Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

4 reviews

flyerkelly14's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This story takes place in a much darker world than The Giver. This world is cruel and unkind: anyone seen as weak is discarded. People live in fear, and they fight among one another. Again, we hear Lois Lowry’s underlying message about the importance of community. 

But this book moves slow, and it feels like a very long prologue to another book. I was expecting the book to be longer, and it felt like it stopped at an odd and abrupt point. Kira comes to all these realizations towards the conclusion, but the book ends before anything can really be done about it. This seemed a little unfinished. 

This book is similar to 1984 in the sense that you learn that the victors (or the ones in power) write history. Kira starts to question the truths she’s been told her entire life.

Although Kira was an interesting character and I enjoyed her perspective, but I feel like Matt’s perspective venturing into the woods would have been more apt…especially considering the book is titled Gathering Blue, and Kira didn’t do much of any gathering… 
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cassie7e's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A beatifully crafted YA book, with so much worldbuilding without being told, culture and politics and relationships we learn by seeing them, and seeing them begin to be challenged in the mind of our main character. And the visual imagery of gathering blue, along with the threads and dyeing process, still captivate my artist brain.

It's been ages since I read this as a kid; either I do not remember or I did not register when I was young just how dark a world the characters live in. Actions that on the surface are single unpleasant moments paint a deeper, oppressive undercurrent that my adult self could pick up on and interpret long before the book and character explain.
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maple_dove's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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grinchem's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Gathering Blue is a very human story of a girl trying to find a place in the world, and gradually learning that the world is not what she thought it was. This is not an action story, it pulls off its impressive moments of narrative tension without that. I could hardly put it down, the story was immersive and engaging, with a well fleshed-out world, and 3-dimensional characters. Classic dystopian stories (which I love) sometimes have a habit of making the characters 2 dimensional, in favor of the plot, to better make their point. And in some stories that works to great and memorable effect. This is not one of those. This is a dystopian story in which the characters are so human that I actually forgot I was reading dystopian for awhile. Gathering Blue accomplishes all this without for a second sacrificing the story's main point.

Read for the characters, read for the plot, read for the point it makes, no matter what you're reading for you will not be disappointed.
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