One of my all time favorites. Yes, certain elements and characters could have been developed a bit more. But I love that it’s a quick read and am deeply intrigued with the concept of the book, the societal structure, „sameness“ and how Jonas comes to a deeper understanding and grasp of the world.

Great concept and so much potential but the storyline could have been better / less rushed

I read this after seeing the movie, but it had been on my TBR way before then. I love how Lowry writes and the story she is able to weave. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

read it for school. didn't suck. wasn't great tho.

Imagine a world, where everybody is content, happy, satisfied, no hunger, no war, no violence. Ok?! But to get there, you have to go without colors, choice and sex. Well and deep feeling. And there you have it: the utopia for some, the dystopia for others. Actually I am rather furious with this book, because it is for children and young adults and the messages in it are simplified and black-and-white. Let’s start with the concept of the memory keeper: this believes that people learn from and listen to historians! But they don’t. And even if they would: they would only get the interpretation of a persons view of history. This concept was meh at best. A thing which I liked and hated at the same point was the discourse around deep feeling. The protagonist feels because he experiences (at least in the magic memories). But: the other people in the novel feel as well. Every evening a family gathers around the table and talks about their feelings of the day, which sounds (a) valid and (b) like a lovely family dinner concept. But the novel just claims that these are all shallow feelings, because the people believe their government and don’t see colors.