SPOILER ALERT: If you are planning on reading Matched by Ally Condie, then I suggest you do not read this article.

In the Book Club meeting, we went in depth about our opinions on the book we are reading: Matched. Firstly, we said what we would vote the book as on a scale of one to ten. Mrs. Brown and Kaitlynn Curtner both voted an eight, and I gave it a ten! Then, we went into what we like about the book. Mrs. Brown said that she likes that “Cassia is becoming aware that life is not always what she thought it was.” I said that I liked how Cassia was starting to break the rules more and how she is trying to restrain from thinking about Ky, but she can’t help it. Next, we started talking about Cassia’s grandfather and how he tells her to use words that come from her and that it is okay to wonder. I talked about how I think of Cassia’s grandfather as a mysterious character, and how he knows more about the society than he shows. I also talked about how the grandfather is always giving Cassia hints before his death. We then talked about how it was surprising that Cassia came from a family of Officials, especially since she has become accustomed to keeping secrets and hiding things from the people she loves. Mrs. Brown mentioned that she liked when the author said, “”…Today I understand it. I feel disgust when I think of how we climb our little hills when the Officials say the word. How we hand over our most precious items at their bidding. How we never, ever fight” and “You think there’s nothing here because we’re not putting up a fight. But there are words in our heads that no one else knows.” Then, we discussed the hill and the significance of it. We all agreed that the hill is a symbol for many things, like a safe place for them to talk and also a struggle and a climb in their maturation. After that, we pondered about being in Cassia’s father’s shoes and if we would have kept the sample that could possibly bring back the grandfather, or respect the grandfather’s desires to have it destroyed. Mrs. Brown says she is not sure whether or not she would keep the sample. I added that if I were to keep it, then I would look at it as a piece of him to have with me, and not something that could bring him back to life. At the end of our meeting, I pointed out that I liked how Cassia’s character is evolving. In the beginning of the book, she isn’t one to break the rules, and all she is focused on is her banquet and then Xander, her match. Once she sees Ky on the screen, she starts to make decisions that she might not have made before.