Review - Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

Release date - November 30th 2010

Published  by Dutton Juvenile

Hardcover, 369 pages

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Description (from Goodreads)

 Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
 The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Quote

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


My Review (warning there are mild spoilers here)

 Cassia lives as a citizen in the Society, a place that is governed with an iron fist. There are 100 songs, 100 movies and 100 poems to insure people think a certain way. All parts of their lives are scheduled, when to work, when to play and when to eat and sleep. Their dreams are even monitored.The society has taught people only how to survive as a community. All so people can have healthier and longer lives.
 Like all citizens Cassia must carry with her at all times three tablets.
The blue, with water, will help you survive days without food.
The green will calm you down when your anxious or worried
 The red, no one knows what this one is used for. It's a mystery. They are only to be taken when a high-level Official tells them to do so.

 Cassia has been waiting as long as she could remember for her day to get matched. When a boy or girl turns seventeen they get matched with the person that they will someday marry. Someone who is most the compatible and they will produce healthy children with.

 But somehow Cassia was matched twice.

 She never thought much of Ky until he appeared on her micro card. An official of the society told her it was a cruel joke, he was a Aberration  and therefore could never be matched. It is best to be Citizen with rights in the society but there are also Aberrations, who usually acquire their status due to an Infraction, they receive no privileges. Last there are the Anomalies, who are completely separated from Society.

  Because Ky's parent's committed a huge infraction his status was changed from Citizen to Aberration and banished to the outer provinces. After bring adopted by his aunt and uncle he was allowed to come back to the society but never as an equal and always watched.

 Cassia never tried thinking differently then she was always taught to do until her grandfathers 80th birthday. When he told her that It’s all right to wonder and gave her a poem that wasn't one of the sanctioned 100.

 As she took a closer look at Ky she began having confusing feelings towards him. Xander was her match. He was her best friend and she should be happy with him. But for some reason she can't help looking in Ky's direction. He becomes her hiking partner and she's happy to spend more time with him. He teaches her to create words and she shares her special - and illegal - poem with him. That poem become a symbol of how she wants to fight for her right to choose who ever she wants to love. But how do they have before the society realizes what they're doing?

 I really liked this story. It definitively had me thinking about a time when people no longer had to worry about disease and could live to a nice old age. But I would never want this longer life if it meant that I couldn't actually live it. Really I'm surprised that there is no open rebellion noticeably fighting in the streets.

 I liked Cassia and Xander's friendship and yet still respect Cassia's decision to choose Ky. She obviously cares for Xander a great deal but doesn't try to force love that's not there. Another aspect of the story that I liked was how to Cassia, Ky must be incredibly exciting. He has knowledge of beautiful things and knows horrible truths that she never could have dreamed. I did however find that the story did drag on but I understand that there needed to be time to really give the feeling of what it was like to live within this nation. That way we would understand just how big the step is that Cassia takes to think and feel for herself.
 I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

✯ ✯ ✯ ½
Would I read it again? No

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Places you can find Ally Condie
Links
Website - www.allycondie.com
Twitter - @allycondie
Facebook -www.facebook.com/allycondiebooks