The Giver (The Giver, #1)

by Lois Lowry

For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.

There were only two occasions of release which were not punishment. Release of the elderly, which was a time of celebration for a life well and fully lived; and release of a newchild, which always brought a sense of what-could-we-have-done.

Most of the people on the night crew had not even been given spouses because they lacked, somehow, the essential capacity to connect to others, which was required for the creation of a family unit.

Two children—one male, one female—to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules.

The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past.