★★★★★ 3
Soooooo slow-pacing
Format: Paperback
I personally do not know what the Entertainment Weekly critics read when they said this was "the hottest YA title to hit bookstores since The Hunger Games".
Maybe they didnt read The Hunger Games.
Because saying that is a pretty terrible insult to Suzzanne Collins, since the Hunger Games is freaking amazing, and this book is most certainly not.
Beware, there might be some spoilers ahead.
This book had a lot of problems, at least for me. It wasnt terrible, you can finish it, and it may leave you with some interesting things to keep in mind, but that is it. It is not totally enjoyable, since on some parts you have to fight to keep reading, not completely intriguing, or thought provoking, or even innovative.
This book tells us the story of a seventeen-year-old girl named Cassia, who lives in The Society. Thie Society is a dystopian world which is strictly controled by Officials: they determine who you marry, when you marry, when you have kids, how many do you have, etc. They monitor your dreams, and have you doing the exact amount of exercise and eating the exact food you need in order to mantain a healthy body. Their main goal is to make your life span really long and to improve the human`s genetic pool. In order to achieve that The Society controls EVERYTHING. They even determine they day of your death, which is the day of your 80th birthday.
When teenagers turn 17 they have to attend their "Match Banquet", the event in which every girl will be assigned to their "perfect" boy match, according to the system, with whom they will have to marry when they turn 21, and then have kids with at 24. Cassia is extremely excited on the day of her Match Banquet, and is astonished when she finds out that she has been matched to her best friend, Xander. She receives a microcard with all his information, although she already knows everything about him, but when she opens the microcard on the day after the Banquet, Xander`s face appears rapidly on the creen and then vanishes. A picture of another boy appears instead. The face of Ky Markham.
Cassia is totally confused and doesnt know what to do.
And from there the story develops. The misunderstanding woth the microcard transforms into much more, and of course, our "heroine" (if you can even call her that) ends up doubting about her world and how controlling it is.
As I said before, I had some problems with this book.
First, its EXTREMELY slow-pacing. I think that for the first interesting thing to happen (besides they whole Ky`s-face-on-the-microcard thing that you already know from the begginging since its said in the back of the book) you have to read like 160 pages(no, Im not kidding). There are, easily, 150 pages scattered through the book that are exclusively about Cassia thinking of Ky`s eyes, or Ky`s words, or what is his story; that sort of thing. Questions like "Does he care for me?", "When did he see me?", "Oh, I want to kiss him so bad" are constantly present throughout the book.
I really think this novel should have entire chapters cut off. They dont have a purpose to be there at all.
Another thing related to this is that, as we all well know, the whole love-triangle thing is being used in an over-the-top way these days. The love triangle between Cassia, Xander and Ky seems to be the only story-line for at least three quarters of this book, so I should say Ally Condie wasnt very innovative. Besides, I should say that I didnt connect to ANY of the characters.
Cassia was heavily annoying at times, and slightly annoying every other time. She didnt seem to have a very strong personality, and her convictions seemed to waver often. In the end she sticks to a certain way of thinking, but the path she chooses shows that she is really not a very intelligent girl. Related to that is the fact that she was constantly having questions pop in her mind from her personal experiences and she would connect them to universal questions in a bold way, ALL THE TIME. It seemed she was a 12 year old just discovering the world, and not an almost-adult person. I can understand that because of the sheltered way she was raised, but it only made me feel mad. Was the author trying to make her sound smart?? I dont know. I didnt connect to her in the least.
Xander was a total sweety, but really, we dont get to know him that much. I think he would be a fantastic character to explore (maybe on book 2?). I didnt connect to him either, but I found myself thinking "Why does this have to happen to him? Poor guy. He gets the crazy girl who wants to ruin The Society for a stupid love. Ugh. He just wanted his perfect match". I know The Society is bad and everything, but the poor guy just wanted to be left alone and live happily, and she had to go and decide that after all, she didnt want the society she had wanted until the day before.
Ky was OK, but really, his whole love story with Cassia was a little cheesy and unrealistic. And as Cassia spent great portions of the book talking about HIM, and how he IS, and what he DOES, and etc. you kind of feel bothered by his presence in the end. Its tiring after a while.
I would also like to add that the world needs to be more defined on the next book, at least for me. How did we arrive at this world? Where is it geographically? In the United States? Cassia mentions the "Outer Provinces" and, farther away from them, the "Other Countries". What are the "Other Countries"? The countries that exist nowadays or are there other countries that have developed similar systems as The Society??
This book is OK, it has good things, you dont end up thinking you have completely lost your time, but it has some major flaws that I hope are adressed on the second book. I think I`ll probably give it a try when I have time, but Im not super intrigued, or anything of the sort.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2011
