Jenna’s Letter Essay #7: Matched

I recently finished reading the book “Matched”, a 366 page dystopian/science fiction novel by Ally Condie; who lives in outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and four children. The book was published on November 30, 2010 and is the first book in the “Matched Trilogy”; the two other books being “Crossed” and “Reached”. I read this book for the book club in class, but, I put it on my list on what I want to read because I read this book in 6th grade and didn’t really understand it, I wanted to give the book another try and it was a lot better the second time reading it. This book was very interesting and the story is a very different idea/concept than what I am used to…

 

This book is about a girl named Cassia who lives in a Society where you are matched with someone, if you chose to be matched, based on who you’d be best with; mistakes are not common. After Cassia is matched with her best friend Xander but she seems someone else’s picture when reviewing a microcard about him she starts catching feelings for the other person, Ky. Cassia knows that liking Ky could get her in a lot of trouble and would be going against Xander and the Society, but both her and Ky try to find a way to make it work.

 

I liked how the author added in a lot of memories of Cassia. I like this because it helps to better understand Cassia and her feelings and gives great background information on the characters, you can better see their personality and how its changes (if it has). The genre of this book is definitely dystopian, it follows the pattern of almost all dystopian literature exactly!: Usually the story starts with a “ruler” or person/people with a lot of power who want everyone living in the place/ area that they control to have the best life possible, then, a person/ people rebel in some way against the controller or someone learns something new. The story generally ends with the life of the people becoming much more difficult because of actions that the people took. In Matched, the Society wants everything to be perfect, with very minimal mistakes, and with their people knowing very little about what’s actually going on. Next, not only do Cassia and Ky rebel by liking each other, and showing affection towards each other, but, Cassia realized what her government has done all along about people when they reach a certain point in their lives (80). In the end the Society is basically falling apart and Cassias life everything starts changing in a big way. At the end of the book, the story seemed to be a bit more rushed and not as detailed, so I couldn’t quite picture the scenes as easily, but it was still very well written.

 

I was interested in the following passage because I thought it was a very important scene in the book. Cassia learns something new that is very important in her secret relationship with Ky.

 

In this scene Ky and Cassia are walking up a hill, as they chose this for their leisure activity, and are talking about the Societies matching system and how Ky is in it…

“…They told me there had been a mistake. My data had been entered into the Matching pool.”

“Your data?” I asked, surprised. But the Official told me it was a mistake on the microcard, Ky’s picture where it shouldn’t be. She told me that he hadn’t been entered into the pool.

She lied. The error was much bigger than she said it was.

Ky keeps talking. “I’m not even a full citizen (only full citizens could be be matched). Hey said the whole incident was completely irregular.” He smiles, a bitter twist to his mouth that it hurts me to see. “Then they showed me a picture. The girl who would have been my Match if I weren’t what I am.” Ky swallows.

“Who was she?” I ask. My voice sounds harsh, grating. Don’t say that it was me. Don’t say that it was me, because then I will know that you saw me because they told you to look.

“You,” he says.” (pg. 302-303)

 

I liked how the author made this part suspenseful and made the reader wait (but not not too long) to find out who Ky’s “accidental” match was. I also liked how the author added Cassias thought because it helped me to better figure out what she thought about the whole situation.

 

I enjoyed this book, but some parts seemed a bit extensive and a little boring; not all the parts of the book had a lot going on which made it not as interesting. I would rate this book an 8 out of 10 because it was good and I liked how different the story was.
-Jenna S.

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7 thoughts on “Jenna’s Letter Essay #7: Matched

  1. Hi Jenna!

    I liked your letter essay, it was very well written. You picked a good quoted passage, I would have used it too. I agree, I thought some parts were a little boring but overall I thought it was good. Good job!

    -Kayleigh

  2. Dear Jenna,

    I really enjoyed reading your letter essay. I’ve read this book before and I thought that it was good too. I would also rate it a 8 out of 10. I also really liked that quote you picked it was one of my favorite scenes from it.

    Sincerely,

    Kristine Jones

  3. Jenna
    I really liked the way you wrote your letter essay it well described the book and it had a lot of good information. I think you could of clued the reader to make them want to know what will happen next.
    -Rebecca

  4. Jenna!
    Glad that you liked the book, and I agree with the Kristine…love love loved the passage you chose, as that was when the book reached it’s climax and it is just perfect! Hope you do finish the series, as for you last paragraph, it is so true. Sometimes through out the book and series it does kind of drag on, but overall it is a pretty good read and happy you decided to give it a second chance!
    Your fellow Bryan Le lover,
    Tabitha Aime

  5. Jenna,

    You wrote a great letter essay! I read this book as well and I agree with you, it was a little boring at times however it was still a pretty good book. I liked the passage you quoted, it was a very important part of the book. Your summary was very detailed and you reflected on the book well. Good Job!

    Sara

  6. Hey Jenna!

    Your letter essay was very well written and included a lot of detail. I felt the same way about this book and how it was boring at some parts. I liked the quoted passage you chose and felt that was an important part of the book!

    Great Job!!

    Hannah Wergeles

  7. Dear Jenna,

    I really liked your book essay. I remember reading it as well it was my first dystopian novel. Your whole entire essay was really well written and had a lot of detail. It was broken down into paragraphs which was really good cause it was easy for me to read. I also felt the same way about the book. The only thing would to make your introduction a little longer. But its amazing after that.
    😀

    -Abby Straughn

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