Matched

Science fiction

First published: 2010
Print length: 369 pagesDutton Books, 2010

Description

Matched is a dystopian young-adult novel set in a tightly controlled society that assigns citizens romantic partners at seventeen. Cassia Reyes is delighted when she is matched with Xander, her best friend. Then a glitch briefly displays Ky Markham, an outcast from her school, in place of Xander’s profile. Officials explain that Ky is classified as an aberration and cannot be matched because of his family’s infraction. A forbidden paper from Cassia’s grandfather brings Cassia and Ky together to share censored poems in the woods. As they fall in love, Cassia begins questioning both her assigned relationship and the Society’s control over intimacy and expression.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Direct · Lyrical · Spare

Pace

Measured

Tone

Reflective · Romantic · Tense · Wistful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Ideas · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

Art and creativityFamilyFreedomIdentityLoveOppression

About Ally Condie

Ally Condie is an American author of young adult and middle grade fiction whose career began with the Yearbook trilogy and reached an international readership with Matched. Her fiction often places intimate choices inside speculative systems designed to limit them. In the Matched trilogy, romance, loyalty, and self-determination unfold under a society that assigns lives and relationships; Atlantia similarly uses an enclosed, carefully ordered world to frame a young woman’s search for truth and agency. Condie pairs direct, often spare and lyrical prose with strongly defined premises, keeping her characters’ emotional decisions in the foreground even as political conflict and mystery widen around them. Alternating viewpoints and separated story lines in Crossed and Reached allow her to examine the same system from different positions. With the standalone Atlantia and the middle grade novel Summerlost, she moved beyond the trilogy format and broadened her audience while retaining an interest in young people navigating constraint and consequential choices.

Series

Matched trilogy · Book 1

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Dutton Books
Language: English
ISBN: 9780525423645

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