The Giver/YMMV


 * Alternate Character Interpretation: The book Deconstructing Penguins applies some Fridge Logic and points out that people don't lie unless they know what they are doing is wrong. The argument escalates until "Jonas is no longer running away from a place where everyone believes the same things and he's different. He's running away from a place of terrible corruption that desperately needs him as the one person who might be able to make things better." In-story, this is explained as the reason The Giver stays, and Jonas does not. One must leave for the memories to return, and the Giver is not as hale and is more experienced with comforting people.
 * Anvilicious: In the last novel, Messenger, the protagonist blatantly states that is really just a metaphor for the human condition.
 * First Installment Wins: A lot of people read this book at some point, usually for Middle School. However, almost nobody knows there were two sequels.
 * Moral Event Horizon: The reveal of the true nature of the "Release" is this for the entire society. For Jonas,
 * Nightmare Fuel:
 * Some of the memories Jonas receives qualify as this. Remember the first "bad" one?. "Oh look, it's the sled again! This can't go wrong-..oh...OH....aaaagh..." And remember, that was somebody's memory, meaning that horrible crash and mangling happened to someone.
 * Oh, and let's not forget the memory of dying soldiers. From Jonas's point of view, it lasted for hours.
 * Tear Jerker: What happened to is bad enough, but when you find out that  it takes on a whole new level of depressing.
 * This Is Your Premise On Drugs: "Scopolamine of the soul," to quote the author. The drug has multiple uses, but what she meant is that the society depicted has numbed itself to feeling.
 * Uncanny Valley
 * Unfortunate Implications: The idea of an eye color being "superior", especially light eyes, may be shady if you're thinking that way, but the even more unfortunate implication is that Jonas's first "encounter" with people of a different race is them brutally killing a defenseless elephant.
 * Wham Line: At some point The Giver mentions that
 * Wham Line: At some point The Giver mentions that