Matched, by Ally Condie

Hey hey! I know it’s already kinda late but HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that our blog will prosper in this 2011! So today I’m the one who’s writing – me, Rute! So if you don’t like the book I chose, well bad for you. Normally I have a good taste (or so I think).

The book I chose to present to all of you today is Matched. And for those who don’t know it, Matched is categorized as dystopian. Well, I know that this genre is Karla’s new passion but so you know, I like this genre quite a lot! And I read it first, which doesn't happen all that often (to read one book first, among the Golden Flamingos, I mean). Oh well, better get started. (ALERT: This contains spoilers)

About the book

So, Matched is the first book of a trilogy written by Ally Condie and, as I already mentioned, is categorized as dystopian.

I really love the cover of this book and that was another reason that I was so excited to read it (being a dystopian story the first reason to read it :P).

And I was really pleased with it.

Matched is the story of a teenage girl who lives in a presumed perfect society, where this society controls everything in your life: from your work, who you marry with, when you die, among other. Cassia is the female protagonist and you can see that she actually agrees with the rules established by the Society in the beginning of the book.

In the beginning I thought that she was kind of stupid. How could she agree with everything without even questioning it? But then I thought that, as she was born in that society, she thought that it was all right, I guess. I was shocked when I discovered that they didn’t create anything new, and that they only learned what the society chose from the past, like one hundred songs, one hundred paintings, one hundred poems…. (By the way, Cassia loves poems!)

I really enjoyed knowing about the society rules because they were really different from today’s, like you couldn’t let friends or other people enter your house, everyone had curfew, and everyone had to carry around three pills with three different functions (blue for nutrients, green for calming and a red one no one knows what does). Everyone and everything is strictly controlled.

In my opinion the jobs in the Society were really lame and the supposed good ones were terrible (not a bad choice of the author but terrible because the society is stupid. Lol.)

So, in the beginning, Cassia is all excited to being matched, and that means to be “attached” to your most optimal match. Yes, this Society chooses the person you are going to spend your whole life with! And then she is matched to her best friend, Xander, which is rare (to know the person you are matched with, I mean). To resume the entire story, she receives a micro card with information about Xander (that she doesn’t need because she already knows everything about him) and she sees another guy in the screen. She gets all crazy and concerned bla bla bla, because she knows this other guy too, Ky.

So basically this whole story is about Cassia starting to forbiddingly love another person she isn’t supposed too and starting question everything she thought was right.

The Main character

I really enjoyed the protagonist because you can see her growing during the story and in the end she becomes a strong and willed person. What I mean is that in the beginning of the book she is kind of naïve: she truly believes in the society she lives in, that this civilization has “healed” all the mistakes of the past to create a perfect utopia. But, as the story goes on, she starts to fall in love with a guy she isn’t supposed too and realizes that the society she lives in isn’t that perfect as she thinks. She starts seeing mistakes everywhere and as the time passes by she discovers a new free world where she wishes to be with Ky and do what she wants. She starts wanting to change the society so that she can be with who she wants, read the forbidden poems she so cares about and live without restrictions. She is tired of being controlled and in the end she doesn’t care about the rules! In the last part, she is separated from Ky by the Society and has the purpose to find him no matter what.

I think that the love interests are both interesting and good looking – Ky and Xander, and I think she did the right choice, although she only started noticing Ky when she sees him in the screen (and there’s a part in the book where she freaks out about that) and that Xander is so calm and peaceful…

Xander is the kind of friend that you can count on, but not the kind of person Casia would truly love.

 Cassia already knows Ky since they were kids but they weren’t very close. Then she starts noticing him - because of the micro card, and they start getting close (they both are in the same summer activity). Ky is very intelligent but he doesn’t want to show off since he’s an aberration to the society (READ THE BOOK). But he is sweet to her, and that’s all that matters. :P

Of course this book has its lame parts, but they are lovely and necessary to the story.

This book has a really detailed description of the society, but if I was going to resume it, probably I wouldn’t end the writing.

The next book of this trilogy is Crossed and it will be released on November 1, 2011. So I guess I’ll have to wait fervently till it comes out!

Bye then!

Golden Flamingos

P.S. Oh yeah I forgot. Here it is the book trailer so you can see another thing that made me read it! I guess it looks interesting.