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Summary: WOW!
Review: At 5:30pm, I picked up this book in a store simply because I recognized the author's name and remembered her book "The Giver" which has fascinated me ever since I read it years ago. At 8:15pm, still in the store, I got to the last page. I'd never put it down! The book jacket might lead one to think this book is just a new formula-type book modeled after "The Giver." But it isn't despite some similarities. It is unique.
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Summary: Lowry Strikes Gold Again
Review: Emotionally complex and challenging to youth and adult readers alike, Gathering Blue stands on its own as a powerful novel, but can also be seen as a companion piece to the Newbery Award winning The Giver, by the same writer. At the center of the story is Kira, a girl who manages, in spite of her crippled leg, to survive and even thrive in a cruel and violent culture. Her special gift of weaving earns her the notice of the authorities and she is given the task of re-making the singer's robe, a powerful symbol for the people. Kira comes to realize that the those in power are not benevoent as she had thought, but are using her for an evil purpose.
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Summary: A wonderful book for young and old
Review: I bought this book for my daughter, but she was reading another book so I started reading it--I couldn't put it down until I had finished it. She is reading it now and we are having a wonderful time discussing the book together. I would recommend this book very highly.
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Summary: SUPERCALAFRAGALISTIC!
Review: Gathering Blue is definitely Newbery Award Winning material. It's just as good as The Giver, if not better. I could not put the book down! It's absolutely SUPERCALAFRAGALISTIC!
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Summary: Imagining Future Worlds
Review: Lois Lowry has written a number of excellent books including "Number the Stars" and my personal favorite, "The Giver." In fact, "The Giver" is a book that I would consider truly great. Reminiscent of Orwell's "1984", it, too, describes an anti-utopian future of considerable power. But, whereas in "1984" we know the strangeness of the world we are reading about from the first paragraph, Lowry builds the strangeness of the world of "The Giver" slowly, with revelations that take the story to a fever-pitch. It is a wonderful book. "Gathering Blue" has a similar flavor to "The Giver" but not the power. Whereas "The Giver" reminded me of "1984", "Gathering Blue" reminded me of "Planet of the Apes." Now, I'm a fan of "Planet of the Apes", mind you, but it's not the same thing. Again, in "Gathering Blue", there is the story of an anti-utopian future society. Kira is a girl who has lost both of her parents. The book opens with her mourning her mother. Because of her deformed leg, Kira is now at risk of being killed herself as she can no longer contribute to her society made primitive after an event called the Ruin. Her unequalled skill with a needle and thread, however, keep her alive and get her close enough to the power of her society to see its secret horrors. "Gathering Blue" is a good story. Certainly better than much of what's out there. What I like about this story even over "The Giver" is that it seems almost more real. While reading, I felt that this kind of primitive society could really develop. What it lacks is the tension and surprises of "The Giver." There is little tension in Kira's trial because we know she has to live for the story to go on. There are a couple of surprises in the last few pages but they are not a powerful as in "The Giver." It is a risk to read a book by an author who has written one of your favorite books because it is difficult to beat the comparison. Still, "Gathering Blue" is an excellent book and well worth the read. But I would recommend "The Giver" to anyone who reads this.
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Summary: An important, incredibly powerful, MUST read book!
Review: What if all modern technology vanished? What if the daily struggle for food and shelter became the utmost priority in our world? Who would be considered of value in the society that followed? Ms. Lowry has given readers a story with all the impact of her earlier book, The Giver. Gathering Blue is also a novel set in the possible future, where insular towns and villages have developed, and contact between them is almost nonexistent. In one of these villages, the reader is introduced to a young girl named Kira. Through Kira's eyes, the reader is gradually pulled in to discover the horrifying, and entirely possible, secret of Kira's world. Gathering Blue is absolutely stunning in the concepts it presents; I'm certain that teachers will want to incorporate this powerful book into their reading curriculum. Along with Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman, Gathering Blue will be among the top contenders for next year's Newbery Award.
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Summary: hi miss o! this is my audio book review done by me!!!
Review: Kira is an adolescent who's life has not been easy. Living in a futuristic world where the community ensures that only the strongest and most able survive, she is twice saved from community-sponsored death: the first time, as a fatherless baby with a visible physical deformity, her mother refuses to relinuish her; the second time it is her amazing ability to embroider unique and beautiful pictures and scenes that saves her.
This book offers a different view of the future from "The Giver." Whereas life in Jonas's community was sterile, without emotion or beauty or violence or pain, Kira's world is a violent, every man for himself, anarchy. Lowry uses this different backdrop to examine different aspects of human nature and culture: whereas Lowry's "The Giver" was about the importance of cultural memory, "Gathering Blue" examines the importance of creativity.
This is a well crafted book that offers a sometimes disturbing look at human nature. I recomend it not only for its intended YA audience, but also for adults. I recomend that a parent or another adult read this book alongside a younger reader who does so, just becaue it offers so many ideas and perceptions that really need to be discussed.
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