Matched (Matched, #1) in Ask Ally Condie

Oct 14, 2011 Colleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, dystopia

The story of a dystopian utopia and one girl's simultaneous realization that her society is not what is seems and that love is not a matter of statistics. This story is great for those who enjoyed the hunger games and other dystopian novels. It's interesting, well-written, and engaging. I can't wait for the sequel. ...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Jessica Payne rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult-read

Matched, by Ally Condie, is set in a futuristic world, where forced evolution has created an optimal society through a process called “matching.” At the age of seventeen, boys and girls can choose to be placed in the matching pool, and from this pool, Officials of Society will evaluate the information they have about each person (which is pretty much everything) and scientifically calculate their perfect match. A person’s match is who they will marry, have children, and live with until their 80t Matched, by Ally Condie, is set in a futuristic world, where forced evolution has created an optimal society through a process called “matching.” At the age of seventeen, boys and girls can choose to be placed in the matching pool, and from this pool, Officials of Society will evaluate the information they have about each person (which is pretty much everything) and scientifically calculate their perfect match. A person’s match is who they will marry, have children, and live with until their 80th birthday, which is when Society has deemed as the optimal time for death. This futuristic Society is supposedly perfect – eradicating diseases, eliminating starvation, and giving everyone what they statistically need and deserve.

Cassia Reyes is part of this Society and the story opens on the day she is matched to her best friend, Xander. Xander is everything a girl could want – he’s handsome, smart, good, honest and Cassia has known him all her life. When she finds out Xander is her match, she couldn’t be happier. That is, until Ky enters the picture. Ky is the opposite of everything Society would want for her – he has a lowly work position, a precarious past, and low social status. But Cassia is intrigued by him, the way he sees the world, and the beauty he brings into her life. Cassia starts to question her match, and ultimately, she begins to examine the basis of her Society more closely, and she doesn’t necessarily like what she sees.

Matched is so much more than just a dystopian romance. While the reader is faced with the familiar elements that seem to make up this genre, like an oppressive government or the increasingly common love triangle (which started, for me at least, with Team Edward and Team Jacob), Matched has its own unique aspects that are well worth reading. Cassia’s decision of who to love, Xander or Ky, is much more than it appears on the surface. The love triangle embodies the book’s running them of choice – the ability to make a choice, the responsibility of the outcome those choices, and ultimately how our choices define who we are and who we become.

This post-apocalyptic world is also uniquely designed to make the reader realize the importance of the range of human emotions and the importance of “not going gentle into the night.” The Matched Society promotes peace and tranquility, and while these qualities are not necessarily undesirable, the book illustrates how important the more fierce emotions are to life as well – passion, pain, longing, and desire. Matched encourages the reader to question the quality of a life without these experiences.

There is also a wonderful theme of nature that pervades the book. In Cassia’s Society, much of nature is controlled. Only certain plants and trees are cultivated – those deemed acceptable by the Society, those having beauty or purpose. Growing things that are deemed problematic or useless are ripped up or cut down. Many of these images of nature parallel how the Society treats the people living within it, and it is interesting that once Cassia and Ky start to explore the natural world, when they are allowed outside the perimeters of a safe and controlled world, that their feelings and their true selves really begin to bloom.

There are so many beautiful moments in the book, places that actually brought me to tears. The language is eloquent in places and the lyricism of the writing at times feels like forbidden poetry. I would recommend this book based on its many merits – the gripping story line (I absolutely burned through this book), wonderful fully-formed characters, and a heroine that embodies the perfect balance of confidence and longing. I can’t wait to read the sequel Crossed!

Read more reviews visit my blog Young Adult Fiction for the Young at Heart: http://yafortheyah.blogspot.com/ ...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-wishlist, romance, young-adult, library-ebook, library-overdrive, dystopia, ebook, series, book-1, teen-girls

Actually, the library sent Crossed which is the sequel. I have Matched on hold and will start it immediately when I get it. Hopefully, it will be before Crossed is due back.

***

Later:

I finally got the library copies of Matched. Unfortunately theirs is not a Kindle copy. The readable version is one I had to read on my computer, Adobe Digital Edition. I have trouble reading with white background and I couldn't adjust the font either. BUT the library Overdrive MP3 version came to me at the same time Actually, the library sent Crossed which is the sequel. I have Matched on hold and will start it immediately when I get it. Hopefully, it will be before Crossed is due back.

***

Later:

I finally got the library copies of Matched. Unfortunately theirs is not a Kindle copy. The readable version is one I had to read on my computer, Adobe Digital Edition. I have trouble reading with white background and I couldn't adjust the font either. BUT the library Overdrive MP3 version came to me at the same time. This version might be well worth the money spent for the Audible version.

The narrator, Kate Simses, has a sweet light voice but she is versatile enough to bring forth the other characters. I got the sense of innocence from her voice and the depth of the emotional confusion that Cassia, the main character, must go through as she learns that the perfect society--isn't. She, also, pulled out the confusion of love for two guys. -- But I hated the music brought in to enhance the story. Ugh! Hokey!

That said, I would have bought the Kindle version but it was too expensive. If my eyesight could handle the paperback for the same price I could have shared with friends. And this is a good enough book I would like to share it with others. But Kindle version is un-loan-able. At least it has text-to-speech. I don't know who sets up these things. If it is the publisher, shame on you! This author has put out a GOOD BOOK! I don't mind that it costs so much as it has been well edited and is fun. Her book, though of similar genre to other dystopias, takes a different point of view. It is more poetic and shows abilities that our next generation may actually lose if someone doesn't point it out. If the author set up this selfish mode making Kindle not lendable, I believe you are missing your own points. In this day and age with so many out of work, it would be nice to be able to share. If that person likes your work, and it IS likable work, then, when they finally have the money they will not only buy your 1st book, but maybe buy and gift the trilogy for themselves and others in their lives.

About the book (sorry I had to get the above out of my system!), I started reading (more listening than reading) it yesterday morning, and except for a couple interruptions, I couldn't put it down until I finished it at 3 AM. It wasn't angsty or tension-based. It was more of a quiet education of things that could go wrong in society if we as a people don't pay attention. It makes you remember how the arts are the Spring of life. That our strives for health and efficiency can actually lower what is good about our lives today. That too many choices are just the right amount of choices. And hey, what's wrong with loving more than one person? If you love them and they love you and you can get past the childishness of jealousy, you all are better off for it.

This book is set up so that your young teen, maybe even a pre-teen could read it. It might be a fun read aloud (or listen to the audio version) for a family as there are many points of education presented.

Finally: it is only due to the lending not enabled that I didn't buy the book (and I am still thinking about it, anyway) and that also led to less than a five star rating. ...more

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May 06, 2011 LeiAnn rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012

Cassia is seventeen, which in her version of post-apocalyptic dystopia means that she will be Matched with the Society's version of true love. To her surprise and delight, she is being paired with her lifelong friend, Xander. Unfortunately, when she decides to read up about him, she sees, briefly, another boy on the screen. This leads to all kinds of angst, and we ultimately find out that the Society and its brand of perfection are not all they're cracked up to be. Surprise!

This book just didn't ...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Sara rated it it was amazing

This is one the best books that I have read in a while. I could not put it down and in fact read it in one day! Matched is about a girl living in a futuristic society where people are matched up with their ideal mate. After reading this, I read a book about North Korea and it made both books all the more poignant. Where in Matched having a completely controlled society is fictional, when I read about North Korea it was amazing to think that people really do live with so little control over their ...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Jen rated it really liked it

I really liked how this book made me rethink my perspective on fairness. I really wasn't expecting that, so I was pleasantly surprised. ...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Susan rated it really liked it

Shelves: juvenile-young-adult, scifi-fantasy, dystopia

Although YA dystopian novels are becoming quite common, it is still a nice angle to make the reader think about the world as they know it, and the gray lines between good and bad. I enjoyed this book, although maybe I've read too many YA novels that deal with the girl who has 2 boys liking her. It starts to get old. ...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Derek rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

Liked it. They dystopian YA theme is starting to wear a little thin for me but this is certainly one of the better written books in the genre. If you are a teenage girl or a fan of dystopian futures, give this book a try!

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