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“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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Katamaster wrote this review Monday, September 17 2007.
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