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Title: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry ISBN: 0-440-22949-9 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 10 September, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.04 (156 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Mixed Opinions
Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed The Giver by Lois Lowry, which is why I continued on to read Gathering Blue, expecting it to be like the original. Wow, did I get a surprise! To summarize--the story revolves around a young orphan girl named Kira, who was born with a twisted leg, leaving her handicapped. She lives in a time and place when people are cruel, greedy, selfish, uneducated and tend to scorn the weak. Like The Giver, the village is ruled by a strong committee of high, authoritative figures who strictly control everyone's lives and actions. In the beginning of the story, Kira's mother dies of illness (supposedly her father was killed before she was born) and the women in the village turn on her. But before long, the Council of Guardians learn of her phenomenal gift of embroidery and threading cloth and take her in to live in the Council Edifice. At first, Kira feels blessed to be living in such high quarters, but soon she finds clues of disturbance in the Council. During the entire story, her journey of finding the lost color of blue is never-ending. Because she has been assigned to thread the Singer's ancient robes, she feels it's her duty to also thread it with blue. But during the ages, the color has diminished into the past ... or has it? I felt that Lois Lowry used good writing skills to create and "thread" this story, but the story itself wasn't constructed well enough for the reader to really understand the world Kira was living in. This novel was very halting, and often times I got confused because there weren't enough in-depth details. But overall I enjoyed this story of courage, curiosity and how humans deal with trying times. I would advise people who like books that leave a lot of imagination to the reader and don't have a lot of construction to consider this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: A pretty good read
Comment: After reading "The Giver" by Lowry I thought I might give this book a try. In Blue we are presented with a society in which there is no technology and the cripples are done away with in many cases. Kira, the main character,is an exception because she shows exceptional apptitude for weaving. After her mother dies she is taken to a palace like area where she is provided with all types of weaving materials. She's also given a task of weaving the singers robe. Through a round about way Kira discovers that there are other societies where cripples are welcomed. There is more to the story than what I've described here, but not much. It seems like some of the substance didn't exist like it did in "The Giver".
A good book, but not quite a good as "The Giver". I'll be curious to see how the 3rd book in this series turns out.
Rating: 5
Summary: I wish it were a longer book!
Comment: This is another excellent book by Lowry. I had first read The Giver, which is also very good. This book gives a different perspective of the far future than The Giver but bears a lot of similarities. Where life in the Giver was all pleasant and happy, in this book, life is rough with everyone fighting each other for what they have. In both books, "undesirables," meaning the old, deformed, or infirm are eliminated from society.
As in The Giver, the main character is one who bears a special talent, which is needed to be able to pass on the long ago history of the society. In Gathering Blue, Kira, though born with a clubbed foot, is needed to because she has a special talent for sewing that is beyond what others have. She is tasked with restoring a coat that is to be worn by the singer at the annual gathering. Different sections of the coat depict different stories of society's history.
Kira encounters Thomas, a wood carver, who is tasked to repair the staff used by the singer and Jo, a young girl, who is being trained to eventually be the next singer when the current one will "disappear."
As in The Giver, the world seems to be devoid of color. Kira spends some of her days visiting with an old woman (Annabella) who has a talent for dying threads. Annabella instructs Kira how to take the dyes from various plants so that Kira can dye the threads to use for the singer's coat. One of the colors that Anabella doesn't teach Kira about is blue. So an important part of the book involves Kira getting the means to make blue and hence the title of the book.
After, Anabelle "talks" too much, Kira learns that she suddenly died and was taken to "the field." where people are brought after they die. Little by little, Kira starts to realize that all that she believed is a lie and she starts to piece together "the truth."
I finished this book in one sitting and my only complaint, as with The Giver, is that the book is too short. Also, it begs for a sequel. The Giver appears that it could take place at the same time as Gathering Blue, but in a different part of the world. Perhaps, Ms. Lowry's intention is to somehow write a sequel book that will bring both books together. I hope that Ms. Lowry continues to write these types of books because I highly enjoy them and see that see has a marvelous talent as a storywriter!
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Title: The Giver by Lois Lowry ISBN: 0440237688 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 10 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry ISBN: 0440227534 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 09 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry ISBN: 0618282319 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 28 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli ISBN: 037582233X Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 14 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Hope Was Here (2001 Newbery Honor Book) by Joan Bauer ISBN: 0698119517 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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