As most people know, the movie “The Giver” just came out in theaters on Aug. 15. However many people would be surprised to find out that the book was actually published in 1993. The book is an all-time classic and it is well known for its futuristic, utopian setting. The book is about a boy named Jonas who lives in a society call a “Community” where everything is decided for you and everyone lives plain, dull lives.

Every single person in the “Community” go their whole lives knowing of nothing outside of their little bubble, except for one special person called “The Receiver”.

As Jonas trains to become the next “Receiver”, he starts to learn about both wonderful and painful experiences that no one in the “Community” will ever experience since everything is the same and no one gets choices.

Our lives are so different than the lives led by the people in the novel, which makes it hard to understand the concepts in the novel. However, that is the appeal of the story as well. It does a good job of getting you worked up and passionate about how ignorant all of the people are, so you can relate to how Jonas is feeling.

Unfortunately, although it is quite an interesting novel, “The Giver” is also somewhat peculiar and confusing. It can be hard to understand at times and the plot is somewhat unusual. Ultimately, the novel was pretty good, but weird. I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.