Book Report: Reached by Ally Condie

     

Whelp, I’ve Reached the end of the Matched Trilogy.

Ok, I got that out of my system.

I honestly have to say that I don’ think I’ve enjoyed the wrap-up to a trilogy so much in anything I’ve ever read. For those who haven’t read it, The Matched Trilogy is about a “near-perfect” society (named “Society”... one of the things outlawed was creativity... it’s a nice little touch that runs through the books) where just about everything is planned out for you. The book series starts in Matched, when our protagonist Cassia is matched first with Ky, an Anomaly who shouldn’t be in the matching pool, then with Xander, her lifelong friend. (and I reviewed it here, and the writer, Ally Condie, said nice things about me.) Then it continues in Crossed, (that I didn’t review) where Cassia is searching for Ky who’s been sent away, and then as they search for the rebellion known as the Rising. (Again... creativity itself has been outlawed.) 

Reached finishes out the trilogy, as Ky, Xander, and Cassia work within the Rising to bring down Society with a Plague. Of course, then the plague mutates, then the Rising and the Society are both screwed. During all of this, Cassia attempts to bring back creativity itself, Xander deals with his love for Cassia, and Ky... well, Ky spends most of his time trying not to die from the mutation in the plague. He sort of gets the short end of the stick on this one. I feel a little bad for him, but we’ll get to him in a minute.

I will admit that these books do use a technique I’m not fond of, and that’s first person switching narrator. One chapter is told by Cassia, another by Xander, and another by Ky, alternating to tell us different points of the Rising, the Society, and the new world that Cassia is trying to build with poems, art, songs... again, important stuff. So it should say something that this book is still amazing, and managed to blow me away, not with just the writing but the revelations, keep managing to be thrown at you like darts at a cow. One chapter, late in the book, when Ky has really started to be affected by the plague, is just his heading and a blank page, and it nearly broke my heart. 

There’s a great underlying theme here, too about immortality. The Society is constantly trying to beat death (Raging against the dying of the light, if it were...) through science, trying to find ways to bring people back to life. Cassia manages to start a Gallery with different types of art. This theme keeps coming back around... what is our legacy? How can we live forever? Cassia seems to understand early on that we do want to hang onto our loved ones (she carries around a tube with her Grandfather’s DNA in it for a bit, later to give it a proper burial) but it’s not the physical act of being brought back to life, but we can exist for a long time through our actions. That’s quite on the nose, yes, but you have to understand how excited I was when my brain finally grasped it. 

The characters, as usual, are amazing. I really like the renewed focus on Xander, who it turns out was part of the Rising the whole time. He wasn’t around much in the last book, as Ally Condie chose to focus more on the Cassia/Ky romance. Too often in young adult novels there’s a clear divide of who should be together by making one of the characters weaker... the writer doesn’t do that. Xander is a powerful, conflicted character who clearly loves Cassia. He loves her enough to let her go away. I also really liked the fact that Ky clearly didn’t trust the Rising, but only joined it as an outlet to allow him to end up with Cassia. (Oh, it’s not that big of a spoiler, you big babies. It’s telegraphed in the first book.)

There were only a few things I didn’t really enjoy. I felt the mythic Pilot, the leader of the Rising was a little underdeveloped, and a bit of a jerk. I didn’t really get a “Hey let’s follow this guy in defying the Society” vibe from him. Also, I didn’t like how Cassia’s Gallery quickly disappeared from the story. I get why it had to happen, doesn’t mean I have to like it. There’s also one character that disappears after affecting the plot so much in the second book, and I don’t like the way she was just unceremoniously dumped from the book.

These are minor quibbles, though, and not to take away from a book series that was extremely enjoyable. The twists are incredible... and the writing is amazing. These books are overlooked for the flashier Hunger Games, but in a way I enjoyed them a lot more. They’re subtler. They take more time to build, and the symbolism is just incredible. Once again, we do have an incredible focus on color. You should be reading this book. 

One final thing before I wrap up... the central mystery of the books, “How did Ky get into the matching pool in the first book” is wrapped up incredibly. It’s the first time I read or saw a twist that I didn’t see coming, but made complete sense in retrospect. It’s discussed repeatedly, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize it earlier. I really want to go back and re-read a few things, just so I can pick up on the clues.

And I’m looking forward to it.

Matched by Ally Condie... Oppressive Governments Should All Wear Polka Dots!

                Since I’ve decided to become an English Teacher, I figured I would probably have to read Young Adult books. In fact, there’s a whole class on it! So obviously, we’re studying different types of Young Adult novels. Being superawesome, I decided that I was going to branch out and read a few on my own. After all, I’m about to ask thousands and thousands of kids to just read, it won’t hurt me to pick up a book on my own. So, I guess here is my book report for all of you.

            I just recently finished Matched by Ally Condie. It was published in 2010, and currently has one sequel with another on the way. I said I was reading books, I didn’t say I was grabbing them the second they come out. But it’s a good book. It’s about a dystopian future (thankfully, it seems we’ve moved on from vampires and onto dystopian futures… everyone knows that the best vampire love story was Buffy and Angel) where people are “matched” after they turn 17 to the person they will spend their life with in a tightly controlled society. Our hero, Cassia, just wants to be matched. At the day of the lavish banquet, she’s matched to her best friend, Xander, which is unusual enough, but she finds that she may have been matched originally to Ky, who’s not eligible to be matched for reasons that you should probably read. What follows is a cool story of rebellion, adventure, and some pretty cool mysteries. And of course a love story, but you could probably figure that part out on your own. (Also, pretty cool names. Dystopian teens ALWAYS get the best names.)

            The best science fiction ties together problems of the real world and makes them relatable. Star Trek got away with a lot of heavy handed preaching back in the 60’s because it could hide all of its moralizing in green skinned hot chicks and pointy eared aliens. That’s what the best Young Adult fiction is going to do as well: tie together the problems of youth, and hide it in a neat little package.

            Matched does just this. Cassia gets all the responsibility of being an adult –starting to work, getting matched with her life-mate-without having the power to do anything about it or change it. (Everything is tightly controlled by a strict government. Also, all of the officials wear white. I’m not sure what it is about dystopian futures that make all strict oppressive governments wear white. I’d think that would be tough to clean.) But that’s the idea, isn’t it? When you’re growing up and in high school, you’re told to act like an adult, that all of your decisions are going to affect the rest of your life, but you’re also told where to be, what to wear and when to be there. Matched is able to expertly convey this, and not beat you over the head with it. Also, it’s able to tie in so many symbols that are just beautiful, and makes my future English teacher heart just leap with the idea of how I can teach this in a classroom one day.

            I enjoyed this book. I can’t say that enough. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. I’m looking forward to devouring more young adult fiction, because it’s gotten pretty interesting lately. But mostly, I’m looking forward to getting into a classroom and discussing this with the target audience, just to see what they think about it.