Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
I just finished the book Gathering Blue and I have to admit, it was pretty good. Just so you know, it is the sequel to The Giver.
This book takes place in a village, sort of like the one in The Giver, but totally different. In that village, people have no real emotions, and everything is suppressed beyond belief! In Gathering Blue’s village, people have all these things, and the strangeness and evil happens below the covers. At the beginning of the book, Kira loses her mother due to an illness. The local bitch, Vendra tries to send Kira “out to the field”, which is basically like killing them, because the “beasts” will get them. Vendra wants her out because first of all, she has a gimp leg, and second of all, is an orphan now. Luckily Kira gets saved by the council of the village. She gets saved for a specific, and pretty greedy reason though, which is to use her for her gift with weaving.
You can see where this is going I hope, the council just wants to keep Kira alive to use her. They have an utilitarian view of Kira. This isn’t only with Kira though, because in the building where Kira now lives there are 2 other people with special artistic gifts. The newest person is Jo, who has a gift in singing. She loves to sing, but hates the words that the council forces upon her, making her memorize them to death. As I said before, this stuff is under the covers, its even a mystery to the people who are being used.
Now I’m going to compare Gathering Blue to The Giver, since they’re written by the same author and in the same trilogy. Gathering Blue is similar to The Giver in a way, because they both are in a “futuristic” village, which has gone off the deep end. The village in Gathering Blue is a bit more believable, because people can see colors and do normal things and all. It’s drawback is that it lacks the suspense that The Giver provides so freely. It’s still a very good book, but doesn’t keep you glued to the pages the way The Giver does. I wonder what the third book in the trilogy, The Messenger will provide in the way of this.
The meaning or moral of Gathering Blue is to not use people. Accept the people you come in contact with as human beings, not machines for making your greedy little desires. It’s telling you not to get so connected with your habits, that you forget the world, and potential evolution that’s around you.
I really like Lois Lowry’s style of writing. It’s very well put together, and consistent and believable. You can tell that she really likes writing this stuff. I also see a similarity between Lois Lowry’s writing, and her website which portrays her. Her website (www.loislowry.com) is very laid back and consistent. Her FAQ page answers her fan’s questions humorously and creatively. You can really tell that she’s integrating parts of her life into her books, for the style to be so similar to her website.
I don’t really think I identify with one character overall, maybe a wide variety of characteristics though. There may be a similarity between me and the council, who hoards the talent of the children. Although I don’t want to, sometimes subconsciously I use people for what they can do. One example of this madness for me would be thinking that the reason people are around me is for me, they’re here to serve me. This makes for a messy and horrible time, but it does happen, as I think it would with everyone. I also identify with Kira, in the way that she sees through the council’s plan to use their talents. I think in that situation, I would see through the plan as well. An fairly simple example for that would be how I see through George Bush’s plans and actions.
Overall, this has been a very good read. I would highly recommend this book to you, although reading The Giver first may be a good idea.
This book takes place in a village, sort of like the one in The Giver, but totally different. In that village, people have no real emotions, and everything is suppressed beyond belief! In Gathering Blue’s village, people have all these things, and the strangeness and evil happens below the covers. At the beginning of the book, Kira loses her mother due to an illness. The local bitch, Vendra tries to send Kira “out to the field”, which is basically like killing them, because the “beasts” will get them. Vendra wants her out because first of all, she has a gimp leg, and second of all, is an orphan now. Luckily Kira gets saved by the council of the village. She gets saved for a specific, and pretty greedy reason though, which is to use her for her gift with weaving.
You can see where this is going I hope, the council just wants to keep Kira alive to use her. They have an utilitarian view of Kira. This isn’t only with Kira though, because in the building where Kira now lives there are 2 other people with special artistic gifts. The newest person is Jo, who has a gift in singing. She loves to sing, but hates the words that the council forces upon her, making her memorize them to death. As I said before, this stuff is under the covers, its even a mystery to the people who are being used.
Now I’m going to compare Gathering Blue to The Giver, since they’re written by the same author and in the same trilogy. Gathering Blue is similar to The Giver in a way, because they both are in a “futuristic” village, which has gone off the deep end. The village in Gathering Blue is a bit more believable, because people can see colors and do normal things and all. It’s drawback is that it lacks the suspense that The Giver provides so freely. It’s still a very good book, but doesn’t keep you glued to the pages the way The Giver does. I wonder what the third book in the trilogy, The Messenger will provide in the way of this.
The meaning or moral of Gathering Blue is to not use people. Accept the people you come in contact with as human beings, not machines for making your greedy little desires. It’s telling you not to get so connected with your habits, that you forget the world, and potential evolution that’s around you.
I really like Lois Lowry’s style of writing. It’s very well put together, and consistent and believable. You can tell that she really likes writing this stuff. I also see a similarity between Lois Lowry’s writing, and her website which portrays her. Her website (www.loislowry.com) is very laid back and consistent. Her FAQ page answers her fan’s questions humorously and creatively. You can really tell that she’s integrating parts of her life into her books, for the style to be so similar to her website.
I don’t really think I identify with one character overall, maybe a wide variety of characteristics though. There may be a similarity between me and the council, who hoards the talent of the children. Although I don’t want to, sometimes subconsciously I use people for what they can do. One example of this madness for me would be thinking that the reason people are around me is for me, they’re here to serve me. This makes for a messy and horrible time, but it does happen, as I think it would with everyone. I also identify with Kira, in the way that she sees through the council’s plan to use their talents. I think in that situation, I would see through the plan as well. An fairly simple example for that would be how I see through George Bush’s plans and actions.
Overall, this has been a very good read. I would highly recommend this book to you, although reading The Giver first may be a good idea.
posted by featheredtar at Saturday, March 26, 2005
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