Gathering Blue

This book follows the book The Gift and is the story of Kira, a young girl born with a bad leg, who has a great gift in working with thread.

From the context of the story it seems that there has been a nuclear war and almost all scientific knowledge has been lost. The village Kira lives in is primitive, not just in its physical appearance but in the way the people act. There are many upsetting things about the type of life they have chosen to live, and a few of these include:

When people die they are not put into graves. “Diggers” sprinkle a thin layer of soil over the body and it is allowed to be devoured by wild animals and the bones scattered.

Kira’s mother became ill and died. As a result, the home she lived in is burnt to the ground, apparently standard procedure whenever anyone dies of an illness.

Any baby born with a birth defect is taken to an area and left to die. Kira was allowed to live only because her mother was connected to someone in power in the village.

Parents regularly beat and slap their children.

Girls are not allowed to learn how to read.

If two people get into an argument and don’t take it to the Council of Guardians, and the two fight and one is killed, the other one is sentenced to death.

Apparently adults who become severely injured and no longer can pursue their assigned task are also taken out to the “field” to die.

Girls/women who have any form of defect, like Kira, will never get married.

The Council of Guardians, we find, are basically dictators, capable of murder to further their own ends. Their policies to keep their village “pure” are very similar to those the Nazis tried to set up; eliminate everyone that is “defective.” Plus, they made sure that anyone with a special talent was under their “protection” and control, even if it meant murdering the child’s parents.

It’s a good story, but definitely not a happy one. The only thing I disagree with is Kira’s decision to stay in the village. If someone had tried to murder my father and possibly poisoned my mother I wouldn’t stay around to try and help change things. I wouldn’t taken Thomas and Jo (if they would have been willing to go) to the village Matt found rather than remain anywhere near the Council of Guardians.

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