Book Review: Matched by Ally Condie
Feb. 27th, 2011 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesSo, my overall reaction? Meh.
Some of that was probably due to 'book was something different than I wanted'. Which, you know, happens: authors are not mindreaders. They don't even get to write the jacket copy. I'm not going to bitch out Condie for not writing to order for a reader she's never met.
So, what I wanted was more play with the Match system -- basically, in the Society, teenagers at 15 decide if they want the 'heterosexual marriage + 2(?) kids' or to be single. If they want to go the spouse + kids, they are put into the system to be Matched for optimum personality and genetic compatibility, then have six years to get to know their Match before they are contracted at age 21, and have until age 35 to have their required kids. So you essentially have a system where there are two options: surrender a lot of freedom of association for kids and domesticity, or end up single, which allows some ability for freedom to romance who you choose, but no Society-sanctioned commitment or children.
And, well, this was ripe to get social satire. And works well with romance -- social commentary usually does, in my opinion. But, well, once we got the back jacket plot going: 'Meet Cassia. She's Matched to Xander, but, just for a minute, sees Ky's face in her Match datacard. Xander is a friend and she cares about him, but she finds herself attracted to Ky', we move into more standard dystopia affair. Which... well, the Society isn't too different than other centrally-planned dystopias. And here is where we get to the 'meh' angle: nothing about this book sets it apart from anything else I could be reading. The romance angle really detracts from the non-romantic plot, in my opinion: really, I was skimming across most of the 'Cassia angsts about loving two guys' to get to the other bits. Cassia's relationship with her grandfather and her love of poetry and running would make her interesting, except most of the investigation she does is motivated by a boy she's got a crush on. Ky has the whole 'outsider' POV that make him interesting, and even Xander and Cassia's parents have some secrets, but because this is strictly in Cassia's POV, we don't know them (yet).
Also, the Society seems a bit... well, like parts aren't talking to the other. And here I'm going to leave spoiler space:
So, we find out that Cassia and Ky's faux Match was part of an experiment to see what would happen, though Cassia expects her initial leak wasn't planned. But the folks monitoring her were aware it was making her a lot more rebellious. But, at the same time, Cassia is being tested to join the government bureaucracy, since she's bright and has good data analysis skills. Her final exam is to sort through workers at the factory Ky works at, to send the better half on 'special assignment'. Not only is it an exposure to an uglier part of the Society -- even before she sees the plant, most of Cassia's classmates know Ky's job is hard, low-prestige work -- but Cassia would have extra sympathy seeing a classmate. Which could be part of the test, I suppose, but it strikes me as a Dumb Move with both things happening at once. At least without some kind of safety net that prevents your subject from, you know, turning into a problem.
Which, I can understand if you want to portray it as a flawed system, but it strikes me that, given the degree of monitoring, it seems like This Should Be Caught. Or, you know, figure out the motivation that will keep Cassia from running off to join the Resistance, since you keep planting clues for her to figure out she's been living a lie.
If no one wants this, it's going to my PaperbackSwap page.
Some of that was probably due to 'book was something different than I wanted'. Which, you know, happens: authors are not mindreaders. They don't even get to write the jacket copy. I'm not going to bitch out Condie for not writing to order for a reader she's never met.
So, what I wanted was more play with the Match system -- basically, in the Society, teenagers at 15 decide if they want the 'heterosexual marriage + 2(?) kids' or to be single. If they want to go the spouse + kids, they are put into the system to be Matched for optimum personality and genetic compatibility, then have six years to get to know their Match before they are contracted at age 21, and have until age 35 to have their required kids. So you essentially have a system where there are two options: surrender a lot of freedom of association for kids and domesticity, or end up single, which allows some ability for freedom to romance who you choose, but no Society-sanctioned commitment or children.
And, well, this was ripe to get social satire. And works well with romance -- social commentary usually does, in my opinion. But, well, once we got the back jacket plot going: 'Meet Cassia. She's Matched to Xander, but, just for a minute, sees Ky's face in her Match datacard. Xander is a friend and she cares about him, but she finds herself attracted to Ky', we move into more standard dystopia affair. Which... well, the Society isn't too different than other centrally-planned dystopias. And here is where we get to the 'meh' angle: nothing about this book sets it apart from anything else I could be reading. The romance angle really detracts from the non-romantic plot, in my opinion: really, I was skimming across most of the 'Cassia angsts about loving two guys' to get to the other bits. Cassia's relationship with her grandfather and her love of poetry and running would make her interesting, except most of the investigation she does is motivated by a boy she's got a crush on. Ky has the whole 'outsider' POV that make him interesting, and even Xander and Cassia's parents have some secrets, but because this is strictly in Cassia's POV, we don't know them (yet).
Also, the Society seems a bit... well, like parts aren't talking to the other. And here I'm going to leave spoiler space:
So, we find out that Cassia and Ky's faux Match was part of an experiment to see what would happen, though Cassia expects her initial leak wasn't planned. But the folks monitoring her were aware it was making her a lot more rebellious. But, at the same time, Cassia is being tested to join the government bureaucracy, since she's bright and has good data analysis skills. Her final exam is to sort through workers at the factory Ky works at, to send the better half on 'special assignment'. Not only is it an exposure to an uglier part of the Society -- even before she sees the plant, most of Cassia's classmates know Ky's job is hard, low-prestige work -- but Cassia would have extra sympathy seeing a classmate. Which could be part of the test, I suppose, but it strikes me as a Dumb Move with both things happening at once. At least without some kind of safety net that prevents your subject from, you know, turning into a problem.
Which, I can understand if you want to portray it as a flawed system, but it strikes me that, given the degree of monitoring, it seems like This Should Be Caught. Or, you know, figure out the motivation that will keep Cassia from running off to join the Resistance, since you keep planting clues for her to figure out she's been living a lie.
If no one wants this, it's going to my PaperbackSwap page.
