Book: Matched
Author: Ally
Condie
Publication Date: 2010
Thoughts: Well I
first heard about this book on Pinterest where a pin was advertising books that
you should read if you like Divergent (or the Hunger Games). So when I found
this book in the charity shop I didn’t think for a moment before buying it
(plus 50p is a bargain, who can say no to a 400 page book for 50p?)
Anyway, the first thing that made me want to read the book
was the cover, I don’t normally judge a
book by its cover but to me the cover of ‘Matched’ stands out and it gives you a good idea of what the story is
about. On the cover a girl is trapped which is more or less what ‘Matched’ is
about since Cassia the main character is trapped in a world that society has
created.
The book is in the young adult dystopian genre (similarly to
the Hunger Games and Divergent) but when I was reading the book it was more
like ‘Big Brother is watching you,’ since society controls people lives e.g.
who a person marries, when they die and where they work… If you pick up this
book don’t expect it to be a copy of Divergent or the Hunger Games because
although it’s the same genre they are very different novels.
However although Matched starts off as different from other
Dystopian novels, by starting with the Matching (which is when you find out who
you’re going to marry), It also has some cliché aspects of a Dystopian novel
such as the main protagonist starting to question society similarly to The
Hunger Games and Divergent.
I thought that the Society was very cleverly created; one
thing that definitely intrigued me was that there was only 100 things of
everything, e.g. 100 books, 100 songs, 100 movies (can you imagine? Having to
watch the same film over and over?) And the Matching definitely interested me
(what happens if you’re matched with someone you don’t like?) However although
some aspects of the Society such as the Matching were described well some parts
such as the Sorting left me asking even more questions.
The story is told from Cassia’s point of view, and it starts
soon after she has been Matched with her best friend, and for a while its
perfect, until she finds a glitch which makes her start to question society. The main characters
I wasn’t a fan of the whole love triangle in the novel
(mainly cause it didn’t feel like one, throughout the book we knew who Cassia
was going to choose) I wished there was more of an insight of the relationship
between Cassia and Xander.
Rating: 3.5 stars
out of five. Why? Because I felt that relationship between Cassie and other
characters was really fast paced and not really believable, I just don’t
understand how you can know some throughout childhood and then suddenly fall in
love with them after they realise that they are ‘different’. As well as this I also think that some things
about the Society could’ve been explained better such as why Society felt the need to limit the books, drawings, to the 100 drawings, books etc...
Film: There is
currently no film adaptation, but apparently one’s in the works, hopefully not
for a while though since I’m not sure how much more young adult Dystopian films
I can take!
Blurb:
On her seventeenth birthday,
Cassia meets her match. Society dictates
He is her Perfect Partner for life.
Except he’s not.
In Cassia’s society, Official decide who people love.
How many children they have.
Where they work.
When they die.
But as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another
boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own.
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