emilyusuallyreading's reviews
746 reviews

What I Liked
I like Ally Condie's writing. She uses beautiful symbols, even through simple things like colors, and this makes Cassia's narrative voice stand out. I loved Condie's emphasis on the value of poetry and culture. The cherished poems never felt corny, only precious.

One of the most powerful scenes of the book was when

Spoiler

Cassia saw Ky crying during the showing of the Outer Regions, where people were being gunned down. Later, she asked him about it and realized for the first time that those scenes were real. Everyone in the community had laughed at them, assuming they were ridiculous exaggerations of violence and death. This struck me. It's easy to go to the movie theater and watch gruesome violence (honestly, even the news) without much thought or feeling. I often feel distanced from the horror; it's far away from where I comfortably live. The teens were unfazed by the graphic violence at the showing, but Ky was devastated because he knew it was real.

Another of my favorite things was Cassia's inner dialogue and doubts.

Spoiler

Her worry that she didn't start liking Ky until she found out that he was an Aberration, that maybe their fling was her form of teenage rebellion and desiring a "Forbidden Love." In that moment, Condie laid out what was sitting in the back of my mind and erased those doubts.

The romance was also bearable in this book. I was prepared for a love triangle (what I hate most about YA books), but it was fairly minor. It always drives me insane when a character is thinking, "Oh my gosh, who do I love more? I just can't decide!" because that must mean that she does not truly love either guy. However, Cassia's situation made sense. She was told to love one boy; she felt real attraction for another.

Spoiler

She never did seem to have a deep romantic connection with Xander, and that seemed clear from the very first few pages. Friendship love is different than romantic love.

There were only a few kisses in the entire book, which I appreciated. (Sorry, I just don't like to read awkwardly-detailed teenage make-out scenes.)

What I Didn't Like
The setting of Matched is not particularly intricate. I would appreciate more background to explain how society came to be this tightly controlled and why there is a war going on. Who is the real antagonist here? For such a controlled Society with an almost worshipful perspective of the government, surely they would know that there is a supreme leader or council or something. But throughout the book, the government is faceless, nameless, and empty of much threat. Even though the genre of this book is dystopian, there is very little tension wrapped up in the war or the government. Almost everything they did seemed overly-strict, but fairly humane. (We're going to take your prized possessions!... and put them in a museum where you can go see them wherever you like. We're going to euthanize you!... at a ripe old age and then we're going to try to resurrect you in a few years, don't worry.

Spoiler

We lowered your meal portions to make you stressed out!... but don't worry, we made sure you got enough calories to be safe and healthy.

) There isn't a lot of malice in the Society. Never once was I afraid for Cassia's life.

Finally, I wish there would have been more of a recognizable arc to the story. I understand that this is a trilogy, but there was never a real climax or enlightenment moment

Spoiler

possibly the "I love you"/kiss scene, but that was pretty brief

for Cassia. Some really great tension was building through

Spoiler

the continuous stream of contraband poetry, writing, and an illegal artifact in an extremely observed and controlled society

. There was so much potential for everything to collapse on top of Cassia, but nothing really did.

Spoiler

Xander instantly forgave her and helped her. Nobody found out about the writing or the artifact or the secret kiss with Ky.

Even the problems left in the cliffhanger weren't caused by Cassia's mistakes, only by the bad, faceless government that is seen as one white-dressed mass of lukewarm evil.

Overall
Matched gets 4 stars because the story kept me entertained, I grew to love the characters, I appreciated Condie's writing style, and I am already eager to read the next book in the trilogy. Just don't look too deep.

What I Liked
A lot of YA fiction has the female character bound so tightly to her romantic interest that he is the only reason she still tries to survive. At one point in the book, Ky says, "I don't fool myself that I hold her together--she does that on her own." Thank you, Ally Condie. Thank you. Cassia is a strong, independent woman and I appreciate that. (For the moment, I'll ignore the final part of that sentence, which said, "but holding her keeps me from flying apart." Baby steps.)

Another quote from the book I enjoyed: "When you first love, you look blind and you see it all as the glorious, beloved whole, or a beautiful sum of beautiful parts. But when you see the one you love as pieces, as whys--why he walks like this, why he closes his eyes like that--you can love those parts, too, and it's a love at once more complicated and more complete."

I love Ky. I understand his resistance to sharing all of his story with anyone, even the people he loves most. Not just because he's the mysterious love interest, but because it's a difficult thing to share the hardest places of your past... and it isn't always necessary.

Spoiler

I think I'm more like Ky than like Cassia, and her frustration with Ky's distance at times reminded me of things my friends have said to me.

What I Didn't Like
Love triangles. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them. Why do they exist? In Matched it was bearable; in Crossed it's not. It doesn't make sense when the protagonist is thinking, "Woe is me, I just can't decide between these two beautiful boys," because that isn't how love works.

Spoiler

In Matched Cassia was placed with Xander by her government but she chose Ky on her own. That love triangle worked. Now that she feels the need to go back and forth between Ky and Xander (She straight-up said in the narrative, "I want both."), the book's love is quickly turning shallow and brittle.

My frustration with this ridiculous love triangle is almost the entire reason why I gave this book 3 stars instead of 5. So. Dumb.

Spoiler

Cassia spent 3 months in a work camp, intentionally had herself sent to war-torn Outer Regions, ran 30 miles across a desert, and separated herself from everyone she knew for Ky... and yet her heart is still torn.

The plot worked better than in Matched, but it was slower and a little boring at times. There were way too many flashbacks of things that the reader already was supposed to know. Why delve into every single one of Cassia's memories through Ky's eyes? We already know what happened; we don't need to experience them a second time.

By the end of the second book, there is still no context to this trilogy. I don't quite understand the war going on... or most of the setting/background of this world, for that matter. Hopefully it's all going to be explained in the third book, but I'm not sure that it will. My biggest questions are:
- Who is the enemy? (Are the drones that are fighting in the Outer Regions supposed to be from the Rising, the Society, or from an entirely different enemy?)
- What world is left outside of the Society? (The story takes place largely in Utah... but the earth is significantly more vast than Utah.)
- What exactly is the Society? (I had this question after reading Matched too. I'm still no closer to knowing about a leader, government structure, background, etc.)

The Ending

Spoiler

Wha...? Cassia leaves her family, spends 3 months of grueling labor at a work camp, intentionally has herself sent to war-torn Outer Regions, runs 30 miles across a desert, and nearly dies in the caverns in order to be reunited with Ky. At one point, there was nothing that could keep her away from the man she loves. And then, just like that, Cassia joins the Rising, allows herself to be sent away to work undercover, and does not even deign to say goodbye face-to-face. I don't understand.

What I Liked
Blum is a talented writer. His phrasing is often beautiful. For example, "There was still this gap between the physical and the virtual, the abstract of information and the damp breeze off the sea" (216). I wish he was a novelist; he understands how to word things in a compelling way.

What I Didn't Like
I read this book as an assignment for a senior-level telecommunications course... and I struggled to make it to the last page. This is a technical book. I won't go so far to call it a textbook, but it's certainly not light, fun reading. Blum spends a large portion of his time writing somewhat of a memoir instead of the subject of Tubes: the internet. A couple of quotes that help to show what I mean:

"We marched along a wide bike path, dodging middle schoolers pedaling home from soccer practice, and scampered across a couple wide intersections" (153).

"...we walked past a sullen teenager waiting outside with his mother, then down the grand staircase at the center of the building, out the front steps, and around to a little side door into the basement" (241).

I appreciate Blum's attempt to make a fairly dull subject matter into something more artistic, but the attempt fell flat. As a student trying to learn more about telecommunications and the internet, I found myself wading through empty words and detailed descriptions to get to the knowledge I wanted. The wordiness of the book often left me confused and unfulfilled.

What I Liked
This is a beautiful little book. I remember reading Island of the Blue Dolphins as a little girl and being both devastated and enchanted by Karana's life on the island.

Karana's voice is strikingly clear. Even though her narrative has surprisingly little description of emotion other than feelings of loneliness

Spoiler

not even when her brother dies does she have much of an emotional reaction

, she comes across as strong and very real.

One of the things that amazes me most about this book is how plausible it is. (For good reason: Island of the Blue Dolphins is based off a true story with an extraordinarily tragic ending.) A 12-year-old girl should not reasonably be able to survive for 18 years alone on a beautiful but very harshly-set island, but she did, in real life as well. Karana faces wild dogs, weather, injury, hunger, and a wicked devilfish... O'Dell explores how Karana makes it through years of solitude and extreme independence in ways that work. Not much is known about the true Lost Girl of San Nicolas Island, but O'Dell's writing is so beautiful and possible that one can't help but blend the two tales together.

What I Didn't Like
The middle and end of the novel grind on in a rather dull way. After the initial shock of Karana's isolation, her survival turns into that of day-to-day boredom. As a reader, I care less about how she weaves her skirts or gathers abalones every day and more about how she escapes from the pack of wild dogs or encounters the Aleuts. I would not recommend Island of the Blue Dolphins to every young reader, because those children who do not typically like reading would be easily bored by the detailed depiction of Karana's island life in this novel.

What I Liked
One of my favorite parts of this novel was the character of Mr. Knightley. He is certainly more likable (in my opinion) than Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. He prefers his wife (or really, most women in his life) to disagree with him at times and have a mind of her own, which is certainly different from some of the men in this time period.

Austen's wit is so dry. There is no question that she was a talented writer. I enjoyed looking between the lines at the mysteries and games she would create in the social circles within Emma.

What I Didn't Like
I'm not a big Jane Austen fan, as unpopular of an opinion as that may be. I find her stories so predictable. No matter how many love triangles or misleads Austen may have created, I knew the outcome of the three main couples from the first few chapters of Emma. Austen sticks with class rules (nobility must only marry nobility and etc) almost to an art. "The stain of illegitimacy, unbleached by nobility or wealth, would have been a stain indeed," as she stated in the last chapter of the novel.

Ultimately, I do not have much to say. There is a reason Emma is considered classic literature, but I cannot find within myself much interest in Austen's writings.

This book was a cherished part of my childhood. Its characters are memorable: the cowardly lion, the "heartless" tin man, and the scarecrow without a brain. Little Dorothy is such a sweet protagonist with the pure and sincere heart of a young child. My favorite part of the story is the ruse behind the Emerald City. Baum has weaved together a children's story that will be remembered throughout history.

This is probably the most disturbing children's book I've ever read. I had a twisted mind as a child (I still do), and I think I would have loved Coraline's tale of the dark world behind the mirror. Gaiman's mind is a fascinating place.

Despite all of the creepy, insanely dark storytelling, there were messages that every child needs to learn about bravery, family, and growing up.

It feels wrong to dislike a classic book so much, but there was not much personal enjoyment to be found within The Swiss Family Robinson.

What I Liked
There is a heart of adventure about this novel. I remember reading as a young child a much-abbreviated Great Illustrated Classic edition that emphasized a few of the biggest events from the book. I was enraptured by the idea of a shipwrecked family forced to survive on their own in a new and foreign world, finding all sorts of beautiful animals and building houses in the trees.

What I Didn't Like
No matter how long ago this book was written or how famous it is now, I can't reconcile the fact that it is so unbearably unrealistic. Nobody gets ill or injured (beyond very minor instances) in the entire ten years they live on the island. They never go through a trial that lasts longer than a few hours. They never go hungry or suffer from exposure. Each experience serves as a brief moral lesson before they move on to their next happy task on the abandoned island. On top of this, the father seems to know all things about the wilderness. He can identify all sorts of animals, plants, and tools, although he certainly is no explorer. He has a baffling, endless supply of factual knowledge and wisdom.

Have you ever seen the television show called Naked and Afraid? A pair of skilled survivalists are sent to an exotic place for 21 days. While the Robinson family were able to carry back personal items from the wrecked ship, they also never experienced the challenges that someone would actually face in their situation. While experienced survivalists struggle desperately to find any source of food at all in a new place, the Robinson family is overflowing with not only more meat than they could ever eat, but they also are able to tame all sorts of animals with only a single attempt.

Spoiler

The father finds an onager, attempts to mount it, and after a few moments of struggle, it's forever tamed

.

The descriptions of daily survival are long and become a little monotonous. I hate that I was so disinterested in the story of the Swiss family Robinson, but perhaps I will one day give my children an abbreviated, illustrated edition to read instead.

What I Liked
I've never met someone who doesn't like a good mystery, and this is exactly what Mary Elizabeth Braddon provides with Lady Audley's Secret. I'm surprised this is such a forgotten work of art; I'd never heard of the novel before or knew what to expect when I opened to the first page.

Lady Audley is a fascinating character. She uses her outer beauty as a tool to avoid almost any conflict or confrontation in her life. She is a psychopath and a narcissist, a childlike and lovely creature who is in actuality capable of murder and more.

This novel is dark and spooky. The setting certainly alludes to Lady Audley's darker nature. It's clear why this sensation novel shocked and appalled those who lived in the Victorian era.

What I Didn't Like
Perhaps the ending would not have been as predictable 200 years ago, but it is today. I guessed the ending within the first few chapters and was only vaguely surprised by one discovery

Spoiler

George Talboys survived!

.

What I Liked
Willa Cather is a beautiful writer. She paints the American countryside with so much powerful imagery and nostalgia that I cannot help but feel like I miss the farmlands in Nebraska, even though I've never been there. Her characters are rich and deep. Cather does an excellent job of exposing the difficult lives of immigrants during this time period. Impoverished, homesick, unable to speak the language of the country around you, and considered a "non-white" outcast from much of society.

Spoiler

Mr. Shimerda's suicide was one of the most tragic moments of the entire novel.

The hired girls face so much stigma and even sexual assaults in order to provide for their struggling families.

What I Didn't Like
There wasn't much of a plot to this novel. It's a story within a story; in the introduction, Jim gives his writings about Antonia to a friend. This creates a novel that is a fairly nonlinear collection of Jim's life and encounters with Antonia.