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Loading... Gathering Blue (original 2000; edition 2006)by Lois Lowry
Work InformationGathering Blue by Lois Lowry (2000)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. 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.
''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. Belongs to SeriesThe Giver (2) Is contained inHas as a student's study guideAwardsNotable Lists
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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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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. ( )