Mix the best friend vs. soulmate romance triangle of Twilight, the evil, controlling government of The Hunger Games, and the futuristic society of The Giver, and you've got Matched by Ally Condie. Derivative? Perhaps. In this instance, I tend to think of it like my 8th grade science fair.
See, in 7th grade, I did a nondescript science project for the science fair. I got a decent grade, but no awards. Looking around, I noticed that all of the awards went to projects having to do with plants. So. The next year, I did a project about plants. And I won the one and only trophy I have ever won in my life. Original? No. But that doesn't mean my project was a bad one. I did a good job on it. I just had a little help in the inspiration department.
Back to the book, Matched is a good book all on its own. I couldn't put it down. The writing isn't quite up to par with The Giver, but it is good. It's less lust-filled and certainly better written than Twilight (though there is plenty of longing of a more innocent variety), and it lacks the violence of The Hunger Games. The novel makes its own points, mostly having to do with freedom or a lack of it, and what keeping the status quo means for the invisible in society.
In this Society, every aspect of life is monitored. Dreams, garbage, food intake, exercise and relationships. On her 17th birthday, Cassia Reyes celebrates her Match Banquet. This is the banquet at which her future husband is revealed to her. She is shocked and happy to learn that her Match is her best friend, Xander. Soon, though she is unsettled to find that there may have been some mistake--she might have been matched with another friend, Ky. And so begins both her angst-ridden romantic life as well as her slow discovery of individual freedom.
This book could be used as a parallel for any sort of freedom-limiting society--communist China, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan or a future U.S. where the government makes too many choices for us. It could also foster conspiracy theories, if you are so inclined! Who knows but that the proposed ban on unhealthy Happy Meals in San Francisco is the first step to having our food portioned out and delivered to us in our homes?
There are a few moments where the romantic longing gets a little thick. As my late friend Amy said, on reading the classic young adult romance Seventeenth Summer, "Oh just kiss and get it over with, for goodness sake." But I'm okay with that.
Likely not for the boys, but if you have a female Hunger Games fan in your home who is at loose ends now that the trilogy is over, wrap this up, put it under the tree, and check another gift off your list. Warning: the book will leave her hanging, and it seems likely there will be a sequel! And I will be watching for it.
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