Syin Lim Lim itibaren Agarpura, Rajasthan 311011, Indien
I love the perspective of this novel and how Nahid is honest in her telling of a painful and joyful part of her life.
I read this childrens/young adult science fiction book for the first time as an adult, and I think it can be enjoyed by everyone 9 and up. It’s a very thought provoking, character driven science fiction book. I think it’s a perfect book for discussion because it touches on so many deep issues. It reminds me a little of Madeleine L’Engle’s masterpiece A Wrinkle in Time in its exploration of the worth of depth of feelings vs. numbness, individuality vs. sameness, community vs. isolation, control vs. freedom. I cared about the Jonas and his life, and was emotionally invested in some of the other characters too . The alternate future society shown is fascinating and disturbing, and a little too believable for comfort. Some readers complain about the open ended ending in this book but I like how the author leaves some things up to the readers’ imaginations. I have an ending in my mind and other readers will have different interpretations. On a reread a decade and a half after my first reading, I found I wanted more detail in the middle, not the end, of the book. However, I think perhaps it’s written just right for the middle school audience; it doesn’t go into as much depth as some adult novels but it’s not inferior in the slightest in my opinion. It’s a wonderful introductory dystopian fiction novel. On my reread I did notice one thing that I’d love to ask Lois Lowry about: Jonas seems to know one word that perhaps he would not know and I’m curious about that.
This book was rather complicated. I did enjoy it. It made you think aboout things. Margaret Atwood really poses the question "What if...?" in this book. She takes it pretty darn far too. However, as she argues in An Interview with Margaret Atwood on her Novel The Handmaid's Tale : "...there isn't anything in the book not based on something that has already happened in history or in another country..." The key phrase in that statement, I would venture to say, is "based on." Even so it is a scary thought that somewhere in history or in this world, fragments of the society in the book exist or existed in some form. It reminded me very much of 1984 which I read in high school Advanced English (or possibly it was actually AP English at the time...I think so.) I believe it might have been junior year, but it actually might have been sophomore year. Either way, I came away from reading that book, thinking - the future is a scary place. I feel much the same after reading this book. Obviously 1984 was the past when I read the book, even so it represented a future world. This book in a similar way, although not stating exactly a year or time, felt like it could have been set in a year in the recent past...so it felt more like a near future society. Not that I actually believe something like this could happen...who would ever want to think that?! The story is told through a first person point of view. It skips around in time. The main character reveals limited information to the audience. "The curtain is drawn back slowly" says the interviewer at the end of this version of the novel. It is not an "easy" read. If you chose to read it it. Beware - it will confuse you, and make you think. Little explaination about my rating: 3/5 stars I didn't love it. It was ok. I guess I liked it. It was very well written and I have the utmost respect for anyone who can write such a complex story.