Series: The Giver Quartet
Author: Lois Lowry
Released: 2000
Rating: 3.5/6
Basic Plot: In Gathering Blue, Kira needs a reason for the Council of Edifice to keep her in the village and not take her to the Field (which is certain death at the hands of The Beasts). Kira has a gift for embroidery, and the Council keeps her around to mend and update a beautiful robe that shows the history of their society. In the course of the book, she begins to learn the art of dyeing thread different colors, except for blue, which nobody in her community knows how to make. She also learns more about the truth of her village and the terrible secrets they hold.
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The Beginning and End
I started reading Gathering Blue immediately after I finished The Giver. So I was confused about where Jonas and the baby was for a little bit of the book. Then I was drawn into this new story so not finding out about Jonas wasn't so bad. While The Giver ends on a cliffhanger, this second book in the Quartet just has a sudden stop that's like the ending of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (2013). In other words: it's like you run into a brick wall.
The Ableism
Usually I don't like to use the word ableism because a lot of people on tumblr use it to nitpick about words. Sometimes leading to a joyful game of 'spend 5 minutes trying to find the offensive word'. I am mentally disabled so people hating me for just being me isn't something new. But I would use the word ableist (think racism but for the disabled) to describe the society Kira lives in during the course of this novel. Those who are disabled are thrown out in the fields to die. People in Kira's society think the disabled have no real worth and are just a burden, a thought process that some people in the real world do believe. Kira is nearly thrown out of the village in the beginning of the novel because of her own physical disability.
Connections to The Giver
In this book you don't learn what happened to Jonas and Gabe which is annoying. Kira's story is an interesting one, but I need closer on Jonas. Without knowing what happens in the final two books of the Giver Quartet I assume he and Gabe are now living in a village that was mentioned near the end of this novel. While The Giver focused on red as important, this book focuses on the color blue.
Final Thoughts
This was a good book but not a good follow up to The Giver. If you loved the first book, this book isn't really needed to continue the story started in that book. This book doesn't answer what happened to change the world. Plus this just feels like it stops all of a sudden, luckily I believe the next book follows a character shown in this book. On the positive side, Kira's story is compelling as she tries to figure out how to stay in her village and she finds out certain revelations about her society. All in all this doesn't seem to have the commentary that the first book did.
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