Matched, by Ally Condie

I’ve anticipated reading Matched for quite some time, and I was not disappointed. Condie describes a society that is apparently utopian, but really very sinister. Everyone is supposed to be “the same.” They only wear black or blue, they only eat what the Society prepares for them--tasteless food served for its nutritional value. They are not allowed to enter each other’s homes. They aren’t allowed to run!  Every minute of every day is planned out – even for recreational time they are given limited choices of what they can do.  And, most interesting for our plot, they are Matched by the Society with their perfect mates.

Cassia is matched with one of her very best childhood friends, Xander, which is almost unheard of in the Society. Most Matches are with total strangers.  What’s even more unusual is that when Cassia looks at the microcard that has background information about her Match, someone besides Xander appears on the screen!  It’s Ky, another boy who she happens to know from her neighborhood! So begins the love triangle.

I’m so much a Xander person. I really think he got the shaft. He’s such a sweetheart, and I think Cassia was attracted to Ky because of the curiosity about the unknown.  Not that Ky wasn’t a nice guy too.  I guess I just wanted Cassia to take the easy path – but that doesn’t make for a very good novel!

I couldn’t help comparing this book to Delirium. They are both about love, and getting matched, and terrible and cruel societies.  But they have a very different feel – neither one is worse than the other – they are just different. Delirium is more tense, action filled.  I remember my heart literally pounding when Lena was taking risks and breaking the rules.  In Matched, we are about 200 pages into the book before Cassia even starts to realize that things are very wrong with the Society.  Matched makes you THINK and PONDER Cassia’s situation.  For those first 200 pages, the book makes you want to scream, “Don’t you see what’s wrong here? How can you be so passive!!!” I enjoyed the very slow buildup to Cassia’s carefully plotted rebellious actions. She’s a thinker, and the reader gets to follow her thought processes. Condie puts you inside Cassie’s head, and really makes you wonder, “What would I do?”  I definitely want more; the ending is not very satisfying. We have to wait until November for Crossed, and all I can say is, “Bring it on!”

Publisher:  Dutton

Pages: 366 (Qualifies for my 350 page reading challenge!)

I purchased this book myself, and it will be put in my school library now that I’m finished with it.

Rating: 4/5