78. Matched - Ally Condie

Dutton Books, 2010
HC $17.99
369 pgs.
for: Young Adults
Rating: 4

This was very The Giver-ish. And since The Giver is one of my all-time favorite books, I totally enjoyed mulling over the way life is in this futuristic science fiction novel.

People in Cassia's society have long, healthy lives. Their "perfect" jobs are chosen for them, as is their mate. Usually matches are people that live in a different city, people that are chosen specifically for each other, and they see each other for the first time at a special ceremony on a monitor. But Cassia is matched to her lifelong best friend, Xander. What could be more wonderful?

In a society where choices are made for everyone, very few balk at them. It's too easy to be taken away, to disappear. There's lots of underlying fear of the white-coated Officials. Meals are delivered, dishes are taken away to a cleaning facility. You own nothing that you covet. One artifact from the past is all you can have...and some have not even that. You wear pants and shirts that are all the same, the dull colors showing your age or occupation. You are assigned your abode. Food is nourishing and blah. On your 80th birthday, you die. You've lived a good life. And heaven forbid you discover you're drawn to someone other than the person you're matched to. It's unthinkable, unheard of.

So we're there when Cassia loses her beloved grandfather on his 80th birthday, and we watch as she discovers there's another young man that she's very drawn to. Dilemmas. Lots to think about. And, of course, a sequel to follow. We're left so far up in the air that we'll really splat if we fall.....