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Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
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Gathering Blue (original 2000; edition 2006)

by Lois Lowry

Series: The Giver (2)

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9,549293800 (3.75)265
Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.
Member:bookwoman137
Title:Gathering Blue
Authors:Lois Lowry
Info:Delacorte Books for Young Readers (2006), Paperback, 240 pages
Collections:Your library
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Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (2000)

  1. 00
    The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem (fyrefly98)
    fyrefly98: Another young adult dystopian society with primarily historical levels of technology.
  2. 00
    Long Night Dance by Betsy James (FutureMrsJoshGroban)
    FutureMrsJoshGroban: Another fantastic story with a somewhat dystopian society and a strong young heroine.
  3. 00
    Crewel by Gennifer Albin (Jthierer)
    Jthierer: Similar theme of a girl's talent for weaving singling her out in a dystopian society.
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» See also 265 mentions

English (287)  Spanish (2)  Italian (1)  French (1)  All languages (291)
Showing 1-5 of 287 (next | show all)
After the death of her mother, Kira's own life is in balance when greedy neighbors want to leave her for dead in the wild so they can take over her home space. However, Kira is taken under the protection of the local council because of her ability to sew -- an almost magical talent that she is now given leave to explore and learn more -- particularly about how to dye threads, even if blue dye remains elusive to their community. But as Kira meets under artists under the local council's protection, she realizes protection might come with a price.

This was an interesting book. It is definitely very well written with evocative language to create this world and people it with compelling characters. Somehow it feels like not a lot happens and also a ton happens in this book, which is a rare talent. It is never dull, as the reader spends the whole time trying to figure out the ins and outs of this world through Kira's eyes as she reminiscences on the past and makes new discoveries of her own.

I haven't the foggiest how this book actually connects to its successor novel, The Giver, unless I somehow missed something obvious. I kept waiting for a tie-in to come up but found none. However, I am interested enough to keep up with this quartet to see if/how it all comes together and also simply because I like Lowry's writing style and intriguing dystopian worlds.

The audiobook narrator did a good job voicing all the different characters. ( )
  sweetiegherkin | Mar 9, 2024 |
Representation: Character with a physical disability
Trigger warnings: Ableism, bullying, physical assault, murder, implied death or disappearance of parents, suicidal thoughts
Score: Six points out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

One year ago, I read the first instalment of The Giver Quartet, The Giver--an outstanding read. I hoped the fictional composition after The Giver, Gathering Blue, would be at the same standard as the former. When I glanced at the blurb, it looked intriguing, but the low ratings warned me not to read it. When I read and finished Gathering Blue, I was underwhelmed and felt that it wasn't as good as The Giver.

It starts with the first person I see, Kira, whose last name remains undisclosed, arriving on an unknown location. Surprisingly, there are people living there, but they forced Kira to battle and fight to the death, much to her detriment as she has a disability. The plot twists as Kira does not battle and instead she integrates into the community. After the opening pages, nothing much happens, as all I see is Kira living her new life in a place I don't know the location of. The worldbuilding is worse in Gathering Blue than The Giver as there is no explanation for why everything is the way it is. What is blue? How does the society function? Those are questions the author did not answer. The conclusion petered out Gathering Blue. I'm so dissatisfied. ( )
  Law_Books600 | Mar 2, 2024 |
Adversity
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
While interesting to see how an earlier manifestation of the isolated communities looked like, this book was more of a tease than a meal. ( )
  mslibrarynerd | Jan 13, 2024 |
Really good - immediately heading to the next one as these are quick reads. ( )
  decaturmamaof2 | Nov 22, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 287 (next | show all)
''The Giver'' was an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind book that spoke as much to adults, myself included, as to children. The future world it depicted was rich and seductive and -- frightening thought -- completely plausible. The brute, survivalist world of ''Gathering Blue'' is much less convincing, with neither the dimension nor the subtlety of ''The Giver.'' Many of the characters in ''Gathering Blue'' are presented as either good or bad, and lack the complexity of real people.
 

» Add other authors (2 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Lois Lowryprimary authorall editionscalculated
Balbusso, AnnaCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Balbusso, ElenaCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Borowitz, KatherineNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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"Mother?" There was no reply. She hadn't expected one. Her mother had been dead now for four days, and Kira could tell that the last of her spirit was drifting away.
Quotations
She knew something else as well, and with the realization, she rose from the damp grass to go indoors, to find her father and tell him that she could not be his eyes. That she must stay.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

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Book description
AR Book Level 5.0, 7 pts.

grade levels 6-8
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