Matched, by Ally Condie

age group: 13 and up

rating:10

Your choices are made for you. What clothes you wear and what you eat are decided by the Officials. Who will you marry if you want to get married? Don't worry about it. The Society has it covered; it will choose who is best for you. 17-year-old Cassia has lived her life precisely in this way- the government, or Society makes the best decisions for everyone. Within a year of her 17th birthday, Cassia is Matched. But when she is shown her match, two faces appear on the screen: Xander, her best friend, and a flash of Ky, before the everything goes black. Lost and confused, Cassia is forced to choose one or the other, to decide for herself. The Society's answers are no longer clear- and it is not long before Cassia realizes that maybe, maybe, there is something richer than the perfectly controlled life ahead of her. "Two desires struggle within me: the desire to be safe, and the desire to know. I cannot tell which one will win(Condie 255)."

I really loved this book. It is innocent and real. Cassia's love can only be described as genuine. Ally Condie eloquently captures the true essence of it. Matched subtly drives the reader into asking their own questions about freedom and choices. Is agency worth facing the danger, the possibility of a mistake, or even unpredicted consequences? If all of our choices were made beforehand with utmost care- only to have the best option picked, would we have the courage to say "no thank you? I can do it myself?" Who would accept so much responsibility, knowing that things could go terribly wrong? Yet, who can stand aside and let someone else decide how our life is run?

I savored it the whole way through. There were so many parts where her writing was so beautiful that I marked them for my quote book, or where I felt precisely how Cassia felt: her confusion, anger, willingness, terror, rebellion, passion, everything. I connected not only to Cassia, but all of the characters. The plot was fascinating. I never felt as though it were merely a planned out plot; things were wild and unpredictable, more real life than made-up story. Like Cassia, I wanted to hold onto every moment. I almost did not want to keep reading because I wanted to preserve the few precious pages that I hadn't read yet. I wanted to stop in the middle and know that it wasn't over. Needless to say, I'm already aching for the sequel to come out.