Imagine living in a world where everything is decided for you: Where you live, what you eat, when you die, and who to love. From the surface this may seem like a perfect utopian society but as you penetrate through the thick surface layer you will find a dark underbelly to this society. The book Matched by Ally Condie is about finding your voice, and realizing the ugly truth about a society through a twisted love triangle.
The book starts with the main character Cassia Reyes getting ready to go to her matching ceremony held by the society. At a matching ceremony teenagers at the age of seventeen are matched with the opposite sex who they are most likely to be a perfect couple with. At the ceremony Cassia is matched with her best friend Xander which is very unlikely, and is given a computer chip with information about him. A couple days later when Cassia tries to look at the information on the chip, instead of Xander’s face popping up another face pops up. His name is Ky and Cassia also knows him. When Ky and Cassia both sign up for the activity of hiking in the society their relationships blooms and Ky starts to teach her how to do forbidden things in the society, and Xander also starts to do forbidden things in the society for Cassia. Soon Cassia and Ky’s friendship turns into a love, and Cassia starts to see the society for what it truly is: a dystopia.
Overall this was a great book; it appealed to me emotionally and with every page I got drawn further into the book. “We don’t quite touch, but I feel the warmth of his hand, the length of his body crouched behind me as a write. Cassia.” During this quote Ky was teaching Cassia how to write, and it is quotes like these and others like this one in the book that appealed to me emotionally, and drew me into the book. Also the author of the book Ally Condie expressed everything so vividly that you could feel the actual emotions of the characters in the book, which was another key factor to a high level of interest in the book.
All in all this is a great book. It appeals to the reader emotionally, it draws you in, and it is a great read for teenagers and I would recommend this book to anyone. This book is published by the Penguin group, and costs $9.99. In the end this book is a superb dystopian romance, and it is easily one of the best books I have ever read.
