Matched

Matched
By Ally Condie
Published by Dutton Books

If you are even remotely interested in teen literature, science fiction or similar books to Twilight or Hunger Games, you need to read this book. Matched is a great new book that really makes you think about our own society and the freedoms we think we have that are actually allusions.

Matched is the first in a trilogy about a young teenaged girl names Cassia. She lives in a Society that determines who she will marry as well as her career and when she will die. As the book begins, she is simply going with the flow. However, due to a small glitch in the information about her best match for marriage, she begins to get off the smooth track that the Society has planned for her. I don't want to say much more because I don't want to be a spoiler but I can say I cannot wait for the next book to come out in November. Then we'll have to wait another year for the final book - ugh!

Matched does contain a love story/triangle as well as the love that a family has for one another in good times and in bad. There is tremendous character growth as seen in Cassia as she goes from a perfectly obedient member of Society to one who is determined to live her life on her own terms.  I think she is now one of my favorite heroines. And the whole evilness of the Society is much like Orwell's 1984 except it feels more like our own world today. That is probably the scariest part of the book -- we seem to be on our way to be just like the Society.

How did this book address my own faith? There are two aspects of my faith life that Matched addressed. The first is the concept of freedom or free will. God gives us a choice to accept Jesus or not. God gives us a choice to follow God's will over our own. God gives us a choice to give up self and give over to God. This is not something we are made or even compelled to do. We have the freedom to do these. And sometimes we give them lip service while not backing that with action. I am thankful that I do have a choice. And I am thankful for the true freedom that I have in Jesus Christ.

The second aspect is simply the choices I have in the life of faith. Do I remain in my own comfort zone where everything is mapped out for me or do I take a chance and go out on the limb that Jesus has placed before me? I can be a good Christian and go to church every Sunday, pay my tithe and pray. However, is there not more to being a follower of  Christ? Where am I being asked to leave what is known and go where I am unsure? Do I want to do what is acceptable or to do what God asks of me?

Matched made me think on so many levels and I can't wait for you to read this book, too! Highly recommended.

Happy reading!

Amelia