Book · 1993
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
A twelve-year-old is handed every memory his community erased to stay peaceful, color, pain, and war included, and has to decide what to do with them.
What does Reddit think of The Giver?
The Giver shows up on two different kinds of lists here, and that's most of the story. One is the assigned-reading list: sixth grade in the US, Canadian high school alongside Shakespeare, a full syllabus that also includes Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Siddhartha. The other is the genre list, filed next to Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and The Handmaid's Tale as dystopian company one commenter calls 'more recent' relative to those classics. What separates it from being just required reading is how people describe going back to it. One commenter read it ahead of the class assignment in sixth grade and says they'd reread it today in their mid-thirties. Another credits it as 'the first book that really made me think about government and manipulation.' A third names the structural trick directly: it seems Utopian, and 'you really don't start to see the cracks until much later.'
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · A near-universal school assignment, from US sixth-grade classrooms to Canadian high schools
- · Filed as the modern entry alongside Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451
- · The utopia-to-dystopia reveal structure named directly
- · Cited as a formative first exposure to political ideas
Common praise
- + One reader read it ahead of the class assignment in sixth grade and says they'd reread it in their mid-thirties (↑278).
- + Another credits it as 'the first book that really made me think about government and manipulation' (↑241).
- + A third calls out the reveal specifically: it looks Utopian and 'you really don't start to see the cracks until much later' (↑225).
Common criticism
- − It mostly shows up as required reading rather than something anyone picked up on their own, which flattens how much genuine enthusiasm surfaces in the sample.
- − Nothing in the displayed excerpts addresses the sequels, so the read here really only covers book one.
Who it's for
Assigned it in school and never went back? One reader who first read it in sixth grade says they'd pick it up again in their mid-thirties (↑278), so the reread case has at least one data point behind it. Building a dystopian syllabus for someone new to the genre? It gets filed as the modern entry next to Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 (↑409). Want a gentler on-ramp to political fiction for a younger reader? One commenter credits it as the first book to actually raise questions about government and manipulation for them (↑241). Go in expecting the twist to be slow, one reviewer is explicit that the cracks in the utopia don't show until well into it (↑225).
Mentions over time
Which Reddit comments matter for The Giver?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“If you enjoyed that one, you might like “Brave new world” (Huxley), and “Fahrenheit 451” (Bradbury), if you haven’t already read them. They are classics in the dystopian genre. Furthermore, you have “Animal farm” (also from Orwell), and more recent novels like “The Giver” (Lowry), “The handmaid’s t…
“Hands down: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (NOT the show) More are popping up in my head… The Giver by Lois Lowry Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler The Road by Cormac McCarthy (post apocalyptic)
“The Giver. We read it in 6th grade and it was the only book that I ever read ahead of what we were assigned. I would reread it today in my mid-thirties!
“*The Giver* by Lois Lowry is great.
“Here's the full list of what I read in my high school classes: Animal Farm The Giver To Kill a Mockingbird Things Fall Apart Siddhartha The Life of Pi Brave New World Lord of the Flies Frankenstein All Quiet on the Western Front Catch-22 The Color of Water Catcher in the Rye Black Boy …
“The giver. It’s the first book that really made me think about government and manipulation etc
“The Giver by Lois Lowry comes to mind. It seems like a Utopian story and you really don't start to see the cracks until much later.
“I have 3, and they should each be reread at least once a decade, as the reader's change in point of view will give them something new every time. *Ender's Game* by Orson Scott Card *The Giver* by Lois Lowry *Anne of Green Gables* by LM Montgomery
“The Giver by Lois Lowry is a classic for a reason, and is exactly what she's asking for. A young man finds his whole understanding of his culture reshaped by a series of memories, sights, and experiences.
“Definitely also read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Also The Giver by Lois Lowry. Both have an eerie dystopian feel like Animal Farm and incredible social commentary.
“The Giver would be a great book. Even though it’s marketed towards kids, it has adult themes and symbolism that they would pick up on.
“The Giver. I was only in middle school but it was the first book that really opened my eyes to how one person could impact humanity.
“The Giver might not make it past parental controls but it’s a great book, potentially worth a shot I suppose
“A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin The Giver by Lois Lowry I read both when I was quite young, and I... badly needed some of what they had to teach.
“When I was a kid, it was The Giver it blew my mind as an 8yr old. Fell in love again when I was about 16 and read The Shining.
Convinced? Pick up The Giver
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Guides featuring The Giver
Ranked best-of lists and editorial guides where this book's tracked mentions place it.
The Giver — frequently asked
Is The Giver worth rereading as an adult?+
At least one reader thinks so directly: they read it ahead of their sixth-grade class assignment and say they'd 'reread it today' in their mid-thirties (↑278). That's a single data point, but it's an unprompted one, not solicited praise.
What genre does Reddit put The Giver in?+
Dystopian fiction, filed alongside Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and Animal Farm in one list, with a commenter noting it's the 'more recent' entry relative to those classics (↑409). A separate list groups it with The Handmaid's Tale and Parable of the Sower instead (↑408).
Is The Giver a utopia or a dystopia?+
It starts as the former before revealing itself as the latter, per one reader's framing: it 'seems like a Utopian story and you really don't start to see the cracks until much later' (↑225). That delayed reveal is treated as the book's core structural move.
Why do so many schools assign The Giver?+
The displayed data doesn't explain the curriculum decision, but it does show the pattern: sixth grade in the US (↑278), Canadian high school alongside Shakespeare (↑245), and a full syllabus list that also includes Animal Farm and To Kill a Mockingbird (↑250).