THE GIVER (Graphic Novel)
by Lois Lowry & P. Craig Russell
HMH Books for Young Readers
February 5, 2019
From Goodreads:
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community. Accompanied by renowned artist P.Craig Russell’s beautifully haunting illustrations.
HMH Books and Raincoast Books provided me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I have never read The Giver as a novel, but I wish I had before taking on the graphic novel. It’s a story of revelations, and now that I know them, I’m not sure I could ever get the same impact out of the novel. However, that being said, I still enjoyed this story as a graphic novel.
In fact, now that I think of it, a few of the scenes might have had MORE impact due to an accompanying illustration. Those who’ve read the story, novel or otherwise, probably know the main scene I’m talking about. *shudder*
The illustrations are beautiful. I’m not familiar with P. Craig Russell’s work before this graphic novel, but I hope to see some more somewhere down the line. It’s evocative. There’s a real strong sense of time and place. You don’t just feel like you’re seeing a story that’s taking place in your own world. It’s familiar to your own world, but somehow still someplace else completely. Which, truly, is what it needs to be.
I don’t want to say much about the story, because of those revelations I mentioned earlier. I will say it is a series of twists, one after the other. Some of them are very obvious, some of them are complete mysteries. And still there are a few that you suspect, yet you hope your wrong and then you’re not and it’s awful.
The Giver is full of moments. Awkward, unsure, sometimes awful, moments. But the important thing to note is that they’re all important. No matter how I feel about the ‘negative’ moments, they’re all needed and they all brought about a strong reaction from me. Which, as readers, isn’t that really what we’re after when we read a book?
Read this in grade 6. It would be cool to read it in a graphic novel format.
I have always liked the novel, and even reread it somewhat recently. I am SUPER glad to see it in graphic format because I think it will aid the story, especially specific parts. I have to get my hands on this asap!
P. Craig Russell’s art, as usual – is just incredible.
Agreed!