The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Alt text: "Cover of 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry featuring an elderly man with a long beard looking pensive. A gold medal is embossed, and a sunset-lit forest is seen in a torn section on the lower left."

Archiving the memories of a society that has decided real human experience is too dangerous is an interesting concept. I understand this is a book for younger folks but I would have liked to see the premise unpacked a bit more.

The idea that it's possible to ramp down or suppress human nature and still maintain the sophisticated interactions necessary for a society to survive is not a given. It's unlikely that depth of experience can be managed on a simple linear scale.

However our continuing singular reliance on rule of law does suggest that we haven't stopped trying.