Matched

Book 1

By: Ally Condie

Narrated by: Kate Simses

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted the Society’s choices. And when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, she is certain he’s the one - until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now she is faced with impossible choices: Between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s ever known and a path no has dared to follow...between perfection and the truth.

Look for the sequel, Crossed, and the epic series finale, Reached!

©2010 Ally Condie (P)2010 Penguin

Critic reviews

“[A] superb dystopian romance.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“Strong feminist ideals and impressive writing that’s bound to captivate.” (The Los Angeles Times)

Meh

The plot was a good plot, however, it was written in the past or future tense throughout the whole thing. I am not a big fan of that writting style.

Another point of dislike was how much the main character left information out. several times throughout the book she would say, "and then I knew" giving us nothing else until the time jump where she is doing stuff with her new knowledge. We are left to puzzle out what she knows, even though we are privy to all of her thoughts before hand! Just annoying.

On a good note the narrator did a wonderful job. Even though she was monotoned that is how the book should be read. The main character has no life or voice because of the Society. So maybe she will become more animated as the books go one.

I won't know though because I am not listening or reading any of the next three books. Not worth it in my opinion. But you might like it so I hope you can enjoy it more than me! 😊👍

Wonderful!!!!!

This book was a wonderful book! It makes you feel like you are in the story!

Loved it!

Loved it! The narrator was great. The plot was great and well paced. Everything was perfect!

I'd prefer to read it myself - Great overal

I’m a firm believer that 99% of the time, reading a book is better than watching the movie. However, I still enjoy the movies; I just want to enjoy the book first. So when I was going through the list of books to movies this year I took note of some titles that sounded interesting. Let me introduce Matched by Ally Condie.

Matched is about a dystopian society very reminiscent of other dystopian societies (i.e. The giver, Divergent just to name a couple). What makes this one unique is that ‘the society’ is breeding out bad habits, genes, and breeding in strength, intelligence, and submission to authority. Those who do not fall into their categories are given infractions, and their families are shamed. This story told through the first person eyes of young 17-year-old Cassia. We meet her on the day of her Matching ceremony, where she will be matched with her mate. In four years time they will be married and will go on to live ‘a good life’. A life without choice or freedoms, and on her 80th birthday, she will die; as everyone does. She is matched with her best friend Xander but much to her surprise when she goes to look at a micro-card with his information on it, a picture of Ky comes up. Ky is another childhood friend of hers. She is told it was a mistake; she cannot love Ky or be with him, no one can. “It is one thing to make a choice and it is another thing to never have the chance.”

This book was simple, and easy to read. The ideas aren’t all that new, there hasn’t been a moment where surprise, shock, or dismay took over. But what I loved about it was the way it was written. Condie goes to great lengths to express emotion and love; she does so, beautifully. There were many great quotes that I enjoyed and they even made me pause to take note.

“Growing apart does not change the fact that for years our roots grew side by side.” How many us can relate to this? This is a fact of life, and Condie illustrates it well with her words. The whole book is written this way, and this is what I loved so much about it. She writes with great flair and emotion, bottling it up for her readers to gulp down.

In the end, I enjoyed Matched a lot more than I expected to. I look forward to reading the second book in the series when it comes in the mail next week. Until then I will remember this: Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light – Dylan Thomas

Being matched isn't perfect

If you could sum up Matched in three words, what would they be?

dystopia, love, courage

What other book might you compare Matched to and why?

Delirium. It's another dystopian book. They aren't the same but the societies are similar

What about Kate Simses’s performance did you like?

FANTASTIC!! I thought she was a GREAT narrator!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Do not go Gently

Any additional comments?

This was a great book. probably mostly for young teens but i'm old and i liked it too :)

Great detail

Where does Matched rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

You say slow, I say it mad me feel like I was there. This is one of my favorite books, I will probably read again, and I never read books more than once.

What other book might you compare Matched to and why?

Require. The selection. Same type of world. They are all good to me. Matched series was probably my favorite though.

What does Kate Simses bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Matched the main character perfect. Clear difference in tone between different characters.

Any additional comments?

Loved it, highly recommend, though not for everyone.

So Good!!!!

I stayed up all night. I finished it. If I had read it I'd say that I couldn't put it down.

Amazing!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! The voice acting is amazing and I love the book. Kate Simses brings additional life to the book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Matched?

The most memorable moment in Matched is when Cassia learns who her true match is. Her grandfather's passing was also really memorable.

What does Kate Simses bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Kate Simses is able to do all sorts of voices and gives more emotion to the words. It really seems as if a young girl is telling her story.

Great read

I love the whole premise of this book. It's a book with heart. You can feel the character's feelings. My daughter asked if she could read this. I always read books before her to make sure its truly appropriate. I approve. It is heartbreaking at points and I can't wait to have a conversation about the book when she's done.

Audio Skips Around

I love the story, but the audio skips around occasionally. The first time was within the first minute or two. I tried starting the book over and the same thing happened. It has happened probably 5 more times throughout the book. Sometimes it seems like you miss a big chunk of the book as I don’t recognize what she’s talking about. It’s unfortunate. I couldn’t find anywhere to report the issue so just leaving it here.