The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

Matched by Ally Condie

What if you didn’t have a choice? What if you didn’t have a choice in what you wore? What you eat, what you say, what you can own? Who you love? When you die? What if you weren’t allowed to write and your favorite poems, paintings, music was taken away from you? What would you do?

If you were Cassia, you would live. Then you would fight.

In Ally Condie’s novel Matched, Cassia’s province doesn’t have any rights. In her world, the Society makes all the decisions in her life and others around her, with the help of Officials. The novel starts off with her matching ceremony, where she meets who she will marry. In a way, it is an arranged marriage. The Society picks out who gets married to who, to help match the genes up to lead to healthy children. Cassia doesn’t doubt the Society’s power until the night after her banquet.

When she tries to watch her match’s profile, another face appears on the screen, someone else she knows. It’s already abnormal for her to be matched with someone she knows, but another face appearing on the screen is twice as abnormal. Cassia becomes confused and scared, unsure what the incident means. She is told later on to ignore the glitch in the system, but she finds it more difficult than she anticipates. Her desires conflict between the safe, secure and known boy she was paired with, and the unknown, mysterious and new boy that flashed onto the screen. Day after day she comes into contact with the new boy and finds herself falling in love with him. She finds herself facing the choice between the two boys, which ultimately is the decision between following the Society, or going against it.

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I really enjoyed the novel. It kept me in the pages; though I have a busy schedule and don’t have much time to read, I found myself reading during class and during any free time I found during school. It was really intense and kept my mind on the novel when I wasn’t reading it. I really liked the mysterious twist she threw into it by not telling the truth of the Society. Cassia finds out about the Society in the novel and the limited point of view really makes the novel interesting. I also really like the theme of the novel; she shows the importance of simple freedoms. Cassia’s troubling tale emphasizes the importance of fighting for what you want.

I would easily recommend this book to anyone, for it has a great meaning. The story involves romance, suspense, mystery, a little politics and has great detail, which peaks the interest of several different types of people.

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Matched by Ally Condie