Matched

Matched

By Ally Condie

Dutton Books, 2010. 369 pages. Dystopia.

ISBN: 9780525423645

Reading/Interest Level: Ages 13+

Curriculum ties: N/A

Booktalk Ideas: Perfect life for whom?: Through diary entries, relay the first portion of the story and how perfect life seems, up until she realizes that a mistake could have been made and show her confusion over the decision between Xander and Ky.

Challenge Issues: N/A

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

In a society where every choice is made for you, and life is perfect because of that, Cassia knows that when she’s told she’ll marry her best friend, Xander, she is perfectly willing to accept that. That is, except for the briefest of moments when Ky’s face flashed across her screen and she realizes she has feelings, deep feelings, for him too.

Plot Summary:

Cassia is extremely excited to attend her matching ceremony where she will get to see who the society has matched her with, the person she will marry and spend the rest of her life with. The society makes every choice for its citizens because it can determine and predict the best results. So when Cassia sees that she is matched with her best friend, Xander, she doesn’t question it. As is normal, Cassia is given a microcard with information about Xander on it, but since she grew up with him she knows pretty much everything there is to know.

However, when she gets home and puts the microcard in the card reader, she sees another face flash across her screen. Another face she knows, Ky. Cassia is later told that seeing Ky’s face was a glitch, and that he isn’t meant to be matched with anyone because of mistakes his parents made.

Ky and Cassia get to know one another better over the summer when they both choose the same summer activity, and Cassia starts to feel more than friendship for Ky. But… she’s meant to be with Xander! Cassia doesn’t know what to choose anymore. Go with Xander where she is guaranteed to be happy and have a good family, or follow her heart and choose Ky?

Critical Evaluation:

The main focus of this dystopia is clearly the love story. The reader learns that the society is obviously broken by things like the fact that every member of the society, no matter what, dies at age 80. The reader knows that this is clearly not normal, but the characters are oblivious to how broken their society is.

A particularly fascinating idea in the story was that the society felt things were too cluttered, so they chose the best 100 songs, poems, books, pictures, and other things and discarded all the rest. Also, the idea that creating new material was frivolous and unnecessary was fascinating. By Ky and Cassia’s interactions we can see how suppressed they felt as they started creating their own material once Cassia finally learned how to write. In fact, that’s another thing that really stood out to me. Writing was no longer taught to the society. It seemed they could read just fine, but had no concept of being able to hand write, they typed everything. It almost feels like a warning Condie is giving her readers about the importance of being able to handwrite in addition to typing, which is something this world often favors over handwriting.

The story itself was fascinating, but especially because of the contrasts and warnings Condie seemed to include in the novel.

About the Author:

Ally Condie is the author of the MATCHED Trilogy, a #1 New York Times and international bestseller. MATCHED was chosen as one of YALSA’s 2011 Teens’ Top Ten and named as one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of 2010. The sequels, CROSSED and REACHED, were also critically acclaimed and received starred reviews, and all three books are available in 30+ languages. Disney has optioned the film rights for the series.

A former English teacher, she lives with her husband and four children outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, writing, running, and listening to her husband play guitar.

-from author’s website-

Justification of Selection:

For teens who enjoy romance based books, this is a great dystopia that fits the bill. It has won several YALSA awards and helps show teens that they don’t have to conform to the image society has of them. They can make their own decisions and be free. Cassia is a great example for this.