Gathering Blue (The Giver #2) by Lois Lowry

★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

Gathering Blue is just as thought-provoking as The Giver, and part of its appeal was comparing and constrasting Kira's village with Jonas's community.

Kira's village lived in poverty and fear, with an every-person-for-themselves way of life. Yet, good-hearted people like Kira and Matt still flourished. At one point, referring to plants, Kira marveled at how "blossoms continued to bloom and she was awed to see that vibrant life still struggled to thrive despite such destruction." (p. 90) That description could be a metaphor for Kira and Matt's own lives, how the cards were stacked against them, yet they flourished. Taken further, it could be a metaphor for all of humankind; though the world had faced destruction, and shocking societies had grown out of ruin, the humanity of people like Jonas and Kira could lead people towards a better existence.

Matt was my favorite character. So capable and open, with such an infectious spirit! I would love to read more about him.

This book ends on a hopeful note, but as with The Giver, I put the book down wishing for a sequel. I can imagine Kira leading Thomas, Jo, and Matt in slowly introducing more compassion and equity into their society, but how? How will they handle the Council of Guardians, and Jamison in particular? Does the other community really become known to the village, and how do the villagers react to the news? What happens when everybody finally learns that there are no beasts?

As far as I could tell, there was nothing in this book that made it clear it existed in the same universe as The Giver; we only know the two stories are related because this book is marketed as a companion book. Just one line gives a hint at a possible connection, when Matt tells Kira that there is a boy her age in the other community who has very blue eyes. From The Giver, we know that Jonas and Gabriel had "pale eyes", which could indeed mean they had blue eyes. It's a very thin connection, but it's intriguing to wonder if the boy might be Jonas in a contemporary timeline, or Gabriel many years later.