Things the movie had right in comparison to the book.

The main character’s name is Jonas.

And that’s about it.

I am not saying that by itself the movie sucked, but the lack of overall similarity to the book made it one of my least favorite cinematic experiences.

The Giver is a 1993 science fiction novel written by Lois Lowry and in 1994 it won the Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children.

On Aug. 15, a cinematic rendition of the book was released to the public.

The book is relatively short, based many centuries in the future, during an age of sameness. Sameness meaning there is no color, religion, music, different languages, etc. At the age of 12, children receive their job assignment which signifies their transition into adulthood.

The main character Jonas, is selected for the honorary title of the Receiver of Memory and the book follows him through his discovery of the past and his realization of the world around him.

After reading the book, I went and saw the movie so I could write this review without being uninformed about how things were supposed to be.

If you know me, you know how detail oriented I am when it comes to books and their movies. Here are a few things off the bat that the movie screwed up in reference to the book.

At the beginning of the book Jonas is an Eleven about to be a Twelve. The significance of this is that becoming a Twelve means that the child receives their job assignment. (Also his number is 19.)

In the movie Jonas is roughly seventeen years old about to graduate high school and get his job assignment, and his number is 52.

Secondly, Jonas has light colored eyes in the book. Light colored eyes are very uncommon and are the calling card of being the Receiver of Memory which is Jonas’s job title.

In the movie, Jonas has dark brown eyes, and the calling card is no longer light eyes, but is in fact a small mark on the forearm.

Thirdly, in the book Jonas has no romantic relationship with his female friend Fiona.

In the movie, well you can infer from above how it is.

The movie The Giver is absolutely one of my least favorite renditions of a book I have ever had the misfortune of watching. One thing I can assure you is that most of the characters have the same names.

if you read the book and saw the movie, hopefully you will agree with me that the movie was hardly similar to the book.

I am not saying that by itself the movie sucked, in fact the filmography was done relatively well and the score was decent too.

If you read this book and want to see the movie because you want to see a visual representation, I do not recommend you see this movie.

If your opinion of this movie and how it compared to the book differs from mine, I would love to hear your opinion, so feel free to leave a comment.