A reporter from Variety magazine talked with Lois Lowry about the influence of “The Giver” (in a brief interview last year):
I could be wrong, but it seems like this genre of dystopian young adult fiction didn’t really exist 20 years ago.
LOWRY: No. People in the know say “The Giver” was the first young adult dystopian novel. I majored in English in college so I read the classic dystopian novels like “1984” and “Brave New World.” But apparently it hadn’t been done for kids before “The Giver.” So I’m not sure what happened between “The Giver” and maybe 15 years later when these others suddenly burst forth. Nobody copied “The Giver.” Those ideas are out there and emerge. But I’m glad it happened. Although there’s too many of them now. But I think that trend is ending. We’ll go on to the next trend and we all wish we knew what that was so we could go out and write it. Dystopian fiction is passé now.
For your commentary: Alas. . .trends eventually fade, but classics remain— The Giver has proven to be a classic. What are some of your favorite Distopian novels for YA and/or adult readers?
“The Last Dragon” by Silvana de Mari is one of my favorites. I’m not sure if “The City of Ember” is actually a dystopia, but it’s very close; same goes for the world of the graphic novel “Rapunzel’s Revenge.” Some of the magical countries bordering Oz are certainly dystopias–at least temporarily. The world of “Uglies” is probably my favorite of the YA-but-definitely-not-Children’s set.
It’s not high art or anything but I actually quite enjoyed reading The Hunger Games… I do have a soft spot, a weakness really, for good page-turner plots. I mean, Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors and he was a TERRIBLE writer. The Hunger Games won’t be regarded as a classic like The Giver, though, I’m sure of that.
I’ve only read a few dystopian books but my favorite out of the bunch would be Koushun Takami’s “Battle Royale”. I read it after being impressed by the movie and though the book is a little too long for my taste (over 600 pages), it’s just as fun and crazy as the movie so I would still recommended it. “Matched” by Allyson Braithwaite Condie is a recent dystopian YA that I read and enjoyed. I’ve been meaning to finish the trilogy so I can’t say if the rest of the series is just as strong but it’s off to a good start at least. “For the Win” by Cory Doctorow is another one of the better dystopian books I’ve liked too.
I would have to go with The Hunger Games…Most readers do not typically go with dystopian themed books because they often times look for happy endings. War will always give incentive for authors to express their own opinion through writing. Many issues in society can relate to The Hunger Games and with the dystopian theme. The book kept me engaged throughout, and I could not help but to spend my money on the other books that followed. I too agree that The Hunger Games will not be much of a classic like The Giver.