entertaining of ways. It’s one of those books where you want someonearound you to have read it just so you can talk about it.
While reading The Giver I was constantly thinking and working my brain. It’s definitely one of those books where you’re probably going to say “What!?” out loud a few times because it’s just so crazy. But at the same time it’s not unrealistic.
It’s extremely believable and it really seems like this is something that could have happened. You can compare certain aspects of the book to the real world we live in. I can absolutely say that The Giver is one of my favorite books. The characters are ones that I’m going to want to hold on.

I could write paragraph upon paragraph for every chapter of this book. Instead I’ll just say that The Giver is a book that I would highly recommend to just about anybody.

~Avery

Thanks to my kiddo for hanging out on my blog today. I appreciate it! 

The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 33 Comments

The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Categories: Historical, Slavery
Source: Wunderkind PR
Description:

When prestigious plantation owner Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa’s hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah—her slave and her half-sister.  Raised by an educated mother, Clarissa is not a proper southern belle she appears to be with ambitions of loving who she chooses and Sarah equally hides behind the façade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape. Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible and it will leave you enraptured until the very end.

Told through alternating viewpoints of Sarah and Theodora Allen, Cornelius’ wife, Marlen Suyapa Bodden’s The Wedding Gift is an intimate portrait that will leave readers breathless.

My Thoughts:

The Wedding Gift is a lovely story with an important message. The historical details were authentic and interesting. I also enjoyed most of the characters. I’m always happy to run into strong women in literature.

The story kept me engaged and turning the pages. Unfortunately the writing felt rushed at times and some of the dialogue came off as awkward. I’m sure that one more spin through an editor’s hands could have fixed those issues. I do recommend the The Wedding Gift as the story itself overcomes those issues.

I have high hopes for this author. She obviously has something to say and the desire to say it. For a first effort The Wedding Gift hit most of the right notes. I’ll be watching out for what she comes up with next.

Dr. Marlen Suyapa Bodden is a lawyer at The Legal Aid Society in New York City, the nation’s oldest and largest legal services organization. She has more than two decades’ experience representing poor people and low-wage and immigrant workers, many of whom are severely underpaid, if paid at all.

She drew on her knowledge of modern and historical slavery, human trafficking, and human rights abuses to write The Wedding Gift, her first novel.

On May 20, 2012, the University of Rhode Island conferred on Marlen an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Marlen is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Tufts University.