Born in 1937, Lois Lowry has found great success writing in the Young Adult category, which covers children from twelve to 18. According to Wiki, 55% of such books are purchased by people older than that. I just finished The Giver, first published in 1993. It is the story of a country practicing a sort of benign totalitarianism infinitely removed from that depicted in George Orwell’s 1984. It is described late in the narrative: “The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color.” How this society came about is never revealed. Citizens have sacrificed all that makes life fascinating for comfort. It works -- without the brute force, the oppression one would expect would be needed. Suspension of belief is required. I had a hard to time accepting that love could be quashed on such a grand scale. There are elements of sci-fi that seem more impossible than usual, such as there being no colors whatsoever. Only one person retains the memory of the previous life, now centuries removed. His counsel is sought when problems arise. Aging, he now trains his successor, a twelve-year old to whom he imparts memories, as they were to him and others before him. The youth rebels. The prose and dialogue are unpretentious and clear. The 180 pages read more like 125. I liked the characters, particularly the little sister and school mates. I just couldn’t buy that such a society would ever evolve without the tactics the Soviets, Chinese and now the North Koreans have made infamous. On a scale of five, I rate The Giver 2.5. This is in stark contrast to the 3729 reviewers at Amazon, who forge to a consensus of 4.3. This is a wildly popular novel. 20 years after it first appeared it’s ranking this morning at Amazon was #71 -- remarkable. And Lowry has been bestowed many awards, so take my word with a grain of salt. Kudos, madam.
In an op-ed piece in today’s NY Post, George Will waxed about the traits of his ideal candidate. One had me chuckling: “Don’t speak unless you can improve the silence.” Slight variations on it have been around for a long time. Apparently, it is filed under Anonymous. It applies to almost every modern politician.
My thanks to the kind folks who bought items today, especially the gentleman who purchased the nine books of adventure translated into Russian, despite the fact that 4, 5 and six of the original twelve were missing. Thanks also to Marie, who donated eight CDs, including one by the Irish band The Chieftains, which Kofi bought. What are the odds of a black man making such a purchase? It's not unprecedented. Last year he bought Jethro Tull's Benefit. I suspect he does it more to contribute to the cause than because of keen interest. It is appreciated, sir.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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