Books: Matched by Ally Condie

Imagine a perfect world where nothing is left to chance and all the choosing is done for you.  This is the world Cassia Reyes inhabits--a perfect world of the future founded on the rubble of past generations.  A world where everyone lives to be 80, exactly.  A world where everyone is "matched" with their perfect mate.  A world where everyone is happy.  A world where there are 100 best loved poems--only 100.  And 100 best loved songs--again, only 100.  A world where a copy, even a mental copy, of a poem that was left out is dangerous, possibly seditious.

This is the first book in what will be the Matched Trilogy.  The next book Crossed is set to be released in November of 2011.

This is reminiscent of the The Giver and the "perfect" society that Jonas unravels as he is given his future vocation and begins to see his society with new eyes.  In Matched, Cassia's view of her Utopian society begins to unravel during an emotionally charged period between her matching ceremony and her grandfather's 80th birthday (funeral).  Her grandfather tips the scales by giving her a copy of a poem that was not selected for the 100 Best and Only Poems: Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night."  Read the poem and you will understand why it was left out.  Listen to the way Cassia describes her father's work and consider Jonas' reaction to his father's work.

I look forward to the next book in this series, wondering how the things "left-out" will be woven into the future Cassia creates.