Lois Lowry's The Giver centers around Jonas, a young boy in a dystopian world of the future. The Ceremony of Twelve introduces him to a whole new existence, as the Receiver of Memory. He's blessed (or cursed). Separation from family and friends is a traumatic event for most 12-year-old, but Jonah is introduced to a whole new world of secrets and lies. The Committee of Elders seeks the advice of The Giver to remember what came before (a past long forgotten), but the responsibility is also fraught with unimaginable terrors.
Jonah experiences the history of hatred, pain and war--which leaves him "desperately alone." Nobody else knows (or could know). And, the reality of what he has always believed to be harmless practices causes him to make the decision to leave the community. He's already been estranged/alienated from all that he'd previously held dear. His new understanding of himself and his society makes it impossible for him to stay. He decides he must leave... In his his horrendous flight/journey, he rescues Gabriel from euthanasia--experiencing hunger and pain in his trek toward the Nirvana of Elsewhere.
I really like futuristic books like the giver, I find it compelling that human mistakes can conjure up a new authority. Which they seem to be weird and wrong but in a way the leader does not have a different view of their ruling then you do. It just the way they rule that is wrong by using different technique to rule.
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