Gathering Blue (Giver Quartet) (Giver Quartet, 2)
The second book in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet, which began with the bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning The Giver.
Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future.
Her neighbors are hostile, and no one but a small boy offers to help. When she is summoned to judgment by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life.
But the Council, to her surprise, has plans for her. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever.
A compelling examination of a future society, Gathering Blue challenges readers to think about community, creativity, and the values that they have learned to accept. Once again Lois Lowry brings readers on a provocative journey that inspires contemplation long after the last page is turned.
“This extraordinary novel is remarkable for its fully realized characters, gripping plot, and Lowry’s singular vision of a future.” —VOYA
The Giver has become one of the most influential novels of our time. Don't miss the powerful companion novels in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet: Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
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Community Reviews
The first book was goood but ohhh my I fell in love with this one the most. I read in middle school forgot the name for years then finally was able to find it.
Pacing: This novel, while short, is a slow read. It doesnât contain the high suspense or action-packed scenes common with young adult dystopian. Instead, it relies on the weaving of stories. It focuses on the people within a society and the roles that they play, which allows for a slow build, aided by foreshadowing.
World: The world in âGathering Blueâ is not a typical dystopian with advanced technology or an overbearing, big-brother-style government. Rather itâs set in a village. The people are almost primitive in the tasks they do and the ways they live, and yet they speak as though it is some indiscriminate point in the future. A time when present-day cities and society have fallen. As such, things have reverted to much simpler means with less in-depth intrigue and means by which people can plot against and control each other. The simplistic nature of the culture smooths the way for the story, laying it out plainly.
Character: Kira is a teenager who was born with a twisted leg, crippling her. As such she is considered to be âuselessâ in her society as she can barely walk, canât bear children, and is considered undesirable. Even so, the pain she endures makes her strong. Itâs this which gives her such a strong voice and pushes her forwards despite the jeers, taunts, and curses tossed in her direction. Itâs also through her pain that she understands compassion. The compassion, mixed with her determination to survive, make her a likable character, but sometimes her voice sounded almost timid, making it difficult at best to care what happened to her.
Non-Spoilered Plot: The plot of âGathering Blueâ is about a young girl, Kira, trying to find her place in a world that doesnât accept her because sheâs physically different. Her entire life has been an uphill battle. However, those experiences have made her strong and she relies on that strength when a turn of events leaves in a more difficult position than sheâs ever faced. Being different may make her weak in her culture. Yet, what she lacks in physical ability, she makes up for in intellect, awareness, and a strong sense of right and wrong, which proves more powerful than any physical attribute ever could be.
***{SPOILER ALERT}***
Plot: The overarching plot is about a teenager, singled out for being different, trying to find her place in society. For Kira this is difficult. After all, her leg deformity keeps her from being desirable for mating in addition to being unable to participate in most tasks around the village. Therefore, she has no way to truly contribute to society. The only thing keeping her around is her mother, who dies at the beginning of the book. With her protector gone, the harsh nature of the village people rears its ugly head. The village women try to throw her out.
The only thing that keeps her from being banished to the Field, the place where the dying go to die, is her ability to form pictures from threads unlike anyone else in the village. As such, she takes over her late motherâs job. She is placed in a safe, comfortable room and given the simple task of repairing the robe that the Singer wears during the annual Gathering. (A day where the Singer retells history to the entire village.) Though this task is of the utmost importance in the village and will keep Kira safe, she finds it to be less than desirable.
The young threader is given freedom to come and go as she pleases. She is given all the tools and items she requires for her job and yet she is forced to meticulously repair the robe. The colors and style of threading must be exact. It is tedious work. She isnât given time to thread what she wants, the pictures her hands can thread without having seen them before, a gift she possesses. Such a life wears on Kira. It eases in a sense of overbearing control that the council and the society still has on her despite her esteemed role in the village.
Itâs this sense of foreboding that lingers with Kira. She starts to question the ways of the village: the sudden death of her thread-dying mentor(who was found at her hut far from the village where no one would know she was dead since no one visits her), the way her mother caught sickness while no one else did(even though sickness almost always takes many people), the coincidental deaths of parents in the village so that children with âgiftsâ like hers can be taken away(the wood carverâs parents died when he was young and the future singerâs parents just happened to die after her gift of singing was discovered), the locking up of said children(as if they were prisoners rather than esteemed members of society). To add to her suspicions of the village council her father, supposedly many years dead, returns to her village.
He explains the lies of the village, the jealousies, and the measures many will take to get what they want. A plot ensued. It was meant to result in his death, but he was saved from the Field by people who, too, had been shunned and left for dead. They live in a village some ways away, a village where compassion roams free. Itâs a place where Kira, with her deformed leg, would be welcomed and cared for and she eagerly wishes to go. However, she doesnât.
While tending the plant(a plant brought to her by her father from his distant village) that will give her the color for blue dye(a color sheâs yearned for more than anything in the world), she realizes that she canât go. Knowing of the plots and control the council has over the people, she realizes that she must stay to form a new future. She must the small shoot that prevails through the hard times to bring about new life and a new, more compassionate, culture in her village. That is where the story ends. Kira wishes her father good-bye with a single promise that one day, in a brighter future, their villages will meet and they will be together again. It ends on a note of hope. Even with the positive ending, the slow build of this book left me searching for more suspense, more depth, and for that reason I leave this book, Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, with a rating of three stars.
World: The world in âGathering Blueâ is not a typical dystopian with advanced technology or an overbearing, big-brother-style government. Rather itâs set in a village. The people are almost primitive in the tasks they do and the ways they live, and yet they speak as though it is some indiscriminate point in the future. A time when present-day cities and society have fallen. As such, things have reverted to much simpler means with less in-depth intrigue and means by which people can plot against and control each other. The simplistic nature of the culture smooths the way for the story, laying it out plainly.
Character: Kira is a teenager who was born with a twisted leg, crippling her. As such she is considered to be âuselessâ in her society as she can barely walk, canât bear children, and is considered undesirable. Even so, the pain she endures makes her strong. Itâs this which gives her such a strong voice and pushes her forwards despite the jeers, taunts, and curses tossed in her direction. Itâs also through her pain that she understands compassion. The compassion, mixed with her determination to survive, make her a likable character, but sometimes her voice sounded almost timid, making it difficult at best to care what happened to her.
Non-Spoilered Plot: The plot of âGathering Blueâ is about a young girl, Kira, trying to find her place in a world that doesnât accept her because sheâs physically different. Her entire life has been an uphill battle. However, those experiences have made her strong and she relies on that strength when a turn of events leaves in a more difficult position than sheâs ever faced. Being different may make her weak in her culture. Yet, what she lacks in physical ability, she makes up for in intellect, awareness, and a strong sense of right and wrong, which proves more powerful than any physical attribute ever could be.
***{SPOILER ALERT}***
Plot: The overarching plot is about a teenager, singled out for being different, trying to find her place in society. For Kira this is difficult. After all, her leg deformity keeps her from being desirable for mating in addition to being unable to participate in most tasks around the village. Therefore, she has no way to truly contribute to society. The only thing keeping her around is her mother, who dies at the beginning of the book. With her protector gone, the harsh nature of the village people rears its ugly head. The village women try to throw her out.
The only thing that keeps her from being banished to the Field, the place where the dying go to die, is her ability to form pictures from threads unlike anyone else in the village. As such, she takes over her late motherâs job. She is placed in a safe, comfortable room and given the simple task of repairing the robe that the Singer wears during the annual Gathering. (A day where the Singer retells history to the entire village.) Though this task is of the utmost importance in the village and will keep Kira safe, she finds it to be less than desirable.
The young threader is given freedom to come and go as she pleases. She is given all the tools and items she requires for her job and yet she is forced to meticulously repair the robe. The colors and style of threading must be exact. It is tedious work. She isnât given time to thread what she wants, the pictures her hands can thread without having seen them before, a gift she possesses. Such a life wears on Kira. It eases in a sense of overbearing control that the council and the society still has on her despite her esteemed role in the village.
Itâs this sense of foreboding that lingers with Kira. She starts to question the ways of the village: the sudden death of her thread-dying mentor(who was found at her hut far from the village where no one would know she was dead since no one visits her), the way her mother caught sickness while no one else did(even though sickness almost always takes many people), the coincidental deaths of parents in the village so that children with âgiftsâ like hers can be taken away(the wood carverâs parents died when he was young and the future singerâs parents just happened to die after her gift of singing was discovered), the locking up of said children(as if they were prisoners rather than esteemed members of society). To add to her suspicions of the village council her father, supposedly many years dead, returns to her village.
He explains the lies of the village, the jealousies, and the measures many will take to get what they want. A plot ensued. It was meant to result in his death, but he was saved from the Field by people who, too, had been shunned and left for dead. They live in a village some ways away, a village where compassion roams free. Itâs a place where Kira, with her deformed leg, would be welcomed and cared for and she eagerly wishes to go. However, she doesnât.
While tending the plant(a plant brought to her by her father from his distant village) that will give her the color for blue dye(a color sheâs yearned for more than anything in the world), she realizes that she canât go. Knowing of the plots and control the council has over the people, she realizes that she must stay to form a new future. She must the small shoot that prevails through the hard times to bring about new life and a new, more compassionate, culture in her village. That is where the story ends. Kira wishes her father good-bye with a single promise that one day, in a brighter future, their villages will meet and they will be together again. It ends on a note of hope. Even with the positive ending, the slow build of this book left me searching for more suspense, more depth, and for that reason I leave this book, Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, with a rating of three stars.
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