** spoiler alert ** 
 In comparison to the other dystopian books I've read so far this summer, The Giver is quite tame, really. If it had been written in 2011, Jonas would have had a lot more to deal with when he fled the community. However, the whole "no feelings, entire community planned out so that nobody ever fights" thing is similar to Ally Condie's Matched and Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. 
 A good read, but maybe a bit too short. Now, onto the sequel!