What if we can live in a world with no pain, violence, and injustice? There’s just one catch…we have to give up our freedom in exchange for peace, order, and equality.

I was in high school when I first read The Giver. The moment I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Never mind the sleepless night. I just had to know what happened to Jonas!

The first few chapters give a peek into Jonas’ community. It seemed like a utopia, something you’d hope to have in a chaotic world like ours. In our world, we have divorce, outbreaks of disease, death, crimes, and wars. Have you read news about what is going on in Iraq? It makes me sad that such violence is going on just because of religious differences. And it frustrates me because I feel like I can’t do anything but watch.

Jonas’ community didn’t have any of the problems we are experiencing today. They have rules that everyone obeyed–for the sake of maintaining order in their community. But is everything as it seems?

While Jonas seems to live in a perfect world, this book will actually make you grateful that we live in this world…a world with suffering, but also a world where we know what love and freedom is.

The Giver is the first of four books. Following it are Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. These books are quite hard to find in bookstores. I recommend that you get all four books first before you start reading it because you’d really want to know what will happen to Jonas. 😀 If you’re not like me (I prefer the actual book!), you can always buy the ebook version on iTunes or Amazon.

Anyway.

Two weeks ago, I heard on the radio that The Giver has been turned into a movie with big names starring like Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, and Taylor Swift. Here’s the official trailer:

I’m so thrilled! I can’t wait to watch the movie. According to the official website, the movie will be coming to theaters on August 15, 2014.