记忆传授人

English Name: The Giver

记忆传授人

Reading level: Young Adult

Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (September 10, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440237688
ISBN-13: 978-0440237686
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds

　《The Giver》描述了一個作者Lois Lowry自己想像出來的理想烏托邦世界。在這個community裡，人們的生活都被安排得好好的，人們不用決定工作，不用決定配偶，這些community都幫你做好了決定。而這個世界也沒有記憶、感情，顏色，及音樂，他們只擁有最基本的生活需求。但是這個community裡面，卻有一個人例外，他一個人承擔了整個community該有的記憶，他必須獨自承受痛苦、恐懼、和孤單，而他也同時知道什麼是溫暖、幸福和愛。他被稱為the receiver of memory(也就是The Giver)。當12歲的男主角Jonas成為這個the receiver of memory的接班人後，他得到了他以前所不曾有過的經驗，而當他知道愈多時，他愈發現這個世界的不合理，於是最後他選擇逃離……
　　
　　整本小說有個讓我最被震撼甚至於全身起雞皮疙瘩的佈局，而作者安排的極為巧妙。書中Jonas擁有一個能力，他可以sees beyond，一開始我們完全不了解sees beyond是什麼，包括Jonas。這能力的第一次出現在蘋果身上，Jonas和他朋友Asher玩丟蘋果時，Jonas隱約發現蘋果出現了變化，而我們不知道那變化是什麼，也無法想像；再來這變化當Jonas站在台上望著底下一大群人時又出現了，但我們仍不知道這變化是什麼，直到Jonas去找The Giver。當The Giver讓Jonas進入了回憶的世界中，Jonas發現他在雪地上踩的雪橇也發生了變化，但這變化卻不是一閃而逝，而是持續存在時，The Giver知道這變化是什麼了。
　　
　　原來Jonas看到的東西，這一開始總是一閃而逝的變化是「紅色」，原來Jonas生活的世界沒有顏色。我想光是這個安排，就值得看這本小說，也讓我深感佩服Lois Lowry的創意。而另一個更神奇的地方則是，The Giver當年的能力不是sees beyond，而是hears beyond，他可以聽得到「音樂」。一個沒有愛沒有恨沒有痛苦沒有快樂沒有顏色沒有音樂的世界，而這全部都要由The Giver承擔時，難怪Jonas會想要逃離了，雖然逃亡的地點未知，是生是死也無法掌握……　　

Amazon.com Review
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14.

英文版下载：http://d.namipan.com/sd/659855