Utopia?

In the book "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, it begins by letting us know the time the story takes place, "Late December." What does this portray? Dark days. In the first few pages of this short book, the story captivates you and drags you right into the "utopia." Thru out the reading you start questioning your self if the setting is really a "utopia" the more the story expands it begins to feel more like a dystopia. People isolated from the outside world, having to express the emotions of their whole day and denial of stuff they haven't had the opportunity to try.